Advantages: Excellent value for money, everything in same place
Disadvantages: can't do a whole shop there yet

.... 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 -------------------------------- 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... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Decent twice-weekly specials
Disadvantages: Feels somewhat dis-jointed

...more) codes to remember and these codes can be seen on the over-head price tage but mean nothing to the shopper. That means if you buy a bunch of bananas and are unfortunate to buy them a day before they come off the shelves as past their best, they will not be good for long. One massive advantage (for me) is that they stock some lovely German sausages, such as kabbanos, garlic sausage, nurnumberg sausages, salami; meats, such as parma ham and maple bacon and continental cheeses which you can't get from other shops so readily. At Christmas time the lovely Lebkuchen (spicy German biscuits/cakes) come into the shop as does some tasty mulled wine. Aldi's beauty products are also fairly decent, well priced and are not tested on animals. They have started to stock basic medicines and even multivitamin supplements, though I wouldn't buy those... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Excellent value
Disadvantages: Limited choiced changing daily

...~introduction~ Hi. It's great to help people and share information ! As I moved into a flat one year ago today and I of course needed a food I wondered where to shop being new to the area. Living in London England means there are plenty of choices as where one can shop for food. The area I live in as a huge selection 2 Tescos, Sainsburys, Co-op, Lidl, Aldi so the cheapest possible and the smallest time waiting at the check out was what mattered. I was still confused about where to buy. I know you must be laughing just go to Tesco, Sainsburys or Co Op good british names. Anyway, I was little confused also because I have not shopped at Aldi or Lidl so did not know what to expect but wanted to try them out. The fact is for some things Sainsburys is the most expensive Tesco is cheaper but Co op more expensive than bother... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Cheap, Genuine bargains, No costly gimmicks
Disadvantages: Limited supply, Busy checkouts, Unfamiliar brands

...Three or four weeks ago I was singing the praises of my Gillette Mach 3 razor, which I claimed was the ultimate shave, the only drawback being the price. Well I have some news. Last Saturday I visited my local Aldi and was nearly trampled to death by a crowd of blokes bigger than that which usually watches Wrexham’s home matches. Recovering my composure I decided to join in the melee, believing that they probably had one of their brilliant computer deals on. You know what I mean laptops, pc’s, printers, digital cameras, Digital TV’s, etc. at unbelievable prices – the only drawback being by the time I get there they’ve all gone! I pushed myself to the front of the crowd only to find that rather than some high-tec equipment, they were all drooling over a delivery of razors. ‘Best shave I... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Cheap, free parking
Disadvantages: Queues at checkouts, special buys run out quickly

...Ok, ok. So some people hear the name 'Aldi' and imagine a tacky run-down store with nothing going for it. They're wrong. Aldi is actually very useful for finding bargains or saving money on your shopping bill. Aldi stores are run on a budget. They only sell own brands. These are cheaply priced and good quality. There are usually only 2 or 3 members of staff in the store. This also helps keep costs down. When Thursday morning comes, everything changes. You see, every Thursday morning the new 'special buys' come into the stores. This means a queue outside the store before it opens if you want to get one of the more popular buys. (There’s usually a queue at the checkout too) The outside queue can vary. An hour before the store opens should be enough do make sure you definitely get what you want. I generally... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Well laid out stores, high quality for low prices.
Disadvantages: Electrical goods can be an unknown quantity, not enough checkout staff.

...afford to come back later to buy something as it has usually sold out. We found this when we went back to buy our son a mountain bike only to find the last one had gone and they were getting no more in. Aldi do release a "special offer" leaflet twice a week which is worth picking up to pre-empt the rush for these limited stock goods. The last section of the store that deserves mention is the alcohol aisle. Row upon row of wines, beers and spirits are available all at absolute rock bottom prices. Again they have equivalents of popular brands with "Ballycastle" being Aldi's own "Baileys" and, rather cheekily in my opinion, "Oscars" being "Archers". Wine starts from £1.99 and with a bit of trial and error you are guaranteed to find a bottle you like. Similarly, the beer selection is wide and I have found their bitters particularly impressive... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Good continental food at the right price
Disadvantages: Not a wide enough range of products

...I am republishing this, as the earlier version was in the wrong category- apologies for the error. ***************************************************************** Many people turn their nose up at the thought of shopping in one of the discount supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl. I think it is more to do with their own insecurities (arising from the supposed stigma of being poor) than actual experience. When I first saw an Aldi store in the 1990s the store was basic. There were just piles and piles of products - still stacked on pallets in what appeared to be a random manner. Being used to the organized, carefully labelled aisles of Tescos and Sainsburys, I found this off putting. The products were lowcost - at one time beans dropped to 3p!- the presentation i.e. just stacking them up on pallets however made them appear cheap... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Cheap and Cheerfull
Disadvantages: The Que's

...My mother is addicted to shopping there isn’t a day where she doesn’t go to the shops and lucky me I get dragged along for help with the bags etc. This experience of non–stop shopping gives me a good insight to many different shops, her favourites are food shops. I asked her once if there was a reason for her needing to have so much food in, seeing as she lives alone now with just her 3 dogs for company and two of my nieces of a weekend. Her reply was a simple one, basically she told me that when she was a youngster there was very little food in the house and she comes from a very large family (21 in all). When the family extended the food supply never. This experience with my mom has opened my eyes to the differences in prices in different shops. ALDI V’s SAINSBURYS Sainsburys as we all know... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Cheap and High Quality Goods
Disadvantages: Queues can be a bit big.

...Everyone has taken the Mick out of Aldi in it's time. "Ooh look at that cheap shop selling all the 'no frills goods', i go to tesco and buy from their finest* range' Well not anymore as Aldi has come along way. Alsi used to be cheap and so did Lidl and Netto but they have changed a lot after all the years of discrimination. Aldi offer goods at cheap prices. They are not branded goods like in the main chain supermarkets they are their own special branded goods and everything is made exclusively for Aldi. Some of the names are knock offs of brand names such as their Dandruff shampoo which was known as 'Head Strong' a take of Head and Shoulders. The products are very similar and about 20% cheaper than the average supermarket. Everything you can buy in somewhere like tesco is available in aldi including fresh bread and meat which... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: very very cheap
Disadvantages: no nice shelving

...When I first moved to England I found shopping to be very expensive even though I was assured that ASDA was cheap. Then I spotted Aldi - hurray. Aldi has been around in Germany for donkey years and nobody seems to be ashamed to be seen going into it anymore. Fair enough, you do not have fancy layouts on tidy shelves but boxes stacked on top of each other, but look at the prices: are you really willing to pay up to 5x more just for nice shelving? We have two cats and have to buy lots of cat litter which only costs 99 pence at Aldi - compared to Sainsbury around £5. The quality of products is generally good. Ok, Baked Beans I would not recommend but then most cheap Baked Beans do not match up to Heinz, do they. I find it difficult to spend more than £ 30 at Aldi and am amazed every time how many bags I have to carry home. Aldi also... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful