not -l said:Wayne Boatwright said:In some areas, Ald's is definitely focused on the poor, and only found in
very poor neighborhoods. It is also evident in their marketing in these
stores as well. Perhaps Chicago is an exception. The few I found around
the Cleveland area were downright depressing to walk through.I have shopped 4 different Aldi stores here in the St. Louis area and they
have been in vastly different neighborhoods, from poor to affluent and the
stores have adapted to the needs of those neighborhoods. Crestwood, fairly
affluent, has all the staples you'd expect, plus things "poor" people are
not likely to be buying; specialty pastas and bread crumbs (tins like the
Progresso brand) are two that come to mind. North St. Louis County store is
in a predominantly poor, black neighborhood and, while the staples are the
same as Crestwood, there is much more "junk food" on display, and in the
carts going out the door - more chips, more high-fat, snack food, pre-cooked
bacon etc. Maplewood store has more items in the Mexican and Asian lines
and, when I asked where the bread crumbs were, I got a look like a had grown
another head and "don't have". Fenton store is an oddity in that it is like
cramming the North St. Louis and Crestwood stores together; its clientele is
a mix of affluent "McMansion owners" and blue-collar "country folk".I shop the Crestwood store most often and, in the year or so it has been
open, I have watched the store evolve. When it first opened, it carried the
staples and not much else; slowly they have added and subtracted items; for
example no longer offer pre-cooked bacon, but have added turkey bacon and
egg substitute. Originally, no low-fat items could be found, now lower-fat
cottage cheese, sour cream, neufchatel have been added. They are very good
about tailoring the store to what the customers want - they have to be, they
survive on volume.If Bozo Bonomo's experience is that is a store for poor people, then he is
probably visiting a location(s) where the customers are poor. The one I go
to most, would not be mistaken as a store for the poor - older, thrifty
folks maybe, but not poor.
The Crestwood store is pretty new. I'll make sure to drop by there,
since band practice is in Crestwood (I grew up on Lodgepole, off of
Old Sappington). In St. Louis, grocery stores are stratified by price
(as I imagine they are in many other places).
Straub's at the top, as they handle USDA Prime beef. There's
Dierberg's, then just below them, Schnucks. Next down is Shop'n Save,
where you bag your own groceries, and where the average physical
attractiveness of the customers is significantly lower than the stores
above. There are some scattered independents, IGAs and the like, most
of which are in poor areas. ALDI is a special case. Frugal folks
come from all socio-economic backgrounds, and ALDI's appeal is
price.
One thing for SURE. Their fresh meat is garbage that no person of
taste would accept (Enhanced with up to a __% solution...).
When I had to buy a bunch of butter and eggs for a PTO pancake
breakfast, I went to ALDI. I pretty much always buy butter there,
since butter keeps well, and I can buy it 6-8#s at a time. Fact is,
lines can be long, and there is a disportionate number of poor and
fixed income who shop there. I'm planning on going there today
(Maplewood) because they have oranges and grapefruits really cheap in
their ad. Squeezing lots of juice with my Little Pro Plus, serving
the juice to my wife and son, and reserving the accumulated pulp from
the basket for myself fits well with my weight loss plans.
As far as Fenton goes, a lot of the McMansion owners probably bought
more house than they could afford, and the regular Fentonites are
mostly hick. I know, I come from that area, and before we moved into
Crestwood, I lived in Fenton and went to Fenton Elementary for KG and
1st G. Until age 4, I lived in Jefferson County. It is a funny
coincidence that there are two towns with the same names as the pig on
Green Acres, and the drunk on Gunsmoke, down the road from each
other. All that said, I'd far rather live there than in the horror
that is St. Charles County.
Oh, another ALDI positive, they have Matt's cookies, rebranded as
Belmont for half the price of other retailers.
--Bryan