We have an Aldi down here in central Texas, mostly I shop there for “Pane Turano” an Italian bread that takes me back to my childhood in Chicago, where we were covered up with Turano, Gonella and Panera bakeries.
AFAIK Aldi, like Lidl, came from Europe. We have several Aldi stores here in central Florida, but I have never seen a Lidl outside of my trip to Belgium and Germany in 2018. We shop at Aldi regularly and love it.
Lidl will be opening near me as they take over the Best Market locations, so I am awaiting their arrival as well. A friend who is a Captain at Trader Joe’s said that when Lidl’s open they are a big hit, but then their appeal starts to fade. I guess I’ll have to wait and find out for myself. In the meantime, I will continue to shop at my local Aldi and Trader Joe’s.
I’m a regular Aldi shopper. Been in a few Lidl’s…they are just starting to open by me ( heartyny above and I must live on same island).
The stores are very, very similar. German, no frills but low prices supermarkets. Like ALDI, almost all products are house brands. Lidl’s are a bit bigger than Aldi’s. They also have an in store bakery which ALDI does not have. Both have the rotating “ surprise” non grocery goods. Lidl appears to have a larger selection of personal care items (like razors and cold medicine).
To me, not a big difference between the stores. Glad to have Lidl openings though. Gives an option.
Both stores have an app. May be a good starting point.
Interesting factoid These two companies are owned by the same family- Aldi’s EU and Trader Joes is owned by one brother (now dead) and his brother owns Aldi’s USA.
@Kidsandliz
kinda like safeway, vons and albertsons? same company, different apps even. although in areas in so cal where there are both vons and albertsons, they share the same ads, but not the same merchandise
I’m just going to say Aldi because they were there when I was a kid. And had a store in college. And if I want to drive thirty miles they are still the only one. Lidl is a new entry but they are both German discount stores.
I mean like any grocery store compare the cost/confidence/convienience/ products/price.
I just have Kroger and Walmart unless I choose to take a drive in ones a month on a good add day
I previously worked at HQ for lidl, so I can give you insight on the business end.
Most of the products are imported other than branded food, and are shipped over from Europe anywhere from one week to one month depending on if it’s perishability.
European food standards are typically stricter in most cases so everything shipped over is safe for consumption.
Produce are regularly tested by taking random samples from distribution sites and results are sent from testing institute to QA to be recorded.
The FDA and a couple other government entities regularly"randomly check" every other shipment for compliance so I wouldn’t be too worried about quality.
I can give more insight if PM’d, don’t want to say anything I would regret in a public forum lol
It doesn’t matter - I think they’re both great, but there aren’t any in the NW where I live, so I can’t shop at either except when traveling. And since I can’t shop at either regularly, they both suck.
Side note: I read once that Aldi has an award winning whiskey. No location I’ve visited has sold hard alcohol, so I can’t confirm.
@MichaelrGraham@RiotDemon Aldis often have good wine. Never seen them have licquor. Award winning is typical. Best in world is BS awards don’t know what best means. And that’s subjective anyway
@MichaelrGraham@rtjhnstn yeah but the point would be it’s a good whiskey. Not a best in world. If you send me one I’m happy to review. But it would just go. Nice tates. I like whiskey. Let’s drink the rest
@CaptAmehrican I have both near enough that I can shop at either though I usually pass Aldi on my way home while Lidl is a small detour. I have particular items that I like from one vs the other. Lidl’s cream cheese is awesome. Tastes like Philly brand but it’s around $.69 a brick. Aldi’s cream cheese sucks. I find Lidl must do a better job of keeping their refrigerated items cold. A lot of Aldi dairy products seem to go bad more quickly. One exception tends to be the yogurt, which I absolutely prefer from Aldi. They normally have a better variety, particularly of Greek style yogurts. As mentioned, Lidl has their own bakery, though I don’t really buy much bread so it’s not a big reason to go out of the way for me. I’ve tried their donuts, they’re just okay. Lidl has a much larger selection of non-food items but a lot of it is small dollar stuff. Aldi’s Aisle of Shame tends to have more useful items since they don’t stock as many items. I think the overall selection at Lidl is a bit bigger while the prices are pretty comparable. In general I don’t favor one over the other unless there’s a specific item that I know I prefer. I can buy similar items from each at a similar cost so it’s more about convenience. The only item I’d absolutely go out of my way to Lidl for is this ice cream which is specific to them…
Totally unrelated, but I had a tinder date with someone on the Lidl payroll back when they were first trying to break into the Texas market a couple years ago. They were on the real estate negotiation team, or something like that, and were just in town to try and secure lots and buildings in prime areas.
