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writerkitSo I finally tried the Aldi, because people get really enthusiastic about Aldi, and it's... fine?
It seems like the kind of grocery store where you go to see what they have, not to get things off a list. (Like, I do not think the fact that it's in the same plaza as an Ocean State Job Lot is a coincidence.) It would not work as my sole grocery store in quite the same way as any of the others I visit-- while I would not like being limited to one grocery store, it would be possible for any of the ones in my regular rotation. With Aldi it would not.
It is possible I would be more enthusiastic about it if I had fewer food restrictions, or if I had not decided to cut way down on my snack purchasing as a cost-saving measure. (Although it is possible that buying snacks at the Aldi might have a similar effect, from a cost-saving standpoint.) But there are certain essentials it's definitely lacking. (Though some of the things often described as "quirks" don't really register to me as odd; "you have to unlock the cart with a quarter which you get back when you return it" was a standard element of childhood trips to BJs.)
That being said, it does have some strong points, namely less than half of what I would normally pay for a bag of mandarins with no hesitation about quality-- they passed my "I am going to squeeze the entire bag to make sure they're of the desired firmness" test with flying colors and I didn't even have to try multiple bags to get there; it was the first one I picked up. (This is incredibly unusual.) There was lox that was sufficiently inexpensive that I could not resist buying it. It is wildly less overstimulating than most grocery stores-- one of the things they eliminate as a "frill" is having a background music playlist, and another is Bright! Eye-catching! Displays!
And if any of you not-allergic people are having trouble sourcing eggs, they're currently ~$4.50 a dozen at the Aldi.
So while it's not going into the regular rotation, I will probably drop in there occasionally just to see what's on offer.
It seems like the kind of grocery store where you go to see what they have, not to get things off a list. (Like, I do not think the fact that it's in the same plaza as an Ocean State Job Lot is a coincidence.) It would not work as my sole grocery store in quite the same way as any of the others I visit-- while I would not like being limited to one grocery store, it would be possible for any of the ones in my regular rotation. With Aldi it would not.
It is possible I would be more enthusiastic about it if I had fewer food restrictions, or if I had not decided to cut way down on my snack purchasing as a cost-saving measure. (Although it is possible that buying snacks at the Aldi might have a similar effect, from a cost-saving standpoint.) But there are certain essentials it's definitely lacking. (Though some of the things often described as "quirks" don't really register to me as odd; "you have to unlock the cart with a quarter which you get back when you return it" was a standard element of childhood trips to BJs.)
That being said, it does have some strong points, namely less than half of what I would normally pay for a bag of mandarins with no hesitation about quality-- they passed my "I am going to squeeze the entire bag to make sure they're of the desired firmness" test with flying colors and I didn't even have to try multiple bags to get there; it was the first one I picked up. (This is incredibly unusual.) There was lox that was sufficiently inexpensive that I could not resist buying it. It is wildly less overstimulating than most grocery stores-- one of the things they eliminate as a "frill" is having a background music playlist, and another is Bright! Eye-catching! Displays!
And if any of you not-allergic people are having trouble sourcing eggs, they're currently ~$4.50 a dozen at the Aldi.
So while it's not going into the regular rotation, I will probably drop in there occasionally just to see what's on offer.
