Aldi opened its much-anticipated Tamarac location on December 1st.
The newest location at 7050 N University Drive is located on the Northeast corner of University and McNab Road is a full Aldi grocery store with beer and wine sales.
Believe it or not, this German company is the ninth largest food retailer in the world with over 1,000 stores across the United States. They are a discount grocery chain that offers consumers the highest quality everyday items at the lowest possible prices.
I first heard about Aldi on TV a few years ago and thought their no-frills concept of grocery shopping sounded fantastic. Aldi is now aggressively expanding throughout South Florida including locations in Lauderdale Lakes, Pembroke Pines and Deerfield Beach.
I visited Aldi at the Lauderdale Lakes location with my family one Saturday afternoon. Upon entering, the first thing we noticed is that we had to deposit 25 cents to use a shopping cart. This is returned when the cart is brought back, saving money on employees having to gather baskets in the parking lot.
Aldi is a no-frills supermarket that is almost entirely stocked with fictitious brand name products which often resemble their original, famous name, counterparts. Strolling down the aisles is like visiting a supermarket from some alternate universe. We picked up boxes of items that were just like our favorite brands.
Where they?
These were much less expensive. The labels on the items look almost like the labels of our favorite Kelloggs, Kraft, or Lays products, but they had entirely different names.
Aldi keeps it’s prices down because they want to sell the most popular selling items – items that move quickly and do not take up valuable shelf space. There is no deli, bakery or butcher at Aldi which is another money saving measure to keep the amount of foods that spoil to a minimum. There is a cooler section that sells dairy items and the price of one gallon of milk at Aldi sells for $1.99 versus $3.39 for the Publix store brand. Aldi also carries frozen foods and has a large produce section.
Check-out is no frills. They label their items with multiple UPC codes so the clerk does not have to turn your items around to scan them. Customers are encouraged to bring their own reusable bags as Aldi charges .11 cents for each one they provide. There are no baggers at Aldi. Once items are paid for, there is an area where customers can bag their own groceries. Don’t bother bringing your checkbook or credit cards: Aldi only accepts cash or a debit card (This has changed since the original publication date).
I liked this store and its prices so much that I will be back to get more of these bargains. Take a drive to our newest Aldi and check it out for yourself.
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