We don’t have a Lidi yet, but Aldi is now my go to for kettle chips, $2 something a bag and as good as any name brand, cinnamon buns, and their frozen waffles (like Eggos). They do a good job of mimicking name brand packaging also. You can occasionally get name brands (like Gatorade) at amazing prices too but that’s a hit and miss. Have been reluctant to try any of their perishables.
We have Aldi and Lidl, like 10 Aldis and 3 Lidls, and I prefer Aldi. In Eastern VA Aldi seems to be cheaper than lidl but not by much. I go to Aldi for the bread, pita chips, and other random foods but the main reason I go is for the Aldi finds isle. They have the greatest stuff at amazing prices. Electric glove dryer for 14.99, 1 gallon cool mist humidifier 24.99, Christmas inflatables for cheaper than Walmart and some other random things. Lidl doesn’t seem to have as many great deals on useful things.
@willdavi My Aldis ran out of all the Christmas lights and inflatables way too fast this year. But the long spools of multicolor LED lights were $4.00 cheaper than the similar ones at Walmart. Not exactly the same as I found out when a Walmart bulb failed and the Aldi spares would not fit but in use they can’t be told apart.
No Lidl around here. But at this point I’m so much an Aldi fan that store presence is an important factor in deciding where to move when we retire.
@duodec I think people are starting to figure out they have great prices on that stuff. We had aldi before Lidl and it made me more loyal to aldi than Lidl. Lidl’s Christmas stuff was more expensive than aldi too
@duodec@willdavi Do you still live in my (relative) neck of the woods? If so, which Aldi do you like the best? I’m partial to the one on Dundee in Palatine and the one in Vernon Hills. But I haven’t been to the one in Glenview yet. And the one in Mundelein is pretty nice. Maybe I like most of them. Except everyone was out of the peanut butter cups last week. That was a disappointment.
@mossygreen@willdavi
Palatine on Dundee is most frequent because of my commute. The one on Dundee in Arlington Heights had chocolate Advent calendars, Gluhwein, and the wonderful dessert breads for days longer than the Palatine one. The one up Rand in (Lake Zurich?) is ok and tends to have the periodic Duetsche Kutsche (sp) stuff in stock longer than the other two. Also tends to have the not-regularly-carried flavors of oriental chicken chunks (karage style) like the honey ginger and korean BBQ in stock after the others run out.
@duodec@willdavi I will always have a soft spot for the LZ Aldi for having Halloween wine long after everyone else was sold out, the year they had Halloween wine (it was great, ridiculously sweet). I think everybody likes shopping at the newer stores because they’re so much lighter and nicer in general. When the Palatine store opened, I was like, IT’S LIKE SHOPPING IN AN ALDI COMMERCIAL.
@mossygreen@willdavi I never had Gluhwein before. My wife is the wine connoisseur, not me. But we had two bottles over the holidays (one the standard red and one apple, I missed out on the cherry) and I loved the red. Cold Winter Jack was better than the hot apple gluhwein but the red… was just nice.
Lidl’s just opened by a few months back, and I’ve been an Aldi shopper for years. I’d say they’re comparable with Lidl having a bit more on the “fancier” side of things (fresh bread bakery, for example, though I’m not sure if that’s a product of our locale where they bought out another supermarket chain that’s being concurrently run).
