With some fanfare, a new Aldi opened along the corridor where I purchase groceries. Aldi, never Aldi's, per company insistence. The string of food stores begins with Trader Joe's to the north, then Shop-Rite, my principal store with best prices and largest Kosher selection. Across from that sits Sprouts, usually the best produce and a large section of coffee beans with specialty grinder, though higher in price. Further south on the Sprouts side of the highway sits a Giant, where I get my prescriptions. And the new Aldi opened across from that, with an Acme, the most ubiquitous chain in my region, a mile south of that. Kosher means Shop-Rite and Trader Joe's.
Yet Aldi has enough uniqueness that I had to see what's there. For sure, Kosher is not on their radar, yet not absent either. The chain, an international one headquartered in Germany, boasts lowest prices. Many podcasts explain their business strategy. As the videos claim, my local Aldi has a lot less floor space than all the others except perhaps Trader Joe's. Shopping carts are rented for an American quarter inserted into a slot. There are no designated shopping cart return aisles scattered through the small parking lot. Return the cart to the front and the quarter deposit will pop out of the slot. Aldi sells many fewer products than the others but at least some variety of things that shoppers will want. Produce introduces the shopper at the front entrance. Basic stuff: grapes, cucumbers, mushrooms. Most fruits and vegetables come in small packages. No bins to choose your own apples or onions and weigh at the cash register. Of packaged goods, proprietary house-label packed products are often the only option. Breads and pastries have some variety. Snack foods nearly all private label. Pastas take many shapes but few brands. Cereals have the popular choices, nearly all private label. Same with spices. One aisle, much publicized, are non-food items which seem a good value for the purchasing agents to acquire in bulk, then discount to shoppers. I did not find a theme to what got offered in that aisle on any of my three excursions. At the back, a refrigerated section with cheese and meats. Two frozen areas, one a reach-in bin, the other a freezer with a door. Positioned appropriately as the last stop before the checkout registers, which are nearly all scan your own.
What about the Kosher consumers like myself? Kosher is not on their radar but other than meat, a reasonably varied and nutritious diet can be assembled. Fresh produce needs no certification. The selection is more than ample for a healthy diet. Baked goods have Kosher marks on many labels. Some are regional Hechshers that might not have universal acceptance. Not all the loaf breads specifically indicate pareve. Packaged bagels are not what you get up early on a Sunday morning to get fresh from the oven. And not all undercut the prices charged by the other chain markets that line the highway.
Snacks are more mixed. Potato chips, all house brand, all carry an international certification and come in varieties. Many other snacks with an OU or similar at the competing markets have no certification at all. Nor do many of the spices. Olives are hit-and-miss, pickles mostly hit. Cheese came as a pleasant surprise. They are often hard to qualify as kosher. A few in the refrigerated case did. Yogurt came as another pleasant surprise. Much with an OU, about a third less in price from other places. Cereal largely Kosher. To my disappointment, the canned fish, sardines, tuna, and the like, with universal kosher indication from the other markets, often lacked this tag on the cans at Aldi.
I think it would be difficult for Aldi to displace Shop-Rite as the destination supermarket for those of us with kosher households, at least if we live in places with an abundance of markets. There are some of us who live in more isolated areas or have restrained budgets that will find the prices attractive and the array of kosher-certified products adequate. Though Kosher is definitely not a business priority for the company.
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