to be excited about new Aldi opening?

Aldi or Lidl
No thanks.
Why do they insist placing non food items like adult clothes ,shoes, electrical items, kids clothing, ,garden items, even plant fertilizer, bang smack in aisles between various foods.

I too am an Aldi/Lidl convert as my partner is definitely a food snob but he's pretty much converted too!
Stores certainly vary in difficult areas. Here in the big city they are quite depressing and have found staff to be seriously rude at times! Also they're not in walking distance so have to go at busiest times with my partner. Queued 45 mins last Sunday! However, when I visit family in the west Country they have an all singing/ dancing new Lidl which is wonderful, complete with toilets and baby changing facilities.

I'm in Bedford Chrissie but I think someone up thread mentioned another one opening on the same day.

Wine, wine and more wine! It's good quality at reasonable prices. As others have said, fruit, veg and meat are good. I buy the washing up liquid, dishwasher tabs and washing detergent capsules, but the latter seemed to cause irritation to my husband's skin. I still use the capsules for towels and sheets though. I also buy continental cheeses at a lower price than the regular supermarkets. I avoid the imitation Lurpak which I thought was awful. The Lacura skincare range is good too. You do find some things that aren't so good by trial and error and I still have to go to a regular supermarket.

Our Aldi is such a guddle I don't go in unless I find out they have something special on offer. Lidl is much better here. BUT my DiL has a fantastic Aldi and saves a fortune and gets good stuff. Definitely worth trying - I wish ours was better.

You must live near me Chelseababy as we have a new Aldi opening on Thursday too

Only have a small LIDL in my nearest town, only been in once as parking is horrific. There is also ASDA in the Town Centre, pay for parking but get refund if you spend £10 in store, great for shopping in Town. Sainsbury & Tesco are slightly more out of Town, Tesco is a large store with a huge car park. There are planes for an ALDI but so far nothing apart from Planning Applications.

There is a small Tecso & Co-op in my small Town, another Co-op with garage about a mile from my house & a M & S Food within a BP garage just slightly further away.

Morrisons & Waitrose are about 8 miles away but I do go occasionally. I do however find Tesco Home Delivery better than going into a Store as I can get what I want, better choice

Just seen that I x-posted with two others.

Aldi and Lidl respectively are owned by brothers and the story goes that they started off in business together but decided to split up in order to run things their own way and not have to consult the other.

Sounds the same as Adidas and Nike, both owner by brothers and existed in the same town, Hertzo.

Must be something in the water in Germany, both shops have certainly ruffled feathers here !

Did you know that Aldi and Lidl are owned by brothers that fell out years ago (apparently).

We don't have an Aldi yet, but do really love Lidl: wonderful fruit and veg, "aged" beef for roasting as good as the more expensive stores and meat in general is good and inexpensive, variety of hams, tortillas, instant coffee and breakfast cereals. Their jams are particularly good. Of course you can't get everything and branded goods are at least as expensive as the other supermarkets.

My husband loves the centre aisles too, we've had some real bargains such as fancy weighing scales (for people, not baking) for <£15 and virtually identical to John Lewis for >£50.

You do have to chose the time of your visit with care, but as we are retired we can go midweek. We went past a Lidl in Sevenoaks the other day and saw that the car park was full of new BMW's, Mercedes and four wheel drives...

We had an Aldi opened in November followed by a brand new Lidl a fortnight ago. DH and I were beyond excited. We love the bargains we can get at both.

We have two Lidls near me but it is a bit of a trek to an Aldi. I won an Aldi hamper and they were brilliant. They sent an apology for the delay (there hadn't been any) and then sent two as a further apology for the delay that wasn't.
There were piles of moisturiser which I would definitely buy and just loads of stuff, all good quality. I gave some away and I still have unused tubes of moisturiser, deodorant and other stuff a couple of years later. I would definitely be pleased if one opened nearby.

I love shopping in Aldi. The children and baby items are incredibly good value. These were on sale last year.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/aldi-wooden-kitchen-special-buys-12059840

I have bought a wonderful inexpensive travel cot and wooden high chair for DDGS when he stays. They also do online shopping now and the Lacura Caviar face creams have won awards. The wine is exceptional too. At the moment I have a vase full of roses that are nine days old and are in full bloom and which cost £3.00. The flowers from there seem to last longer than from anywhere else.

I'm always surprised on getting to the checkout with a full trolley and finding that it costs so much less than a big supermarket shop! I'm a total Aldi convert.

We are getting ALDI in Glastonbury this week, which will be fab.

Currently we have Tesco (small) and Morrisons (dead staff) so am hoping it will be an improvement, where else will I be able to buy a crash helmet and cement mixer when I only wanted dog food????

Rheinbacher German lager at 99p for 500ml. Excellent value and my OH loves it. And the Choceur hazelnut heaven chocolate bar. Loads of nuts! The problem being I have to drive 8 miles to the nearest Aldi but it's worth it.

I have had to return a couple of items to Aldi and have to say they could not have been more helpful. Made me feel valued as a customer. For groceries I prefer Lidl and am addicted to their Hi GI bread just out of the oven. Mmmmmm yummy!

Some of the Co-ops got taken over by Budgens not that long ago and they are closing them down again.

My shop in Aldi today included fresh vegetables, meats, frozen food and general household food and cleaning stuffs. And an ionic hairdryer that I didn't know I needed! I got change out of £50.

I have an Aldi half a mile from me, it is clean bright and cheerful and the aisles are nice and wide. I buy aged fillet steak and lamb steaks. The Aberdeen Angus burgers are exceptional and pork and chicken very good quality.
I used to buy some ready meals in M&S but find the ones in Aldi superior as they do not use as much pepper and herbs in things like cottage pies.
We buy free range eggs for less than 90pence, previously paid £2.10 for same in Morrisons.

The Irish view of the Lidl-Aldi phenomenon:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL7jyXCQ2Zc

I do not know how some of the small independent shops make a living when they are surrounded by the big stores which are opening later and later nowadays. A Tesco Extra close to me is open until 11pm most evenings.

As Tanith said, there is a Lidl being built but a large Sainsburys not far away and within a stone's throw is an Aldi and B&M with an Asda next door opening within weeks. There is not a Co-op around for about 5 miles but the remainder of big stores are within 2 miles. I am not sure if these stores are too accessible without a car. Aldi will be made if they start a home delivery service.

Must be an area thing ours are always both really full of shoppers and it's not because we haven't others we have two Morrisons two Tescos, Asda two Icelands a number of Co ops plus M and S and all the cheap shops that sell food stuff

The one thing which irritates me with one of the two Aldis is that there are only one or two at the service till and frequently we are going from queue to queue as a till closes for some odd reason.

One store has a packing area directly behind the tills which I think is a good idea as I can pack in my own time and not feel that I a throwing items into carrier bags so that I am not holding up the queue.

Again to save time one cannot withdraw money from the till when paying- an ATM has been fitted indoors to alleviate that problem.

I really do not care if I am seen in Waitrose or Aldi as I am there to save money, mine.