ALDI — Attraction in Opelika

Overview: It’s one of my favorite stores for price, waste reduction, unexpected deals on dry goods, and good store-brand items. The deli meats can be sketchy.

Selection: Aldi’s has a limited selection, but that’s part of what makes it so affordable. You won’t find a wide selection of veggies (no poblano peppers, for instance), but you’ll find common things like jalapeños. They don’t sell chickpea flour, but they have almond flour.

Waste reduction: I love that you need to bring your own bags of r buy them on the spot because I’m encouraged to waste less plastic. They also have reasonably priced eggs in biodegradable cartons, and they currently have honey crisp apples in paper bags. Some packaging is more than at other stores (broccoli), but often they have good options for reducing waste.

Dry goods: Their dry goods aisle has just enough to make it worth a look for a good find. The selection is for a limited time, so if you see something you want, you’d better get it right then. I picked up a couple of fantastic kennel dog beds awhile back and have been pleased with how they’ve held up. The constant rotation of items means it’s always worth browsing.

Store-branded items: Their store-branded items tend to be better than other stores’ store-branded items (e.g., their chunky salsa).

Deli: The dates on their sliced deli meats are hard to read, so be careful. That’s the one purchase I’ve been burned on in the past. I picked up some sliced chicken and opened it maybe the next day (no later than the day after), and it was spoiled. After a long pause on buying their deli meats, I gave them another shot. The dates are really hard to see, but I found them. The next...

The prices are amazing, but the cashier was so rude. I’ve been there 3 times and every time I’ve had the same cashier- younger white man with dirty blonde hair. Each time he rolled his eyes, did not say a word, and just threw my things into the cart. One time in specific my friend and I had come in and we had shared one cart. When we got to the register we told him that we wanted to use our cart and the one at the register so we could keep our items separate. I pushed my cart up next to him so he could put my things in it, and apparently I didn’t put it close enough because he grabbed the side of it and slammed it into the side of the register. He then rolled his eyes so hard I thought they’d fall out of his head and continued ringing up our things. Once we were both finished we pushed our carts to the ledge at the end of the store to pack our things into bags. The cashier came up to us and tried grabbing one of the carts and when we said we weren’t finished, he sighed loudly and, again, rolled his eyes. I am baffled that he still works there considering I witnessed his rudeness towards not only us, but every other customer ahead of us in line. If you fire him, aldi will be...

I usually don't have problems with Aldi's. Their customer service is mediocre. At my store in Opleika, AL there's mostly young college kids. Today, I had an interesting experience. I turned my head for a second and this kid was trying to ring up so fast he started ringing up my stuff with the lady in front of me. The lady had a plastic bag in between to separate our stuff and he had the rudeness to tell me well next time put this thing and held up the separator in between. Okay kid who do you think you are you to talk to me like that. I'm a young person too, but I'm older than you so calm down. Also, the lady in front of me didn't even have a separator for her stuff and the customer in front of her. Don't you ever talk down to me like again or else there will be a problem next time. I won't be getting sick from people touching those separators. Thanks. Next time take notice of the space between groups of items and the bag that clearly...