Brothers Theo and Karl Albrecht were/are two wealthy gentlemen of Germany. Their Aldi chain of thousands of discount food stores derives from a small shop in Essen, Germany, started in 1913 by their mother. Theo bought Trader "Be-Still-My-Heart" Joe's a few years back, then died. TJ is evidently owned by a trust set up by the family. Karl retired, as the richest man in Germany.
Their legacy in St Petersburg, FL: the droopiest, least inspiring place to buy food ever. Having taken a wrong turn today, I pulled into Aldi, remembering its link to my beloved Trader Joe's, and thinking maybe the store might have a large, reasonably priced wine section. Delighted to see a familiar European shopping cart/trolley system outside---you put in a coin to get a cart, get the $ back when you pop the cart back into its harness--I was hopeful of bounty within. ( Of course a Euro is worth more than the mere US quarter, used here, about $1.40, so clearly the cart-return incentive is not the same.)
O woe! The empty, aesthetically-challenged aisles of Aldi stretch as far as does the shopper's dollar here, evidently. ( I know, these are troubled times, but... sheesh.) The booze section was a tad longer than a metre, and half as high.The store was peopled with a handful of elders, none expressing the festive glee common to shoppers at you-know-where.
I gambled on a Spanish Red and a NZ Sauvignon Blanc at TJ prices, and trundled on, grabbing up TP, a decent looking Jalapeno Havarti, and no organic anything. But hey--cheap! And then I espied an extremely large vat of iceberg lettuces. A grim-looking customer was pondering the iceberg. She turned and appeared to frown at the meager contents of my cart, or was it the hootch?
Lost in revery over the ancient days of iceberg lettuce with Thousand Island Dressing, I checked out, retrieved my $.25, and fled, all Aldi-interest out of my system.
ps My son called to relate he had just sampled a delectable, oozing, cheesy, sweet-potato gnocchi at TJ's, new product. Waah! ( There are no Trader Joe's stores in Florida.)
NB I know already, I too am an elder!!
Yes, well, I may have been too tough on Aldi, Rose--but here there certainly is NOT a huge booze selection.But great bag of Georgia sweet onions.
Posted by: Foodie | February 18, 2011 at 07:05 PM
Well well well. Slagging off Aldi?
Ours, in downtown Yurrup,has a booze aisle a mile long and very good prices. It has a small selection of everything. Who needs 250 different items of same merchandise to chose from?
OK , its no TJ but it will do.
BTW- Aldi is experiencing trouble in Yurrupean discount land, together with Lidl, Penny et all.
Posted by: Rose | February 18, 2011 at 04:16 PM