ALDI — Local services in Columbia Heights

Let's just say in the last month we've been to Super Target, Hyvee, and one of the new Cubs in Blaine that looks like a Kowalski's. Aldi has stepped up and basically destroyed the grocery game. Completely. Game over. One caveat is that their fresh produce is still up and coming, but we belong to Harmony Valley CSA, so we're at an advantage. Everything else, from meat, to deli meats, to organic milk and eggs, to toiletries, bath, ziplocks, spices, frz pizzas, etc etc. Even napkins and batteries.

You know that feeling when you want through Cub you're super careful because you know you might be getting hosed for a 400% margin on freaking ear drops? Lol not at Aldi. Just walk through, and throw anything you need into your cart, cause you know dang well that it's at least $1 off if not 50% off all the other places.

Yep. We're big fans now. For the 5 things they don't carry we'll hit Trader Joe's or just splurge and go to the Co-op. The normal weekly grocery bill that runs around $110-125 at Super Target is $55 here. I have the dang picture to proof it. That's all folks. Check out the rest of the pictures if you're not convinced.

Note: Aldi has their quirks. Here are tips:

1. bring a quarter for their carts, which you'll get back on the return trip. That's how they get you to return their carts so they don't have to have cart boys in the lot!
2. bring your own bags, or be prepared to buy them at the checkout lane for $0.10. Trust me the $0.40 you spend on bags you just saved like 10x that. So don't let that keep you from going;
3. ambience is like a small neighborhood store, not the big box. Think Trader Joe's but a little smaller;
4. produce is buy now eat now or within 3 days. Plan accordingly;
5. they do have a lot of organic selections. You just need to look at the price labels on the shelves;
6. organic produce selection is by season. So don't expect organic tomatoes in the winter. You dig?
7. again anything you don't find here go to their cousin store...

The store was nice I don’t know if I went to this one before. But when I tried to check out I was really confused because I tried to use the self check out and it didn’t take cash. I wish it would have said that because it was really embarrassing because I didn’t know what to do.

The ladies behind me helped me a lot. I’m not usually out in the community without home staff. Mostly I’m out on Fridays because there is double staffing where I live.

The ladies were pointing towards someone but I have a hard time understanding what I see when I’m confused. I figured out she was pointing to a person near the check out part but there were 2 people. I was more confused because someone was ringing up stuff, but he was busy and not looking at me. But there was a person to who was facing me with his whole body and looking at me. I kept trying to see who the ladies were pointing at, and I thought it was the man looking at me. I thought they were pointing more to him. i didnt want to interrupt the other person because he was still working. I went up to the person and saw that his landyard didn’t say Aldi. I asked if he worked here and he said no. After that I was really really embarrassed and I couldn’t focus anymore. People had to help me when it was my turn. I’ve been embarrassed in the community before if I don’t understand something but when the person wringing up my groceries said sorry about the delay or something, I felt like crying. I wish people could be nicer when I don’t understand things. I mean it is my fault I went up to the wrong person and I did make everyone have to wait longer because I zone out sometimes when I get to confused. But I like Aldi and it was hard to feel like that there and someone saying sorry for me taking up time. I wish it didn’t happen. Maybe on Friday I can come back with my IHS staff and get used to the...

8/1/2025 - Aldi "Twice as nice" product guarantee bogus. Purchased a bag of sea salt and vinegar potato chips a few weeks ago. Upon opening the bag, the chips tasted stale and were not crunchy. I've purchased these chips many times and this was unusual so I decided to return them to get a new bag. Aldi states in their return policy, that they have a "Twice as nice guarantee" policy for returns of their own branded products, replacement and full price refund. Now, $1.45 was not going to break me but since this is their policy, I asked for the refund as well as product replacement. The clerk said that you either get a product replacement or a refund. I explained Aldi policy and showed him the label on the back of the package. He insisted that I was not listening to him and began to raise his voice as he continually said I was not listening to him. I tried a second time to explain the company policy and showed him the back of the package. He began to get louder and, not wanting to make a scene, I just left with the replacement product. I called customer service and got a phone call back (which I missed) and an email later that this had been forwarded to the district manager. To date, I have not heard anything from a district manager or anyone else about their "Twice as nice guarantee" which makes me believe their "Twice as nice guarantee" policy is bogus. Maybe a class action lawsuit is needed.

8/15/2925 - Several weeks have gone by since customer service said they were forwarding this info to district manager. Have not had any contact t with district manager. Obviously they don't give a shit.

8/31/2025 - No contact with district manager after a month.

9/23/2025 - Still no contact with district manager...