"phaeton" > wrote in message
...
> About 10 years ago I went to an ALDI store in Chicagoland with this
> girl at the time. The shopping cart deposit system was kind of silly
> to me. The store wasn't the cleanest, and nothing was on shelves. It
> was all stacked on rows of pallets in varying states of disrepair.
> Everything I picked up and looked at, from canned goods to dry goods
> to boxes of cereal to jars of pickles was expired. Most of it was
> within 6 months to a year past the expiry date, but some things were 2
> to 5 years past. I asked her "WTF?" and she said that that's what
> ALDI was- a clearance store for 'expired but still good' goods.
>
> I couldn't believe it.
>
> Lately however, i've been getting ALDI sales ads with the other
> mailbox stuffers. These tell a completely different story, like ALDI
> is just another (smaller) grocery chain. They even have meat and
> produce, whereas the other store only had frozen lunchmeat and produce
> (which I was afraid to even look at).
>
> I haven't been to an ALDI since that first store. I take it that that
> one is a completely inaccurate example of what ALDI is?
>
> -J

they started aldi on a shoestring. short of capitol, small lots of clearance
items . once they had a decent consistent cash flow, they could upscale
stores and gain buying power.