ALDI

[moXJO]

It cuts the time packing the shelves.

 

[rederob]

Feels like my local Woolworths is trying to copy Aldi displaying their products. What do you think??

What were you doing in the health food aisles?

 

[Smurf1976]

A long time ago Purity Supermarkets, which is an old name retained by Woolworths for many years in southern Tasmania until they eventually re-branded to Woolworths, tried a similar concept with the "Food Barn".

It was just a warehouse basically, all the goods in their original boxes stacked on industrial type shelves.

No scanners back then, the requirement was that you used a marker pen (which they supplied) to write the price of each item on the box, can etc that you took out of the original bulk boxes. The attraction was that everything was a bit cheaper than at the conventional Purity just down the hill less than a kilometer away which required no box opening or writing.

For those in Hobart, the "Food Barn" was in the building which is now Kingston Town shopping center which now has a normal Woolworths supermarket and other shops.

So if they're back to stacking boxes on shelves then everything old is new again it seems.

 

[Smurf1976]

What were you doing in the health food aisles?

It's all OK.

There's tomato for a start and it says "wholegrain" on one of the packs so all good, right?

 

[greggles]

It was just a warehouse basically, all the goods in their original boxes stacked on industrial type shelves.

In Queensland many years ago we had Jack the Slasher Food Barns where I recall having to write the prices on the products with black marker pens provided by the supermarket as goods were not individually priced.

Does anyone else recall Jack the Slasher and did these stores exist outside of Queensland?

 

[Smurf1976]

Does anyone else recall Jack the Slasher and did these stores exist outside of Queensland?

No but it seems to be the exact same concept.

 

[SirRumpole]

Does Franklins still exist ?

 

[DB008]

I guess you're referring to the boxes on the shelves.

Yes

 

[Smurf1976]

Went to Aldi yesterday intending to come back with food.

Also came back with a device for testing the moisture content of wood, tiles and other things. Since I'm not a termite, it has nothing to do with any sort of food but seemed like a possibly useful gadget for $14.99

 

[DB008]

Went to Costco here in Brisbane yesterday, first time visitor to Costco.

$60 per year membership to shop there.

I found that when Coles/Woolies have specials, more often that not they are cheaper than Costco.

Aldi seems consistently cheaper than Costco across the board, but without the brand names and huge selection.

Purchased Costco fuel too - it was only ~3 cents litre cheaper than my local petrol station. I thought that it would be a bigger difference (152.9 vs 149.9).

Not sure if l'll renew the Costco membership next year...

 

[qldfrog]

Went to Costco here in Brisbane yesterday, first time visitor to Costco.

$60 per year membership to shop there.

I found that when Coles/Woolies have specials, more often that not they are cheaper than Costco.

Aldi seems consistently cheaper than Costco across the board, but without the brand names and huge selection.

Purchased Costco fuel too - it was only ~3 cents litre cheaper than my local petrol station. I thought that it would be a bigger difference (152.9 vs 149.9).

Not sure if l'll renew the Costco membership next year...

My experience: costco fuel can be much cheaper but not always..
Costco forces big quantity, dearer than aldi nearly always but got brands
Great buys on Levi jeans etc
Can make a big difference and be a great deal if planning a party, a soccer end od year or similar kids event
Big cakes pizzas kgs of chips and rubbish food, 5kg yogurt or ice cream tubs, etc

otherwise not that great
Little cafes and corner shops can do well too
It is the place for bigger than life families and individuals..the US model of BMI
especially liked it seems here in qld by islanders and philipinos families
We sometimes go to north lakes and just get petrol there then shop in usual 3.
ps north lakes is where cosco is in Brisbane.
Usually not worth the membership
They have cheap coffins too

 

[sptrawler]

Went to Aldi yesterday intending to come back with food.