For me, Lidl opening worked out great because our nearest Aldi is a bit out of the way for me and Lidl is on my way home from work–and again they are comparable enough that I’m enjoying both equally.
@alchyilee That’s interesting, one of the newer Aldi near me has a bake shop, I wonder if they’re worried about Lidl potentially entering the market. Northern Illinois has a ridiculous number of grocery stores, so I don’t know if it would be a good idea. (During a conversation with a friend about a specific grocery chain “with an Italian name” that she couldn’t remember, it took me three tries to get it. That’s how many grocery stores we have.)
@alchyilee@duodec It was Valli Produce! I had to start w/Mariano’s, which I knew was wrong, and then Caputo’s, which I was pretty sure was wrong. And technically there are two rival Caputo’s, unless one went out of business.
@alchyilee@duodec Yeah, I think that was Joe Caputo & Sons, there are still Angelo Caputo’s in the western suburbs. There are only a handful of Valli stores, no reason to know of them unless you live/work near one. I just like to know where ALL of the different grocery stores are, and what I can buy at each one.
I went today. I will probably give it one more chance but was not impressed.
Guy giving out reusable bags at the front for app download was rude telling me he “cant fucking trust me” that because it was downloaded but when hit the icon was taking a minute to load
When enter you have to turn left which is counter how so many Americans move normally to the right that half the crowd was moving right and into the checkout area
Once in they have raw meats and produce in together in the first section That just makes me worry about cross contamination and food safety.
Cheeses were in 3 different areas
Prices seemed similar maybe slightly higher then aldi
At the checkout lighters were at floor level where literally i saw a toddler grab them and start playing with the package.
I am not impressed. I will try it again in s month or so. While leaving i heard other shoppers talking about how worse then Safeway or giant.
@CaptAmehrican I meant to swing by this morning for the grand opening and gift cards, but overslept. I went to a different one closer to Bowie, and yeah, I don’t think they’ll get me to convert from Aldi. But we’ll see, only time will tell.
@CaptAmehrican That sounds so much different than the one I go to. At mine you walk in at the corner. The In door leads to the right and takes you past the bakery and produce first. The meats are all the way down the aisle towards the back of the store. Cheeses are also grouped together, though technically separated into the blocks and ‘higher’ end cheeses with the shredded and cheap stuff right next to that. It’s well laid out and easy to find everything. I can’t say I recall seeing any lighters sitting that low but now I want to go look again. Seems like your store started off with some poor planning.
Lidl is a German-owned small-inventory grocery store, which naturally draws comparisons to Aldi, another German-owned small-inventory grocery store. … The families that own Lidl and Aldi (keep in mind that Aldi is technically two companies) are completely separate from one another.Feb 11, 2019
We have both. They get their produce on different days so that is enough reason to go to either store. Otherwise, it’s on an item by item basis for the “who’s better?” comparison. I usually stick with Aldi because they have more items that we use and can often avoid other grocery stores entirely. We’re not Wal-Mart shoppers so if it’s not Aldi then we’re going to Harris Teeter.
Neither has the best quality meat but that’s why we have butcher.
That’s cool, not likely here in Mid-Alabama… we just got a couple of local Aldi stores in the past 6 months. Where are you?
Here is one 2+ year old comparison. Looks like Lidl is marginally cheaper with more variety.
https://www.cookinglight.com/healthy-living/home/what-is-the-difference-between-aldi-and-lidl
A 2019 article
https://clark.com/shopping-retail/aldi-vs-lidl-taste-test/
Nearest Aldi to me is nearly 500 miles. None of the Lidl store.
I used to shop at Aldi’s. I miss it so much
. I’ve never heard of lidl
We have an Aldi down here in central Texas, mostly I shop there for “Pane Turano” an Italian bread that takes me back to my childhood in Chicago, where we were covered up with Turano, Gonella and Panera bakeries.
