My experience at the Manassas store was great! Very clean store, and great deals on the groceries that I buy. The milk was $2.29 a gallon (I think the lowest I have seen is Costco for $2.75, Shoppers for around $3.00, and Giant for around $3.75 I think). Cheese was about $4 a pound per block (or rather $1.99 for an 8 oz. block) which is about $1-2 savings from what I’ve been paying at Shoppers. White grapes were $1.49 per pound in a 2-lb. container (about $1 savings per pound compared to Shoppers and Giant). I bought some french vanilla coffee creamer for $1.95 (I’m comparing it to the same size International Delight french vanilla coffee creamer, which I pay $3.29 for at Shoppers, and about $2.50/$2.75 at Costco but you have to buy a pack of 3)… we’ll see if the taste is similar. These are all great prices in my opinion!
Incase you don’t know about this store, Aldi is a discounted supermarket chain that started in Germany and expanded globally. Read the wikipedia entry for Aldi here. The store claims that it is able to offer great prices to customers by using the following business practices:
Cart rental refunds – requiring a 25 cent coin to use a shopping cart that is refunded upon return. With this system, Aldi doesn’t have to assign an employee to round up carts in the parking lot, they don’t lose expensive carts, and customers don’t have to worry about dings in your car doors from runaway carts. When the coin or token is inserted, the cart is unlocked from the other chain of carts. When the cart is returned, the customer is refunded his or her coin, so in effect this costs the customer nothing.
Faster checkouts – ALDI packages have multiple UPC bar codes, to read dependably from every direction. The checker can drag an item across the scanner without taking the time to turn it over.
They don’t accept checks, because this slows down the line and saddles Aldi with bad check costs.
By avoiding credit cards, the store avoids the extra time it takes to sign a slip and the hefty processing fee charged by credit card companies. Their private label inventory eliminates the issue of manufacturers’ coupons.
Hi – I am moving to Charlottesville, VA and was shocked to see the prices of food. Even though the closest Aldi is 45 miles away from where I will live, I think I will be shopping there – thanks for the great tip!
Thanks for commenting Melanie!
I hope your move to Charlottesville goes smoothly. I actually lived there for 4 years (during college) and liked the city and community. I think you’re right, the closest Aldi location to Charlottesville is in Culpeper, about 40-some miles away. I suggest you check out Dana’s blog at http://www.frugalinvirginia.com. She posts grocery/coupon deals for Virginia (and actually lives not too far away from Charlottesville). The main grocery stores down there in Charlottesville are Harris Teeter, Kroger, and Giant. HT and Kroger will sometimes have good deals with coupons and double/triple coupon events. Giant has been having some great meat sales lately, coupled with some great internet printable coupons like this: http://www.giantfood.com/media/meal_solutions/perfect_pairings/pp_gntl_2-1.0.1.pdf
Take care!
Laura
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Might there be an Aldi store some day in the Shenandoah Valley?
Dear Karlota,
I don’t know Aldi’s current expansion plans for that entire state of VA, but would be happy to contact their PR department to inquire about that. I had heard of radio ads a few months ago stating that more Aldi stores would be coming to the Northern VA area in the future, but I’m not sure about the Shenandoah Valley. If I find out anything, I’ll let you know!
Laura