Also came back with a device for testing the moisture content of wood, tiles and other things. Since I'm not a termite, it has nothing to do with any sort of food but seemed like a possibly useful gadget for $14.99

I love Aldi,s junk shop, we bought their water proof jackets with the removable fleece liner for the trip, they have been brilliant.
Even at _2 in Norway, with a wind chill, they were great.

 

[sptrawler]

Went to Aldi yesterday intending to come back with food.

Also came back with a device for testing the moisture content of wood, tiles and other things. Since I'm not a termite, it has nothing to do with any sort of food but seemed like a possibly useful gadget for $14.99

I love Aldi,s junk shop, we bought their water proof jackets with the removable fleece liner for the trip, they have been brilliant.
Even at _2 in Norway, with a wind chill, they were great.

 

[Miss Hale]

Love Aldi. I shop there all the time and save at least 25% (sometimes more) on my grocery bill. Still have to go to Woolies for a few things but it's still worth doing most of my shopping at Aldi though. The stuff in the middle aisles is a bit hit and miss. Have got some good things from there but a few dud things as well (specifically two shelves for the shower with the suction cup things that both fell off the wall ).

 

[Logique]

Does Franklins still exist ?

Yes remember them, ahead of their time really, but I think Aldi does things with a tiny bit more retail finesse. Ironically, some of the old store premises are now Aldi anyway.

In 2011 the chain was bought by Metcash and the stores were sold off to independent buyers to operate as IGA or Aldi[citation needed] supermarkets. The last Franklins was at Westfield Miranda shopping centre; it was closed in April 2015 ..Wiki

 

[Zaxon]

Aldi does things with a tiny bit more retail finesse.

Aldi has come to the market at the exact time where people, world wide, are become less brand loyal. I know when I was growing up, house brands: Homebrand, Black & Gold, where considered cheap and nasty. That's part of the reason why Aldi has actual made up brands, which vary according to the category of goods.

But has the quality of the house brands improved, or is it just the shedding of the perception? My impression is the quality has gone way up. Stores now put effort into become a genuine competitor against the major brands. I'd be interested to hear whether other people think the quality of house brands has improved or not.

 

[Knobby22]

The Aldi brands were always good and it was usually pretty obvious where they came from if you taste them, e.g. Bulla Icecream (by Bega I believe).
A good example is their Flying energy drink, made in Germany, obviously Red Bull with a slight taste difference. Their European chocolate range is particularly high end.

The main reason I think they use their own brand names is so they can switch manufacturers. I know they did this with their Orange Juice at one stage.

The other supermarkets used to sell a poor quality no name brands but they have generally dropped these now for quality due to Aldi competition.

Aldi have added new brands though more recently for the organic section and have spent a fortune relighting their stores and installing more fridges to provide a more upmarket feel.

 

[Smurf1976]

But has the quality of the house brands improved, or is it just the shedding of the perception?

I know for a fact that ~20 years ago a commercial bakery made various different brands of bread.

When they switched from their own base level branded product to supermarket home brands, they put different bags in the machine that bagged the bread. That's it, no other change and exactly the same product with zero difference apart from the bag and price. There was a difference with their own products other than the base one, but the base one and the home brands were exactly the same bread.

Petrol is another one. Regardless of which service station you go to, in most places it's all coming from the same refinery and bulk storage tanks anyway. It might be different now but a few years ago all petrol, diesel etc sold in Tasmania was supplied by Shell regardless of what brand servo you bought it from. All came in the same ship and stored in the same tanks. Everything in WA was supplied by BP no matter what brand you bought. And so on. The different companies do add their own additives at the fuel terminal but that's a tiny fraction of what goes into your tank - it's akin to someone sprinkling their own brand of salt on the same chips basically.

 

[Zaxon]

Petrol is another one. Regardless of which service station you go to, in most places it's all coming from the same refinery and bulk storage tanks anyway. It might be different now

Petrol is still the same. Victorian petrol is also Shell.

 

[SirRumpole]

Petrol is still the same. Victorian petrol is also Shell.

Yeah, but oils aint oils.