ALDI — Local services in Raleigh

November 7,2020 - Very good lighting, aisles wide enough, COVID-19 practices very good, products easy to reach (high and low), employees are friendly and very COVID-19 aware, customers here give you your space and seem more respectful of COVID-19 practices than many other stores these days, I have shopped ALDI since they first arrived in Raleigh (Calvary Drive & Louisburg RD) many years ago, the newer stores similar to this one just keep getting better in layout and overall design, I haven't found anyone that truly competes with them price wise, some do not like the quarter for a grocery cart plan. It helps a great deal with getting shoppers to return their carts and if they do not, people like me gladly take hat cart from the parking lot and use it for shopping. I take my own reusable bags; however, you can purchase bags at checkout or use empty boxes from the product shelves (if you find and empty or near empty one :) I'm pretty much Vegan and I like that the produce is located near the entrance as I need very little else. They do have their own branded merchandise like store brands in other grocery stores; but, they stock few name brands on their shelves. If you use their "contact us" and give details of products on their shelves; they sometimes have the real manufacturer contact you with details or an answer to you product question or complaint. When you have a complaint about a product; they will gladly refund your money. You may need to remind them that they have a double your money back guarantee on almost all of their products.

Con: Few major brand product labels; thus, no coupons No plastic bags at checkout You will need to take a quarter to rent the grocery cart Pros: COVID-19 friendly Staff friendly & helpful Customers friendly (Most wear COVID-19 mask) Above avg store brand label products Double cash back product guarantee Clean well lighted store Very good produce section Excellent pricing most items No plastic bags at checkout Products on shelves are in boxes (empty boxes avail for your items) When done with cart, you will need to take a quarter take your quarter from the grocery cart. You get your quarter back when you return the cart. NOTE: Most ALDI stores are like this one. Design / layout may be a little different; but, pros and cons are close to...

Prices at Aldi on some items are better compared to other grocery stores, but after extensive price-shopping, for the items I regularly purchase, it evens out in the end when I compare them to Foodlion. The deal breaker for me is their cashiers. They are by far the most unfriendly, non-helpful, & rude employees I've ever encountered. And, heaven forbid there be TWO cashiers working. No matter what time of day I've shopped, there's always ONE cashier with a long line of customers waiting. Their checkout procedure is chaotic at best & I've never had a cashier take the time to explain to me how they want it to roll. I get it that they don't bag your groceries, but heaven forbid you bring a self-standing tote & place it inside the shopping cart for them to place your items inside. I mean, they're going to place them inside the cart anyway, why not just place them inside the stand up tote?? The young black girl checking me out earlier this week was horribly rude when I asked if she could do that versus combining the items in my cart with the lady's groceries who was checking out behind me. It was chaotic & stressful because my fear was our items were going to get mixed up. The cashier snarkily replied that "we don't bag groceries". My response was that I understood that, but placing my few items inside the self-standing tote inside the cart took no extra effort on her part. That's when she told me to "go shop somewhere else." Well, ya know what, chickadee, you don't have to tell me twice. There isn't an Aldi really close to where I live, I would go out of my way to buy the few items that are priced better there compared to Foodlion. But, you know, it's not worth saving a few bucks to patronize a store with such...

My mother had an extremely rude and discriminatory interaction with a cashier named Alisa or Alisha today. No one was at the cash register when my mom got there so she put her things down towards the end of the conveyer belt and waited there, not wanting to be overbearing and standing right in front if they needed a second to set up.

When the cashier came back she immediately started questioning and berating my mother about putting her groceries towards the end of the conveyer belt. My mother was confused and asked what she meant because she thought the cashier can just move the conveyer belt down. She glared and said "now I have to look at you like this”, implying she would rather not have to look at my mom's face. She finally moved the conveyer belt and made a fuss about doing it. My mom felt so uncomfortable and tried saying something but the cashier cut her off saying "I can't hear you". When she handed the receipt over, my mom asked if she could speak to the manager. She said no and refused to let her speak to the manager. At that point my mom felt shocked, embarrassed, and upset so she decided to not argue further. She ended up going back into the store and letting the manager know about the interaction.

This did feel like a pointedly racist interaction towards her as an Asian person and she did not see her treat others with the same hostility. She is never one to complain about any employee or customer service worker, but this was such a shocking exchange that came out of nowhere and truly did feel like discrimination. I don't want other customers to have interactions with her like my mom did today and I think she needs to learn that this behavior is not okay and...