Melba's Jammin' wrote:
>
> What do you know about them?

We've had one here for at least a year. I've been
twice. The first time was because I got their sale
flyer in the mail and they had those large Arizona
teas for $.59. So I went and stocked up on the raspberry
tea. I looked at their other stuff and was not impressed.
The produce looked awful. I might try some of their unheard-
of-brands of frozen foods because they're pretty cheap.
I was mainly looking for a good deal on breaded shrimp.
I never buy it in the supermarket because the prices are
ridiculous. I used to get a 2 or 3 lb. box at Food4Less
at a really great price but they closed several years ago
and I haven't had shrimp since. I was hoping Aldi's
would be an alternate source of shrimp. I'm not sure
I would try too many of their unheard-of-brand items
though.

I've been there twice in the last year. I might
check them out more often if they were closed to me
but they're kind of out of the way. I watch their
flyers in case they have any good deals on any brand-name
stuff I might want.

> First thing I noticed was that peple were getting their shopping carts
> from outside the building, not inside. Whatever.

Ah, but you have to put a quarter in the slot to get a cart.
I've been lucky that someone has offered me their cart for
free as they were leaving.

> I knew that I had to
> pay in cash and I knew that they charge for grocery bags if I didn't
> bring my own. I'm not crazy about the cash only, but that's how they do
> it and they've got an ATM inside and they do take SOME debit cards (mine
> would work).

Yeah, I'm glad they take debit cards because I never have
cash on my anymore.

> I didn't pick up a cart because I wanted to keep my
> spending low and limiting it to what I could carry seemed like a good
> way to achieve that. :-)

That would work for me as I wouldn't even go in. ;-) I need
the cart to hold me up. (I need to lean on it because of my
back.) I get one even if I'm only buying a loaf of bread!

> I spent $6.34, most of it in the produce department. I didn't plan to
> buy grape tomatoes, but they were 99 cents for a pint (very tasty they
> are, too); I didn't plan to buy mushrooms but they were 99 cents for a
> pint and looked good; I needed fresh garlic and two heads for 49 cents
> seemed reasonable (I'll see how fresh it is, I couldn't check there and
> haven't yet); a bunch of celery was 89 cents -- that seemed reasonable.

I'm very surprised that the produce was good? Our here has
really horrible produce.

> Then there was the strange little section that looked like it could have
> been Sam's Club -- there was a lounge chair (in a box) for sale, along
> with some other non-food stuff. Seemed very out of place.

Ours here is not at all like a regular supermarket, more
like a Dollar General or Big Lots with lots of non-grocery items
but more real food items.

> When I checked out and paid, I asked the cashier if I could assume that
> since the packaging on so many things was so similar to the national
> brands, that they were in fact made by the same folks. She said I can
> assume that. Swell.

I think that most store brands and generic stuff is actually
made by a major brand company but just package differently. Of
course they will never tell you which company it is. I have
on rare occasions had a generic product that was as good or
better than most of the major brands. A lot of store brands
at the regular supermarkets are very good. But others are not.
I guess it depends on which company makes them.

> The other thing I noticed was that that shopping
> cart outside could be procured for use for 25 cents - but you get your
> quarter back when you check out. Cool. They do it to keep carts out
> of the parking lot, I guess. I have no problem bringing my own bags
I don't recall getting a quarter when checking out. Or is that
when you put the cart back in the cart stand that you get your
quarter back? I wouldn't know as I gave mine to someone else
so I didn't actually put it back in the stand. And I certainly
didn't get a quarter back at the cash register.

Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?