Aldi is a German supermarket. Every branch in the World are to the exacting same size, spec and layout. They stock non branded food and goods and they can knock the spots off even M&S for quality and flavour.
I'M NOT GOING THERE!
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The shops were basic, like the old days of Kwik Save when you had boxes stacked up and the staff had to memorise everything in the store as there were no prices attached/on the products only on the shelves. Sometimes you'd visit and the store was in turmoil like the remnants of market day and looked dirty and "rough" (don't get me wrong I am no snob!). You'd buy some of the products and they were nasty, very cheap and tasted foul when they were supposed to be similar to a branded product. One that comes to mind is the mayonnaise. You'd have to wear sunglasses in the vain attempt that no-one could recognise you being there!
ALDI U-TURN!
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Get that image out of you head right now!
I received a nice little notice from Aldi on a visit about two years ago telling me that they are very sorry about raising the prices a little but they are improving the quality of their products and offering a guarantee that if the product is not satifactory you can return it for another or a refund. Fantastic but the proof had to be in the eating so I did! I am an ex-Tesco fan, one day whilst mooching Aldi under protest, something strange happened....THE JENNY TURNED
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I like pastrami, Tesco used to sell it for £1.99 and you'd get loads of slices a good dozen, then they introduced the Finest range....what a rip off! They reduced the number of slices of pastrami to about 5/6 and then put the finest label on it and had the audacity to charge the same price and tell us how lucky we were that the price hasn't moved... Work the maths out on that! Anyway I went to Aldi and I got loads of slices for 99p. I am a convert now and feel it's just throwing money away by not shopping there.
THE PRODUCTS
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Aldi have a full range of products for your household shop from crisps to cat food, continental meats to Chardonnay. Chain saws to cheese and lingerie to laptops.
The Jive bar is a copy of the Twix but it's like the Twix used to be, really caramelly and the chocolate nice and thick, it's actually nicer!. They have loads of products that are in fact made by the same manufacturers as the branded goods and the Aldi prices are hugely cheaper. They are including the odd product that is branded where they have no alternative product to. I have noticed that Morrisons stock some of the same products but they are still dearer than Aldi.
Let me tell you about the wine and the whiskey!
WINE AND BOOZE
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Okay their wine starts at £1.99. One of my faves is Evolution Old Vine Shiraz : £3.99 75cl
quotes from a wine guide.
“This beauty offers just-picked blueberries and subtle smoky notes on a medium-bodied palate.”
International Wine Challenge 2003 & Robert Joseph's Good Wine Guide 2004
The whiskey, an 8 year blended malt is only £8.
99 and is most nice. They stocks a full range of spirits and they are all 'similar' products. E.g Austin's is the copy of Pimms.
Sold it to you yet?
OTHER STUFF THAT IS FAB
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Every Thursday a whole bunch of clothes, computers, garden equipment, electronic equipment, toys, shoes, etc etc
I have purchased the Traveller 3 mega Pixel Digital camera with charger for £99 and it is the best thing I have bought. The quality is great and the photos are fabulous. I have no complaints and this is it's THIRD year.
You get a leaflet showing the products that are going to be introduced the following week.
Their declaration is that they bulk buy items and pass on the savings to the shoppers.
WHAT ESLE CAN I SAY?
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Give it a go, you'll be pleasantly surprised and I am sure you'll be amazed at the value for money.
Okay I did a shop yesterday 10/06/2004. It was a big shop, it filled the trolley and half of another, I picked up 6 bottles of wine and that nice whiskey £8.99. I also picked up a head lamp with straps for walking (£2.99), meats for meals, cheeses, continental cooked meats, salads, veg, 6 loaves of Rathbones thick white bread, fizzy pop, milk and dairy and lots of cakes, crisps and snacks.
My bill came to £90.80 for 92 items!
Now I call that value for money.
STAFF
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Lovely, they are friendly and the staff turnover at my local (Newark, Notts) is very low.
SURELY THERE'S A DOWNSIDE?
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Yes there is. No credit cards here, only Delta and switch debit cards and cheques and cash. it's not open late hours and it's not open Sundays. I still can't do a complete shop here as I do have a few branded items I prefer.
Aldi Website Quotes:
With over 5000 stores across the world Aldi is an international leader in grocery retailing. Our buying power means we can offer you an honest, straightforward deal: we buy at better rates, reducing our costs by cutting out gimmicks. The resultant savings are substantial and are passed on to you as discounted prices.
Why do you have to pay for carrier bags at Aldi?
There’s no such thing as a free carrier bag. Many retailers add this cost into the prices of their products and so you pay for them indirectly. At Aldi the decision to pay for carrier bags is yours.
Why are there no baskets at Aldi?
To have both baskets and trolleys only adds to the costs which leads to higher prices. Trolleys are easier to use, and with our £1.00 deposit system are less likely to go missing.
UPDATE 16/09/04
Aldi currently have a brilliant radio, CD, clock alarm for sale. It's made by Tevion (a brand for electrical items that is very good). It has a CD player, radio and buzzer alarm. It has AM and FM and a manual tuner for the radio. The CD functions are simple, play, stop, pause, search and beginning of track. You can choose the track you want to wake up to as well.
It's silver with huge pale green numbers that you can set to bright or dim. Chrome coloured buttons and a matt silver body it is quite large but looks great and works like a dream.
It costs £19.99 and is brilliant value. Hurry though they are going fast.
They have a laptop on offer too at £999 with infared mouse and software, the spec is in one of the pictures. Also be aware that items such as the laptops and digital cameras tend to be stored in their offices and all you need to is ask a member of staff, whom I always find helpful and they will let you have a look at the item.
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Update 31/03/05
A bright pink toaster, a drill set and dremel type craft tool are a few of our latest buys and we have not been disappointed.
They now scan all of the goods rather than remember all of the prices and they are starting to stock some branded items. They have more meats available and an amazing range of superb conserves. I made a few hampers for Christmas and everyone loved the foods and wines and I had got everything from Aldi. I think I have converted a few more people.
They have some nice bottles of tequilla and sambuca and they are nice... yum.
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With Aldi you only get a weeks notice of what is coming, so vigilance is the way to snap up fantastic products at great prices.
Happy Shopping
Jenny :o)
Booze Cruise to Aldi! 
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