Signs of inflation

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Not sure what Harris Teeter is,
Every time I have looked at or purchased Aldi's food, I have regretted it.

I have even had bad luck with canned food there. Not always but there was not going to be a third time. I just stopped going ....
Harris Teeter has the same parent company as Kroger, if that helps. A lot of grocery stores are regional. Here in North Carolina, we have Food Lion, which has the same parent company as Hannaford (originally based in Maine), which I shopped at when I lived in the Northeast.

I'm sorry you haven't had good luck with Aldi. I've found that, through the years, they've improved dramatically--I've shopped there for maybe 30 years now. At first, they had crappy produce, only frozen meats, and their canned soups, in particular, I remember being awful. I mostly got basics, like sugar and flour.

These days, they have fresh meats (although a limited selection), fresh produce (wide selection), wonderful cheese, may organic products, and so forth. It may vary by location--my local one seems to get a lot of traffic (it looked pretty picked over yesterday--bare shelves in spots, little in the freezers). That may help with the meat and produce. Also, it's a fairly new store. My husband is hoping for a re-stock soon--it's Oktoberfest time, he's half German, and they have some wonderful German specialties.
 
Harris Teeter has the same parent company as Kroger, if that helps. A lot of grocery stores are regional. Here in North Carolina, we have Food Lion, which has the same parent company as Hannaford (originally based in Maine), which I shopped at when I lived in the Northeast.

I'm sorry you haven't had good luck with Aldi. I've found that, through the years, they've improved dramatically--I've shopped there for maybe 30 years now. At first, they had crappy produce, only frozen meats, and their canned soups, in particular, I remember being awful. I mostly got basics, like sugar and flour.

These days, they have fresh meats (although a limited selection), fresh produce (wide selection), wonderful cheese, may organic products, and so forth. It may vary by location--my local one seems to get a lot of traffic (it looked pretty picked over yesterday--bare shelves in spots, little in the freezers). That may help with the meat and produce. Also, it's a fairly new store. My husband is hoping for a re-stock soon--it's Oktoberfest time, he's half German, and they have some wonderful German specialties.
Aldi's model lends itself to not selling the highest quality, which is how they can lower their prices. They had a standing order for what other grocery stores passed on.
I have never been a fan of trading quality for price point, at least not with food and safety.
 
Not sure what Harris Teeter is,
Every time I have looked at or purchased Aldi's food, I have regretted it.

I have even had bad luck with canned food there. Not always but there was not going to be a third time. I just stopped going ....

Harris Teeter is one of Kroger's regional banners.

Some people are inherently turned off by Aldi, but there's nothing wrong with shopping there. Aldi doesn't manufacture its own products - they're sourced from the same companies that everyone else uses for their private labels (often, these are the name brand manufacture itself). My sole complaint is that for some products, they often change suppliers. The "premium" paper towel can be either the best value around, or just okay. I've only noticed this for a few products.

If Aldi's was more convenient, I'd shop there more often. Their "produce picks" pricing is hard to beat, although sometimes the quality leaves something to be desired. I can get better deals by shopping weekly circulars at Albertsons/Von's but this strategy won't work for everybody. It requires you to stock up when prices are low and build your meals around whatever meat and produce is on sale. Albertsons has the highest shelf pricing of any mainstream supermarket in the Los Angeles area, so you really need to be flexible and avoid shelf pricing.
 
Harris Teeter is one of Kroger's regional banners.

Some people are inherently turned off by Aldi, but there's nothing wrong with shopping there. Aldi doesn't manufacture its own products - they're sourced from the same companies that everyone else uses for their private labels (often, these are the name brand manufacture itself). My sole complaint is that for some products, they often change suppliers. The "premium" paper towel can be either the best value around, or just okay. I've only noticed this for a few products.

If Aldi's was more convenient, I'd shop there more often. Their "produce picks" pricing is hard to beat, although sometimes the quality leaves something to be desired. I can get better deals by shopping weekly circulars at Albertsons/Von's but this strategy won't work for everybody. It requires you to stock up when prices are low and build your meals around whatever meat and produce is on sale. Albertsons has the highest shelf pricing of any mainstream supermarket in the Los Angeles area, so you really need to be flexible and avoid shelf pricing.
Aldi's business model is to purchase what other retailers have refused and then try to cull out the bad. You can have decent or bad luck depending on who is doing the culling.

