do the math.

That's the credo of smarter shoppers. They know the typical supermarket or super center is a minefield of hidden costs. Along with your groceries, the extra freight of free bags, baggers, and check acceptance is loaded into your cart every time you shop, whether you use those services or not. ALDI has intelligently redesigned the entire food shopping experience to eliminate those extra costs. Compare our practices with those of other stores, and see how smarter brings you incredible value every day.

Select Assortment is smarter

A typical supermarket carries about 30,000 grocery items; typical super centers, a few less. Many items don’t sell quickly, taking up expensive shelf space and increasing the likelihood of spoilage. The store must raise its prices to cover the cost of stocking these items, so ALDI lets others carry the slow-moving stuff. Instead, we sell only about 1,400 of the fastest-moving grocery items. Spoilage is never a problem, since our stock moves so quickly. We save on rent and electricity, since smaller inventory means our stores can be smaller. And volume buying nets us better prices on the goods we buy, empowering us to pass all those savings along to you.

The volume pricing advantage is possible because we stock each product in one brand (ours), in the one size most popular among our customers. Your choices are easier and your shopping, simpler, because you don’t have to determine which brand and size is the best value. ALDI does it for you.

Select Hours is smarter

Time is money. So a typical ALDI store stays open during the most popular hours for shopping—from 9 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.* Staying open 24 hours or late night operations would simply add labor costs—and raise our prices.

*Some stores are open longer on Sunday. Visit our store locator for the hours at your local ALDI.

Streamlined Marketing is smarter

National brand marketers know your purchase decision isn’t final until you’re standing in the store aisle. And they’re willing to spend quite heavily to sway your decision at that last possible moment. As a result, manufacturers pay retailers for better shelf space. They also pay for special displays in high traffic areas, supplying stores with expensive display fixtures for free. Then they increase their wholesale prices to cover these costs—which, of course, causes the store to raise its prices even more.

At ALDI, we sell one brand—ours. The products are made to our stringent specifications, which actually exceed national brand standards, and we decide how to display and sell them. When you’re motivated to offer the lowest possible prices, you do it The ALDI Way.

Selective Advertising is smarter

Every national brand product has a national advertising budget, which is factored into the price you pay. Then, the supermarkets and super centers themselves advertise lavishly each and every week. At ALDI, we don’t have many national brands, so you don’t kick in for advertising costs. We can constrain our own advertising expenses because we don’t have to announce a storeful of price changes every week—which means our advertising agencies aren’t getting rich, but you’re saving a lot of money.

Everyday Low Prices is smarter.

Most stores price their items far too high, then offer more realistic prices on “sale.” They know that if they get you in to buy butter on sale, they have a good chance of getting you to buy something that’s not on sale—and that’s how they make their money. Loyalty card programs just take this practice to a higher level. They’re expensive to administer—for which you pay—but give stores a valuable stream of data they can sell to research companies. At ALDI, our prices are low every day. In fact, you’ll find they’re usually lower than supermarket “sale” prices. Compare ALDI to where you're shopping now, and you'll find there really is no comparison.