AFAIK Aldi, like Lidl, came from Europe. We have several Aldi stores here in central Florida, but I have never seen a Lidl outside of my trip to Belgium and Germany in 2018. We shop at Aldi regularly and love it.
@PooltoyWolf yep, Germany. Here’s more info:
https://www.aldireviewer.com/how-are-aldi-and-lidl-related/
Lidl will be opening near me as they take over the Best Market locations, so I am awaiting their arrival as well. A friend who is a Captain at Trader Joe’s said that when Lidl’s open they are a big hit, but then their appeal starts to fade. I guess I’ll have to wait and find out for myself. In the meantime, I will continue to shop at my local Aldi and Trader Joe’s.
I’m a regular Aldi shopper. Been in a few Lidl’s…they are just starting to open by me ( heartyny above and I must live on same island).
The stores are very, very similar. German, no frills but low prices supermarkets. Like ALDI, almost all products are house brands. Lidl’s are a bit bigger than Aldi’s. They also have an in store bakery which ALDI does not have. Both have the rotating “ surprise” non grocery goods. Lidl appears to have a larger selection of personal care items (like razors and cold medicine).
To me, not a big difference between the stores. Glad to have Lidl openings though. Gives an option.
Both stores have an app. May be a good starting point.
Interesting factoid These two companies are owned by the same family- Aldi’s EU and Trader Joes is owned by one brother (now dead) and his brother owns Aldi’s USA.
@Kidsandliz
kinda like safeway, vons and albertsons? same company, different apps even. although in areas in so cal where there are both vons and albertsons, they share the same ads, but not the same merchandise
@Kidsandliz lidl isn’t owned by Aldi though.
I’m just going to say Aldi because they were there when I was a kid. And had a store in college. And if I want to drive thirty miles they are still the only one. Lidl is a new entry but they are both German discount stores.
I mean like any grocery store compare the cost/confidence/convienience/ products/price.
I just have Kroger and Walmart unless I choose to take a drive in ones a month on a good add day
I previously worked at HQ for lidl, so I can give you insight on the business end.
Most of the products are imported other than branded food, and are shipped over from Europe anywhere from one week to one month depending on if it’s perishability.
European food standards are typically stricter in most cases so everything shipped over is safe for consumption.
Produce are regularly tested by taking random samples from distribution sites and results are sent from testing institute to QA to be recorded.
The FDA and a couple other government entities regularly"randomly check" every other shipment for compliance so I wouldn’t be too worried about quality.
I can give more insight if PM’d, don’t want to say anything I would regret in a public forum lol
It doesn’t matter - I think they’re both great, but there aren’t any in the NW where I live, so I can’t shop at either except when traveling. And since I can’t shop at either regularly, they both suck.
Side note: I read once that Aldi has an award winning whiskey. No location I’ve visited has sold hard alcohol, so I can’t confirm.
@MichaelrGraham interesting. Cheap stuff.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.esquire.com/food-drink/drinks/amp21343868/aldi-whisky-best-in-world/
@MichaelrGraham actually, cancel that last article, lol.
http://www.boozist.com/aldi-whisky-not-best-world/
@RiotDemon lol, nice. And now I know why I can’t find any - Not sold in the US.
@MichaelrGraham @RiotDemon Aldis often have good wine. Never seen them have licquor. Award winning is typical. Best in world is BS awards don’t know what best means. And that’s subjective anyway
@MichaelrGraham But Trader Joe’s does. Their single malt is quite decent.
