ALDI — Local services in Wheeling Township

We shop Aldi regularly. For many years I skipped Aldi - this was the only store they had in the area. Now there are several but this one is the closest to my home. In the past, it had limited stock. A little over a year ago we gave it another try. I was surprised to see that I had never reviewed it before so here goes.

Aldi's prices cannot be beaten. While their selection of fresh fruit and vegetables is limited, the quality is usually outstanding. They are known for their dairy section. For a long time, for example, eggs were about $0.49 per dozen. With gas prices up, the prices for their milk and eggs have also gone up, but still are better than the larger grocers. Like their vegetables, they have a limited choice of meats, cheeses, chips, crackers, candy, snacks, etc., but always good quality and fair prices.

They have an ample selection of frozen foods, canned and jarred goods and cater to a lot of ethnic tastes. I particularly like that they have specials geared toward the season. For example, in October (Octoberfest), they had a large selection of German delicacies and desserts. They also have an aisle (and sometimes more) dedicated to a variety of non-grocery items - flashlights, car seats, tools, electronics - it is always changing, always a surprise and the prices are outstanding on these specials. We usually walk out with some type of impulse buy from this section.

My only complaint is in order to keep their prices down they have very limited staff. Generally, there is a line at the register and it takes a while for whoever is in back to realize it and open a lane.

If you don't shop there and want to try, two tips (1) bring your own shopping bags or you will pay per bag. (2) In order to have people return carts and not leave them in the lot you need to put a quarter into a slot to unlock a cart. When you return the cart, your...

I see so much negativity...it's a no-frills store in order to keep prices down. The cart system ensures that 99% of the customers will return the cart, thus keeping prices down because they don't need a cart wrangler. The coin mechanism can get sticky. Jiggle it. I've never lost a quarter yet. They work with a skeleton crew, as do all Aldis. Rarely are 2 checkouts open at the same time but I've witnessed it. You have to make little sacrifices for your low prices. The produce is usually excellent, love the salmon, tuna is better quality than chicken of the sea cat food...I find most of their house brands equal to or better than name brands. Yeah, it's smaller than the one in Palatine but I go here because it's closer. And I have no problems with any of the staff, never noticed any rudeness. I...

I'm sorry I have to do this, but in my opinion, this is unacceptable. They keep their perishable outside of fridges. Basically there is no temperature controlled shelves for the vegetables. Here are some pictures of their veggies that sits outside, and the smell around is grotesque (like any herbs going back would smell). You can even see one fly on the parsley bags, but there were more, that flew once I took the pictures. I asked the cashier and she said that is always been the case, meaning this store never had any temperature controlled shelves for perishable. Hopefully more people will complain because I believe this is unacceptable. There other Aldi stores that are well maintained, organized and administered. There is no excuse for this...