ALDI — Local services in Alcoa

Love Aldi! They have great fresh foods and a good variety of both basic and specialized (organic products, imported cheeses, sprouted grain breads, gluten free items, fair trade coffee/sugar, etc.) foods. They keep prices low by having a small number of hard-working, friendly staff and not carrying every brand of every item. Most things are available in Aldi brand and maybe one other well known national brand. Aldi brand items are usually of equivalent quality to top national brands and there are some things that I prefer Aldi brand product. Their prices can't be beat; I can hardly bring myself to buy groceries at other places because it all seems so overpriced in comparison. There are also rotating supplies of household goods, from socks and pajamas to baking dishes and kitchen gadgets to camping gear and automotive supplies. They sell patio furniture and several sizes of pools in the summer. The quality of these items at Aldi far surpasses similar offerings at these prices at other stores. It isn't luxury items quality, but solid construction basic items that hold up much better than the bargain prices would suggest. I got my mother a pan here several years ago and it's still one of her favorites. Another way they keep prices low is that you get and return your own cart and bag your own groceries. The cart system requires a quarter deposit that you get back when returning the cart. The system can be slightly fiddly; to make the gray box release the chain attaching to the next cart, make sure the chain is fully pushed into the back of the gray box, then insert the quarter in the front of the gray box. As far as bagging one's groceries, you can bring your own bags, or they sell good quality economical reusable bags. I've had some of their paper bags for over a year and can still reuse them. Lastly, their employees care about their customers. I accidentally left my wallet there earlier this year and the manager tracked me down on Facebook and sent a message that they had it in their safe. Definitely above and beyond the call of duty. Try it out, you'll...

Clean store, pretty well stocked and the employees were NOT PLEASANT

A bit of background I've been shopping at Aldi's for over 12 years, 90 % my shopping gets done at Aldi's I probably visit the store at least four times a week, and out of all of the stores this store is BUSY, if you go in the morning is very well stocked but then by the afternoon it probably be empty.

However out of all of the stores this store has the nastiest employees, none of them with the exception of one kid that is no longer there, they all have an attitude they all seem to be bothered by simple questions.

Tonight I found a utility knife in the freezer I tried to call to the attention of an employee which she seems to be in a hurry to get away from me I gave her the knife which had been open in the meat department on a low shelf any kid could have taken it, well she didn't even thank me.

Then I proceed to the register where I needed assistance from the cashier on duty and she could not be more bothered she even rolled her eyes when I asked her about something.

Needless to say for the past month I've been driving to the Aldi's in Maryville although it's way out of my way.

It makes you wonder if the management of the store is so bad that the employees hate to be there which cannot even justify their attitude. Aldi may not be a high-end job but it also don't pay pennies, being nice to customers goes a long way when they are supporting your business and I work in customer service for over 30 years. I just can't with...

Normally we have a fantastic experience at this location but today wasnt so. Had a cashier named Alexandra who may have been having a bad day but didn't need to project it onto me or my family. Not so much as a simple hello. Ok fine. No big deal. Charged us for 6 of the same items when we only had 4. Again, no big deal, they will fix it. When i mention it to her thats when she got defensive and her attitude really showed. Demanded i show her the item like i was lying or something. Ok again, no big deal let me go grab it. She proceeds to count it in front of me in a condescending manner like i cannot count or something but then she realizes im correct and there really is only 4 items. So i ask her did i count wrong? No response. She goes quiet and hurriedly processes the refund and gives me an insincere sorry like it was the most painful thing she had to do. I honestly have never been disrespected at all by any employees until i met her.

To any managers reading hopefully you can retrain her on proper customer service. While waiting to talk to her about the error I overheard another employee telling the customer in front of me that shes from another store and to "make sure she doesnt double charge you" jokingly so maybe this is a common problem with her? Who knows, but please have a talk with Alexandra and make sure she does better...