I don't enjoy grocery shopping, and I enjoy it even less when I have to do it twice.

I build my menu based on what my family and I want to eat, not what the bargain basement has on sale.

I used to go to Aldi's because it was close. Since I started going there ten years ago, I have had too many bad experiences. More so than shopping at Walmart. After a while, you just choose a better supplier and a new grocery store was built closer with better quality.

My opinion of Aldi's is not based on brand but on experience. Learning is defined as a change in behavior as the result of experience. As such, I have learned to skip Aldi's and go to Market Basket, which has much better quality with similar pricing.
 
Aldi's business model is to purchase what other retailers have refused and then try to cull out the bad. You can have decent or bad luck depending on who is doing the culling.

That's no accurate. Aldi has over 2,300 location in the USA - and many are high volume. There's simply no way it could source product for that many locations by using the business model you described. No question it procures product by specifying a set of standards and having manufactures bid for its business. In other words... the same business model that Walmart, Target, Costco, Kroger, etc. use (although Kroger manufactures some of its product).

We get it, you don't like Aldi. But most everybody else does -- in the past decade, it doubled the number of stores it operates, and recently acquired Southern Grocers (owners of Winn Dixie). Meanwhile, most every grocery giant has shrunk the number of locations it operates during the same period. You're entitled to your opinions but you shouldn't judge others for shopping there.
 
That's no accurate. Aldi has over 2,300 location in the USA - and many are high volume. There's simply no way it could source product for that many locations by using the business model you described. No question it procures product by specifying a set of standards and having manufactures bid for its business. In other words... the same business model that Walmart, Target, Costco, Kroger, etc. use (although Kroger manufactures some of its product).

We get it, you don't like Aldi. But most everybody else does -- in the past decade, it doubled the number of stores it operates, and recently acquired Southern Grocers (owners of Winn Dixie). Meanwhile, most every grocery giant has shrunk the number of locations it operates during the same period. You're entitled to your opinions but you shouldn't judge others for shopping there.
I don’t judge other for shopping there at all….

I feel sorry for them….

I also don’t believe your assessment of their business model is accurate…. Not the fact that they put other stores out of business had to do with quality

Walmart and Amazon have put a lot of retailers out of business…. They didn’t do it with better quality products. Just cheaper ones
 
I don’t judge other for shopping there at all….

I feel sorry for them….

I also don’t believe your assessment of their business model is accurate…. Not the fact that they put other stores out of business had to do with quality

Walmart and Amazon have put a lot of retailers out of business…. They didn’t do it with better quality products. Just cheaper ones
Just as an FYI, you are clearly approaching the Aldi issue from a strictly North American context (I think I assumed that you're in Canada?). I can only assume that's what you meant when you said you feel sorry for people for shopping there, implying that it's a poor quality shop.

In Europe, where Aldi is based, while it is discount, it's not looked upon with such disdain as people do here. As a matter of fact, my wife and I bought out one Aldi's stock of paprika in Budapest last year. Aldi also won Grocer of the Year in the UK several years ago, I think. So while it's discount in Europe, it's not the bottom of the barrel crap-mart in the way that some people characterise it here.
 
Aldi's business model is to purchase what other retailers have refused and then try to cull out the bad. You can have decent or bad luck depending on who is doing the culling.

I don't enjoy grocery shopping, and I enjoy it even less when I have to do it twice.

I build my menu based on what my family and I want to eat, not what the bargain basement has on sale.

I used to go to Aldi's because it was close. Since I started going there ten years ago, I have had too many bad experiences. More so than shopping at Walmart. After a while, you just choose a better supplier and a new grocery store was built closer with better quality.

My opinion of Aldi's is not based on brand but on experience. Learning is defined as a change in behavior as the result of experience. As such, I have learned to skip Aldi's and go to Market Basket, which has much better quality with similar pricing.
I used to LOVE shopping at Market Basket! It was my weekly go-to when I lived in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, last I knew, they only operated in NH and MA (maybe they've expended since I moved in 2015, but they're certainly not in NC!). Believe me, if there was a Market Basket around here, I'd jump on it with both feet.

I also get groceries at Walmart, but not fresh meat, typically. I find that they don't have either the best prices OR the best quality. I get meat at Aldi's during the week, then DH prefers Food Lion for weekend (grilling) meats. We do Publix for a few things, and there's a Butcher's Market nearby for special occasions.
 
