Aldi has opened several locations near me in suburban Houston. It isn't my primary market but they do have products that are definitely cheaper than what I can usually pay at the local grocery. I will stop in maybe once a month and stock up on some of my favorite items. They are small enough that I can get in and out very quickly. I love how quick the checkout clerks are.

Article by someone who had a not-so-good experience at Aldi, but will at some point give them another shot anyhow:

"Aldi Anxiety Keeps Me From Shopping There"

And equal time to the competition (different author):

"I Can't Shop at Trader Joe's - Here's Why"

to nudge this further to completion, this YouTuber absolutely nails the Japanese supermarket shopping experience:

That's the last Waitrose I was in (ages ago now, 20 months ago maybe?) I left my bags at the Great Northern and popped to get some essentials to bring back to Canada before hopping on the Gatwick Express!

Agree with Wegmans. I only get to visit that shop when I visit my kids in Washington, DC.

As for Aldi's, the best thing about them is the check out lines. The cashiers where I shop literally fly through scanning the items, since it is not their responsibility to bag groceries.

So much faster than any other grocer.

The Sainsbury's where I used to shop in the UK allowed you to ask the check out person to go more slowly - apparently old folk (and the not so old folk) got flustered when they went too fast (their times were checked, and if they went too slow they got warnings etc.) so they were super speedy - enough people complained that they changed it so you could request a slower pace. I thought that was brilliant (UK supermarkets, as a rule, do not bag your shopping for you although some have a helper you can request if you e.g. have a small child in tow).

I worked in Sainsburys as a student. We had to scan a minimum of 20 items per minute. That was 25 years ago so the threshold may have changed since.

It was bloody grim work too. Beep beep beep, for hours and hours. And having to get permission to take a leak.

We have a Wegman's here in central Mass - Northboro. I end up going there maybe once a month because they have a few things I just can't get at the other stores, and they have good bread, but otherwise they have poor selection and are focused more on their own brand stuff. And they are on the pricey side. Central Market brand stuff I think is sold through Price Chopper here. we have Aldi but I have only been in once or twice - and left without purchasing anything. Trader Joe's has a few more things I again buy every month, but they are so inconsistent with quality and keeping stuff around. Personally I just go to Market Basket and save the money.

Perhaps we can eventually have some kind of FT “do” in this area. Plenty of bars and restaurants, a chance to pick up gifts, there’s generally an all round happy buzz - and, in authentic local BA Forum style, it’s where we go for TP runs.

Waitrose makes our preferred toilet paper

my limited experience at Aldi is that hey usually have had 1 line open most times I went in... no so bad most times except once when I put my three items back on the shelves and walked out.

I do like that around me Aldi has Amoroso rolls... And their store brand version of Kings Hawaiian are pretty good and very cheap.

Wow, interesting discussion. I've been in an Aldi in Germany and it seemed just like any of our large chain stores here in the US. I have only been in a couple in the US because every time I went they didn't have some of the things I wanted so I had to go to a larger store anyway. I like more variety to choose from as well.

I suspect the clientele has a lot to do with location. Where I used to live in Chicago, there was an Aldi literally right next door to a Jewel (large chain owned by Albertson's). It was maybe 25% of the size of the Jewel, and while the Jewel seemed to have all types of people, there definitely appeared to be a specific demographic that shopped at the Aldi. But the Aldi stayed busy even with a large chain with more selection right next door.

In the region of the US where I live (midwest), Aldi was viewed derisively for many years by wealthy and even middle class families as being basically the grocery equivalent of a dollar store. Back in those days the stores didn't really do much to help their image... they were smaller, cramped, fewer windows, not always sparkling clean... the only things that stood out about them were cheap prices and cashiers rapid-firing cans across the scanner while you tried to box as fast as you could otherwise you felt like they were going to eviscerate you for slowing them down. Newer stores seem to have turned that perception around a fair bit. They're starting to pop up everywhere, the stores feel modern and fresh, and they seem to have improved their image overall.

I still have a preference for many specific brands that are not found at Aldi, but I do visit them for one thing in particular... that Rondele Peppercorn Parmesan cheese spread that was found in Delta and American Airlines snack boxes for many years, When I've been grounded from flying for too long I'll get random cravings for it and can't reliably find the name brand anywhere. It seems to be distributed only to certain regions, or only produced seasonally. But Aldi has a dead ringer for it, far as I can tell it's produced by the same manufacturer and in identical packaging with only the tiniest difference in ingredients.

Wow, good to know, I love that stuff too! And by the way, it was in UA snack boxes too (not sure if it still is as I haven't flown in over a year). This and the little package of marinated olives were always two of my favorites. Sometimes even in domestic F, I'd ask for that snack box when I didn't like the offer .

The anxiety shopper sounds like she needs an emotional support shopping assistant since she was emotionally and physically unprepared to shop at Aldi. I bet she wouldn�t say the same about Trader Joe�s.

I think it was an attempt at humour which failed.