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I'm American and I find Lidl to be absolutely ghetto; Aldi only marginally less so; but neither of them as scary as Netto! A lot of my friends shop at these pl

by biztos 7y ago

I'm American and I find Lidl to be absolutely ghetto; Aldi only marginally less so; but neither of them as scary as Netto! A lot of my friends shop at these places, because they're really cheap, and if you don't actually care who gets your money (or you can't afford to care) it's sorta like why not? In their favor I will say that there is less choice of products than in, say, a Spar or Rewe (mid-market grocery chains) and thus shopping, especially for a family, can be both cheaper and more efficient. At least in Berlin there's also Edeka everywhere, which is sort of cheap-ish but not so soul-crushing. I guess I'm pretty far off topic already, but I will add that I find it weird that there's no equivalent of Whole Foods in Germany. You have some chains of "Bioladen" like LPG (yuck) or BioCompany (pretty good IMO) -- but nobody's got that magic Whole Paycheck mix of yummy food, organic and also gourmet stuff, and that sort of vaguely aspirational shopping experience while also having a big fat parking lot. Or maybe this exists in Munich?

saturnV 7y ago
I feel that where all Aldi’s are relatively comparable, for Edeka it seems to depend a lot on the shop. Where I live there are two Edekas within a 3min drive, one is a bit more fancy than the average Aldi, however the other one has 50 different types of quinoa and people that make you sushi on demand. It is a totally different shopping experience.
- biztos 7y ago
  I recall that my local Edeka, before Edeka got so big, gave a lot of room to the local managers, who were ex-rocker types who were really good at employing local young dudes who probably weren't all that employable elsewhere (and who did a fine job as it turned out). Enough that I kind of assumed it was a franchise rather than just a chain, until they started buying up all the Kaisers. So maybe that's part of their strategy, to give the managers more responsibility to differentiate their stores instead of making them all the same? If so I wonder how they incentivize that.
novok 7y ago
Most americans are shopping at a grocery outlet, walmart, foodmaxx or a 7-11 equivalent buying hotdog meat and white bread, which is way worse than any Lidl. The furnishing might not be as fancy at Lidl compared to safeway, but what they sell is fairly decent quality.
jimbokun 7y ago
How do German grocery stores compare to Italy? I haven't been to Germany (outside Frankfurt airport), but on my Italian vacation last year, just going to a convenience store and picking up some bread, cheese, and fruit was cheap but WholeFoods-like quality or better. Same with their supermarkets, with regional products featured with government regulations controlling what can be labelled that way: https://www.thechefandthedish.com/single-post/2016/10/25/What-is-DOP-Understanding-Italian-Food-Labels https://www.thechefandthedish.com/single-post/2016/10/25/Wha... Anything equivalent in Germany?
- vinay427 7y ago
  The point of Whole Foods (at least for those I know) isn't quality of produce. You can get similar quality produce by spending more at most other supermarkets. The point is the diversity of specialty items which I haven't really found an equivalent for in any chain store in Europe so far. I don't think that model would succeed in many European countries that are slower to adopt novel and/or imported food trends.
kaybe 7y ago
That's why you have several stores close to each other which can all stay in business. You start at Aldi and get the basics, go to Rewe for fancier things, stop by dm or Rossmann for the most fantastic selection of toiletries and hit the bakery on the way back. Or if you live in the city it's easy to take turns every few days instead of doing it all at once. addendum: I really like the efficiency of Aldi/Lidl with respect to filling shelves. Why does someone have to touch all the pasta packages and arrange them when it's almost the same work for the customers to grab them right out of the box?
- overkalix 7y ago
  That's not why a lot of times you can find Aldi, Lidl, Rewe, etc stores together. It's a combination of zoning regulations and Hotelling's Law.

by biztos 7y ago

saturnV 7y ago

I feel that where all Aldi’s are relatively comparable, for Edeka it seems to depend a lot on the shop. Where I live there are two Edekas within a 3min drive, one is a bit more fancy than the average Aldi, however the other one has 50 different types of quinoa and people that make you sushi on demand. It is a totally different shopping experience.

biztos 7y ago
I recall that my local Edeka, before Edeka got so big, gave a lot of room to the local managers, who were ex-rocker types who were really good at employing local young dudes who probably weren't all that employable elsewhere (and who did a fine job as it turned out). Enough that I kind of assumed it was a franchise rather than just a chain, until they started buying up all the Kaisers. So maybe that's part of their strategy, to give the managers more responsibility to differentiate their stores instead of making them all the same? If so I wonder how they incentivize that.

novok 7y ago

Most americans are shopping at a grocery outlet, walmart, foodmaxx or a 7-11 equivalent buying hotdog meat and white bread, which is way worse than any Lidl. The furnishing might not be as fancy at Lidl compared to safeway, but what they sell is fairly decent quality.

jimbokun 7y ago

How do German grocery stores compare to Italy? I haven't been to Germany (outside Frankfurt airport), but on my Italian vacation last year, just going to a convenience store and picking up some bread, cheese, and fruit was cheap but WholeFoods-like quality or better. Same with their supermarkets, with regional products featured with government regulations controlling what can be labelled that way: https://www.thechefandthedish.com/single-post/2016/10/25/What-is-DOP-Understanding-Italian-Food-Labels https://www.thechefandthedish.com/single-post/2016/10/25/Wha... Anything equivalent in Germany?

vinay427 7y ago
The point of Whole Foods (at least for those I know) isn't quality of produce. You can get similar quality produce by spending more at most other supermarkets. The point is the diversity of specialty items which I haven't really found an equivalent for in any chain store in Europe so far. I don't think that model would succeed in many European countries that are slower to adopt novel and/or imported food trends.

kaybe 7y ago

That's why you have several stores close to each other which can all stay in business. You start at Aldi and get the basics, go to Rewe for fancier things, stop by dm or Rossmann for the most fantastic selection of toiletries and hit the bakery on the way back. Or if you live in the city it's easy to take turns every few days instead of doing it all at once. addendum: I really like the efficiency of Aldi/Lidl with respect to filling shelves. Why does someone have to touch all the pasta packages and arrange them when it's almost the same work for the customers to grab them right out of the box?

overkalix 7y ago
That's not why a lot of times you can find Aldi, Lidl, Rewe, etc stores together. It's a combination of zoning regulations and Hotelling's Law.