to aldi

i lately rediscovered the american aldi. but contrary to the german store the us aldi is at the other end of the food chain in supermarket reputation. whenever i enter the aldi it is ghostly empty and i wonder how the store survives on just a few customers in combination with their low prices. there's the old lady slowly working herself through the offers, the occasional crazy guy who stops to tell me about a bad restaurant visit he had recently, and some younger visitors clad in ohio university jackets. so far i've found three reasons for the hesitant us approach to aldi:

1. while it is cool in germany to buy at aldi and even professors proudly present their aldi wine in their aldi bags, i gather that the us aldi is considered somewhat dirty and only a place for low people to shop. normal people go to walmart, if you feel more yuppie-like you go to kroger and shop in the organic section, richer hippies pay a visit to the farmacy and the village bakery or bargain at the farmer's market. exotic cuisine connoisseurs have discovered new market.

2. you have to put a coin in the shopping carts (just like in germany). americans think that's odd because everywhere else you grab the cart that is closest to your car threatening to hit the same since all carts are scattered uncontrolled in the parking lot.

3. you have to pay for the plastic bags at the aldi cash register (just like in germany). but since walmart and kroger can't get rid of their plastic bags fast enough (sometimes they only put 1 item per bag) it strikes the americans as weird to pay for such a give-away.

here are three good reasons to go to aldi:

1. even though walmart claims to have cheap prices ("always"!) and kroger offers deals with the kroger card some veggie and fruit prices at aldi are unmatched. having bought from all three sources i don't find anything inherently wrong with aldi's fresh produce neither in taste nor shelf life for 39 cents per big green cucumber, 99 cents per box of white mushrooms, and 79 cents per bag of onions. other nice items are spinach and romain hearts, tropicana oranges, and my favorites: bell peppers.

2. aldi's handling of plastic bags is only progressive: with the growing movement of banning plastic bags -- as already happened in china and partially in san francisco -- you better get used to alternative ways of transporting your food to the car. i suggest using empty boxes inside the store, self-brought fabric bags or a big collapsible box permanently left in your car trunk.

3. you get the coin back from the cart! (and don't risk getting your car scratched from wild running metal buggies.)

thank you for shopping at aldi!