chgoeditor

But the two parent companies do not have the same owner.The companies just have a word in common. Ownership was split up decades ago.

LondonElite

Yes, but in practical terms, no one, even in Germany, would be able to tell the difference between an Aldi Nord and an Aldi Süd store.

aztimm

Central Market is incredible!!!!

If only it weren't a train wreck all the time and we'd go more often. There are 2 locations in metro Austin, and they both seem to be packed all the time.

Some of the HEB Marketplace stores sell Central Market merchandise. But nothing really compares to the produce, seafood, and the whole experience of going to Central Market.

LondonElite

UK tracksuit = US sweatpants

gaobest

Wait til you try Lidl! That’s another polarizing hypermarket. I like how these European brands are colonizing USA. Is Carrefour in USA??

enviroian

I did step into a Lidl in Kent. It was pretty scary to be honest. I vaguely remember track suits and well I guess the people were pale.

AMflier

In the US, there does seem to be a fair amount of competition between the two. I've seen more upscale products that were debuted at Trader Joe's appear on the shelves at an Aldi a month or so later at a slightly lower cost.

On a side note, I had never considered going into an Aldi until I heard a "rally the troops" speech by the CEO of a major consumer products conglomerate. He was worried about how stores like Aldi had upped the quality on their own brand goods and that Aldi's customers were becoming more upscale. He was pushing the conglomerate to promote it's brands and branding to fight off the threat.

The next week I shopped at an Aldi to see what he was talking about and have been occasionally shopping there ever since.

pinniped

I think the last time I owned sweatpants was also the 1980s....but didn't the tracksuit also include the matching zipper top? When I owned a tracksuit I had that part too - my main use for it was wearing to/from basketball practice in the winter. Sweatpants worked well because you could take them off or put them on over basketball shoes.

By the 1990s I had moved on the absolute pinnacle of fashion, Zubaz.

AMflier

Carrefour tried in the US but pulled out.

USA_flyer

Lidl is a step down from Aldi.

While I can afford it, I prefer to shop in Waitrose. I'd trade down to Sainsburys first (nectar points convert to Avios these days), then Tesco, then Asda, then Morrisons, then Aldi, then Lidl if I ever ended up on the dole.

kale73

The accepted plural form of Elvis is Elvi. Why wouldn't the plural of Aldo be Aldi?

FlyinHawaiian

We have access to Aldi and Lidl in our area and other than the freshly-baked giant pretzels at Lidl, we prefer Aldi (but don't forget your quarters!) The knock-off Girl Scout Cookies at Aldi aren't bad at all and the inexpensive German chocolate bars are also dangerous. As far as clientele, it's what you'd expect for the surrounding neighborhoods; some locations are in nicer areas than others.

pinniped

It's too bad....Carrefour is absolutely gorgeous. If I recall correctly, they never got past a couple pilot stores near Philly...I wonder if the concept would work differently and perform better in some different markets now.

On one hand, I don't think the world needs more hypermarts. I would never enter one operated by Walmart, for example. (Kansas City had the Walmart hypermart pilot - same era that Carrefour tried Philly - and it also failed.) On the other hand, I love Carrefour and wish they had some kind of implementation here - even if it was just the grocery operation.

TomMM

Funny how that works. The first Aldi I ever went to was in Budapest a few years ago and my reaction was 'ugggh'. Now there's an Aldi a few miles from my house and I haven't been because of the Budapest experience. I might have to swing by it and take a look.

Herb687

What's the difference between a Walmart and a hypermarket? Isn't a hypermarket exactly what a Walmart superstore (or Super Target) is?

Who's to say that if Carrefour owned supermarkets in the USA they would be anything like Carrefours in France? I think that one of Colombia's large supermarket chains is owned by Carrefour. I've probably been in one but I'd be hard pressed to tell you how it was different than any other competing supermarket chain in Colombia.

Doesn't Delhaize own some decidedly low-end supermarket brands on the US East Coast? It's not like Belgian ownership means you are getting a luxurious European shopping experience at a store owned by Delhaize.


Try going to Central Market late in the evening. After about 7:30pm things get a lot more manageable. Going early (well before lunchtime) used to be a good plan but pandemic WFH changed that and it's now the one nearest to me is pretty crowded even at 10:30am.