Did you miss it? ALDI opened Thursday in Oswego, at the corner of U.S. 34 and Fifth St., across from Wal Mart. With over 1,400 items, it offers another alternative to the “big box” stores lining the adjoining street.
ALDI is a unique store, where it looks to save customers money by encouraging the use of recyclable bags and smarter shopping cart use by charging for bags and instituting a 25-cent deposit for using shopping carts.
The experience is extremely pleasant, especially if you’ve had experience with other discount stores that (how to say this gently) make you feel like you’re poor. In fact, I saw more SUVs and mid-priced luxury sedans than anything else. Inside is brightly light and a good sightlines (low shelves make the smaller stores seem less claustrophobic).
Putting my 25-cents into the cart was kinda neat, and looking across the street at the minefield of carts at Wal Mart makes you wonder why no one else does this. And, with stores like Walgreen selling (with coupon) shopping bags for less than $1, I felt really good about not just saving money but also doing a little something for the environment.
I bought a few things, but decided not to try and do a price comparison. Instead, I took the time to walk around, see what others were buying and what products were available. ALDI is known for stocking store brands for many staple goods and only 1 name brand for a given product. From past experience, I think many will be pleased with the quality, especially if you’re used to buying similar from Wal Mart or Meijer’s.
