ALDI — Local services in Livingston

If you've never been to the Aldi chain stores before you'll be surprised how they cut operating costs. Don't get me wrong, they do pass the savings to you - the consumers. First of all, you'll need to insert a quarter to unlock one if the shopping carts to use them, but you'll get your quarter back when you return the cart. That way, they save money by not needing to hire someone just to return the carts to the store. Actually it does more than that. Since all the carts will be returned by the customers, so there'll be no free running carts that'll occasionally ding your cars. That's smart!

They have most of your everyday groceries but most of them are no frills or store brand products of good quality. Most of the merchandise are just placed with the containers they shipped in, so fewer stocking staffs needed, hence save you more money.

This particular location maybe is just a "junior" store, which means it does not stock all their items as in the full size stores. In particular, from their circular they have rack of lamb on sale, but this location does not have them. I asked their staff about it and I was told they don't stock everything there. What a bummer. So that was an disappointment, hence the one star deduction. Also, with the minimum staff, very often there are spills, fruits that people accidentally dropped and stepped on left unattended. Someone can slip and fall, it's a law sue waiting to happen. That's another deduction from the rating.

Overall, I do like visiting Aldi. They have good quality products. They are an environmentally friendly store, which means they don't double or triple bag to pack your groceries. You'll need to bring...

Cheap. In all ways.

Tips: Bring a quarter for your shopping cart. They don’t trust you with a cart Bring bags for your groceries. They won’t bag your stuff and they won’t provide bags. Not even ones you pay for.

Product is cheap. That is for sure. $.95 for 3lbs of sugar. The way they pay for it is poor customer service. I went to grab a shopping cart (not realizing the quarter business) that was free standing and the cashier yelled at me that she needed it to stay there. Didn’t try to explain the system or provide advice on how to shop in their store. The general model is low stock and slim variety as a general rule, but the day I went there was many products missing from shelves. When I went there was no half and half or cream. They didnt have any Parmesan cheese other than the “kraft” product. There were moldy butternut squash in their display. The whole store looked like the day after a snow storm hit.

Signage and communication are not present. When I asked about the low stock the girl said “we aren’t allowed to post any individual signage, just what corporate sends us.” I asked someone for gluten free pasta - they responded “uhhhh I don’t think so.” My husband later found it on an end cap.

This store has been open for about 6 weeks and it looked about as unorganized as a soft open. All the workers are distant and unhelpful. No time or expense was allocated on their training, their responses are off the cuff and unprofessional.

The only thing that earns them stars is the fact that we bought multiple basic pantry items and it only came to about $50. Even still I...

I have never been to an Aldi before but have heard a lot of positive about them so was eager and happy to check out this new Aldi. Parking lot was clean and free of shopping carts. When I got inside I found out why. You give a 25 cents deposit to get a cart that is returned to you when you bring the cart back. 25 cents deposit or just new store maintaining its lot well... Whatever the reason, the lot was clear of stray shopping carts either way . Inside, the aisles were nice and wide and the store is well lit (as you'd expect in a new store). Everything was well signed throughout the store. The brand selection was somewhat limited (I was expecting this as I had heard it was part of their business model) but I found everything I was looking for, as well as a few items that I was not. No lines at the cash registers so I checked out quickly. Bring your own bags if you don't want to pay for them (.07 for paper or .10 for plastic), they don't give them out for free. Decent enough experience overall and I estimate I save $12-15 on a $30 order so worth...