Maybe I haven’t read everyone’s replies but where are the Costco folks? While inflation has hit lots of people hard, I haven’t noticed it as much at Costco. The meat, seafood, produce, groceries there are great and very affordable.
 
I don’t judge other for shopping there at all….

I feel sorry for them….

I also don’t believe your assessment of their business model is accurate…. Not the fact that they put other stores out of business had to do with quality

Walmart and Amazon have put a lot of retailers out of business…. They didn’t do it with better quality products. Just cheaper ones

I did an internship many years ago in procurement, so I'm very aware of how the process works. And for years, one of our largest clients was a contract manufacturer for one of the largest consumer brands in the world. Many of the name brands were packaged as private labels. Literally the same product being sold as the national name brand, Whole Foods, Aldi, etc.

But I've learned in life that it makes some people feel better about themselves paying more for a product, based on its brand name or where they shopped. Here in the Los Angeles area, imported Asian watermelons are sold at premium markets for about $100 each. But a savvy shopper can purchase the same product (overstock) for about $10 at a farmer's market or discount grocery store. But I guess paying $90 more makes the watermelon taste even better ;).

You're obviously one of those people. Keep paying more -- it's subsiding pricing for us :).
 
Maybe I haven’t read everyone’s replies but where are the Costco folks? While inflation has hit lots of people hard, I haven’t noticed it as much at Costco. The meat, seafood, produce, groceries there are great and very affordable.

Prices at Costco climbed like they did elsewhere. Everything from household (a 200-pack of garbage bags is up $7 from 2019), to meat & seafood (90/10 ground sirloin has doubled), to produce, etc.
 
I did an internship many years ago in procurement, so I'm very aware of how the process works. And for years, one of our largest clients was a contract manufacturer for one of the largest consumer brands in the world. Many of the name brands were packaged as private labels. Literally the same product being sold as the national name brand, Whole Foods, Aldi, etc.

But I've learned in life that it makes some people feel better about themselves paying more for a product, based on its brand name or where they shopped. Here in the Los Angeles area, imported Asian watermelons are sold at premium markets for about $100 each. But a savvy shopper can purchase the same product (overstock) for about $10 at a farmer's market or discount grocery store. But I guess paying $90 more makes the watermelon taste even better ;).

You're obviously one of those people. Keep paying more -- it's subsiding pricing for us :).
Don’t even bother…some things you can’t fix…
 
Prices at Costco climbed like they did elsewhere. Everything from household (a 200-pack of garbage bags is up $7 from 2019), to meat & seafood (90/10 ground sirloin has doubled), to produce, etc.
Quite the contrary. Costco’s prices are falling faster than inflation. Beef, eggs, gas, the famous hot dog, have all dropped in price or in the case of the hot
Dog and pizza slice, haven’t risen in price.
 
I used to LOVE shopping at Market Basket! It was my weekly go-to when I lived in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, last I knew, they only operated in NH and MA (maybe they've expended since I moved in 2015, but they're certainly not in NC!). Believe me, if there was a Market Basket around here, I'd jump on it with both feet.

I also get groceries at Walmart, but not fresh meat, typically. I find that they don't have either the best prices OR the best quality. I get meat at Aldi's during the week, then DH prefers Food Lion for weekend (grilling) meats. We do Publix for a few things, and there's a Butcher's Market nearby for special occasions.
As far as I now Market Basket might have a store in maine but yes, Ma and Nh,

Walmart got caught injecting their steaks with some type of gas a few years back to keep it red long after it was not fit to eat…. however, the Walmart near me is pretty good about rotating stock….will get pork, chicken and brisket there….produce is usually pretty ok without having to pick the pile


I love Publix when I‘m in s Florida, hot food and sandwiches are amazing,
I’ll get provision for work out of a Publix without any fear, of servicing bad food



.
 
Maybe I haven’t read everyone’s replies but where are the Costco folks? While inflation has hit lots of people hard, I haven’t noticed it as much at Costco. The meat, seafood, produce, groceries there are great and very affordable.
I buy most everything at Costco. Even Costco’s prices have risen. Yes, some of the prices are falling some, but they aren’t back to what they were before inflation skyrocketed.
 
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