Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by slfnflctd 857 days ago
There are 2,356 Aldi stores in the US right now and it's probably growing. They've been expanding massively here for the past 10-15 years or longer.
4 comments

There are 4.215 Aldi stores in Germany, 1.997 of those from Aldi Süd who also operates the US stores. Add to that 960 Aldi Süd stores in the UK, 530 in Austria, and a couple more in the other neighboring countries, and I think it's completely fair to be surprised if an aldi price map focuses completely on the US.
There is a big discussion in the EU for some products that are far more expensive in some countries over others. If someone who do this for Aldi in Europe, they would see that some "more expensive" countries, are selling the very same products at lower prices than some of the "more cheap" ones.

And that will piss people off, and politicians everywhere don't liked pissed-off people.

"Aldi" is actually split across two different companies that operate in different regions of the world: Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd. In the US, Aldi Süd operates the Aldi stores, whereas Aldi Nord owns Trader Joe's.
Reminds me of how the world was divided into a Spanish and Portuguese hemisphere in 1494 ;)
I think the problem there is that Aldi and Trader Joe's stores are in the same territory, should we be looking at localized warfare? :D . I like both, but Trader Joe's is always ridiculously crowded. They could add two more here and still be "crowded" but not "oh-my-god I can't go into that mess". I think they're leaving money laying on the table with this choice. I've lived in 3 cities and it was always the same, too much for those of us who get anxious when every time you stop to pick up something for more than two seconds, you have someone looking over your shoulder at the same thing.
For a long time there was only 1 NYC Trader Joes, in Union Square, and it was a madhouse. Fortunately they do tend to expand, it just takes a while. Off-peak hours like weekday mornings help too.
Aldi Nord and Süd are not competing and have significant corporations in supply chain and marketing
Is LIDL related to the group at all? I've been seeing them pop up too
They're a competitor.
No, Lidl is part of another group that also owns Kaufland.
> They've been expanding massively here for the past 10-15 years or longer.

Yup, in my state they basically bought out ALL of the old Bed Bath and Beyond leases and are converting them to Aldi supermarkets.

What the hell, my brand new Aldi is an old BBB too! (split in half)
They're now the third largest chain in the USA.