@MichaelrGraham @rtjhnstn yeah but the point would be it’s a good whiskey. Not a best in world. If you send me one I’m happy to review. But it would just go. Nice tates. I like whiskey. Let’s drink the rest
@CaptAmehrican I have both near enough that I can shop at either though I usually pass Aldi on my way home while Lidl is a small detour. I have particular items that I like from one vs the other. Lidl’s cream cheese is awesome. Tastes like Philly brand but it’s around $.69 a brick. Aldi’s cream cheese sucks. I find Lidl must do a better job of keeping their refrigerated items cold. A lot of Aldi dairy products seem to go bad more quickly. One exception tends to be the yogurt, which I absolutely prefer from Aldi. They normally have a better variety, particularly of Greek style yogurts. As mentioned, Lidl has their own bakery, though I don’t really buy much bread so it’s not a big reason to go out of the way for me. I’ve tried their donuts, they’re just okay. Lidl has a much larger selection of non-food items but a lot of it is small dollar stuff. Aldi’s Aisle of Shame tends to have more useful items since they don’t stock as many items. I think the overall selection at Lidl is a bit bigger while the prices are pretty comparable. In general I don’t favor one over the other unless there’s a specific item that I know I prefer. I can buy similar items from each at a similar cost so it’s more about convenience. The only item I’d absolutely go out of my way to Lidl for is this ice cream which is specific to them…
@cinoclav That looks like Ben and Jerry’s generic based on the graphics.
@Kidsandliz I’ve found that pretty much all the ‘gourmet’ private brand pints look like B&J. Though B&J doesn’t have a flavor that matches this one.
Totally unrelated, but I had a tinder date with someone on the Lidl payroll back when they were first trying to break into the Texas market a couple years ago. They were on the real estate negotiation team, or something like that, and were just in town to try and secure lots and buildings in prime areas.
We don’t have a Lidi yet, but Aldi is now my go to for kettle chips, $2 something a bag and as good as any name brand, cinnamon buns, and their frozen waffles (like Eggos). They do a good job of mimicking name brand packaging also. You can occasionally get name brands (like Gatorade) at amazing prices too but that’s a hit and miss. Have been reluctant to try any of their perishables.
I like Aldi’s mini chocoate chip cookies (24 small ones in a bag). Too bad I can only really get them a couple of times a year.
We have Aldi and Lidl, like 10 Aldis and 3 Lidls, and I prefer Aldi. In Eastern VA Aldi seems to be cheaper than lidl but not by much. I go to Aldi for the bread, pita chips, and other random foods but the main reason I go is for the Aldi finds isle. They have the greatest stuff at amazing prices. Electric glove dryer for 14.99, 1 gallon cool mist humidifier 24.99, Christmas inflatables for cheaper than Walmart and some other random things. Lidl doesn’t seem to have as many great deals on useful things.
@willdavi My Aldis ran out of all the Christmas lights and inflatables way too fast this year. But the long spools of multicolor LED lights were $4.00 cheaper than the similar ones at Walmart. Not exactly the same as I found out when a Walmart bulb failed and the Aldi spares would not fit but in use they can’t be told apart.
No Lidl around here. But at this point I’m so much an Aldi fan that store presence is an important factor in deciding where to move when we retire.
@duodec I think people are starting to figure out they have great prices on that stuff. We had aldi before Lidl and it made me more loyal to aldi than Lidl. Lidl’s Christmas stuff was more expensive than aldi too
@duodec @willdavi Do you still live in my (relative) neck of the woods? If so, which Aldi do you like the best? I’m partial to the one on Dundee in Palatine and the one in Vernon Hills. But I haven’t been to the one in Glenview yet. And the one in Mundelein is pretty nice. Maybe I like most of them. Except everyone was out of the peanut butter cups last week. That was a disappointment.
@mossygreen @willdavi
Palatine on Dundee is most frequent because of my commute. The one on Dundee in Arlington Heights had chocolate Advent calendars, Gluhwein, and the wonderful dessert breads for days longer than the Palatine one. The one up Rand in (Lake Zurich?) is ok and tends to have the periodic Duetsche Kutsche (sp) stuff in stock longer than the other two. Also tends to have the not-regularly-carried flavors of oriental chicken chunks (karage style) like the honey ginger and korean BBQ in stock after the others run out.
@duodec @willdavi I will always have a soft spot for the LZ Aldi for having Halloween wine long after everyone else was sold out, the year they had Halloween wine (it was great, ridiculously sweet). I think everybody likes shopping at the newer stores because they’re so much lighter and nicer in general. When the Palatine store opened, I was like, IT’S LIKE SHOPPING IN AN ALDI COMMERCIAL.
@mossygreen @willdavi I never had Gluhwein before. My wife is the wine connoisseur, not me. But we had two bottles over the holidays (one the standard red and one apple, I missed out on the cherry) and I loved the red. Cold Winter Jack was better than the hot apple gluhwein but the red… was just nice.
@duodec @willdavi Ah, I’ll have to pick up a bottle when they roll around again for the holidays.
Lidl’s just opened by a few months back, and I’ve been an Aldi shopper for years. I’d say they’re comparable with Lidl having a bit more on the “fancier” side of things (fresh bread bakery, for example, though I’m not sure if that’s a product of our locale where they bought out another supermarket chain that’s being concurrently run).
For me, Lidl opening worked out great because our nearest Aldi is a bit out of the way for me and Lidl is on my way home from work–and again they are comparable enough that I’m enjoying both equally.
@alchyilee That’s interesting, one of the newer Aldi near me has a bake shop, I wonder if they’re worried about Lidl potentially entering the market. Northern Illinois has a ridiculous number of grocery stores, so I don’t know if it would be a good idea. (During a conversation with a friend about a specific grocery chain “with an Italian name” that she couldn’t remember, it took me three tries to get it. That’s how many grocery stores we have.)
@alchyilee @mossygreen Marianos?
@alchyilee @duodec It was Valli Produce! I had to start w/Mariano’s, which I knew was wrong, and then Caputo’s, which I was pretty sure was wrong. And technically there are two rival Caputo’s, unless one went out of business.
@alchyilee @mossygreen Never heard of them. The Caputos up near us turned into Buteras a couple of years ago.
@alchyilee @duodec Yeah, I think that was Joe Caputo & Sons, there are still Angelo Caputo’s in the western suburbs. There are only a handful of Valli stores, no reason to know of them unless you live/work near one. I just like to know where ALL of the different grocery stores are, and what I can buy at each one.
I went today. I will probably give it one more chance but was not impressed.
I am not impressed. I will try it again in s month or so. While leaving i heard other shoppers talking about how worse then Safeway or giant.
@CaptAmehrican I meant to swing by this morning for the grand opening and gift cards, but overslept. I went to a different one closer to Bowie, and yeah, I don’t think they’ll get me to convert from Aldi. But we’ll see, only time will tell.
@CaptAmehrican That sounds so much different than the one I go to. At mine you walk in at the corner. The In door leads to the right and takes you past the bakery and produce first. The meats are all the way down the aisle towards the back of the store. Cheeses are also grouped together, though technically separated into the blocks and ‘higher’ end cheeses with the shredded and cheap stuff right next to that. It’s well laid out and easy to find everything. I can’t say I recall seeing any lighters sitting that low but now I want to go look again. Seems like your store started off with some poor planning.
Interesting google item
Lidl is a German-owned small-inventory grocery store, which naturally draws comparisons to Aldi, another German-owned small-inventory grocery store. … The families that own Lidl and Aldi (keep in mind that Aldi is technically two companies) are completely separate from one another.Feb 11, 2019
We have both. They get their produce on different days so that is enough reason to go to either store. Otherwise, it’s on an item by item basis for the “who’s better?” comparison. I usually stick with Aldi because they have more items that we use and can often avoid other grocery stores entirely. We’re not Wal-Mart shoppers so if it’s not Aldi then we’re going to Harris Teeter.
Neither has the best quality meat but that’s why we have butcher.
Also - Aldi has Skyr