Aldi fans stunned after only just realising the real meaning behind supermarket name

The Sun

07-05-2025

MANY people pop into Aldi for a food shop, but have you ever stopped to think about why it has its distinctive name?
It turns out there is a backstory behind the name choice, which dates back to the early 1900s.
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The German brand began back in 1913 when Anna Albrecht opened a small grocery store in Essen, Germany.
Her sons Karl and Theo Albrecht decided to take over the shop when they returned after fighting in World War II.
By 1955 they had expanded to a whopping 100 stores and they kept on expanding.
What made them so popular was the fact they prioritised keeping prices low, and they did so by not spending too much on advertising in the post-war economy.
By 1962 they had over 300 stores - and the first Aldi store in Britain opened in Birmingham in 1990.
However, 30 years later, many Brits are just realising what the name stands for.
Aldi is derived from Albrect-Diskont, which in English means Albrecht's Discount.
The name was actually first used in 1961 after the brothers took the two first letters of each word to make the brand, which is pronounced 'all-dee'.
Many shoppers have shared their amazement at finding out the origin of the supermarket name.
One said: "ALbrecht DIscount =ALDI who'd of known."
Another added: "Probably the most useful thing I've learnt in German this year is that Aldi is short for Albrecht-Discount."
And a third commented: "Never knew ALDI actually stood for something. It stands for Albrecht Discount believe it or not."
It's not the first brand name that has surprised customers.
Did you know that Asda stands for Associated Dairies?
Asda was founded in 1965 when the supermarket owning Asquith family merged with the Associated Dairies company of Yorkshire.
The two combined their names and created what is now the third largest supermarket chain in Britain.
Meanwhile, B&M was named after its founder Malcolm Billington as Billington & Mayman and was later shortened to B&M.
The shop first opened in Lancashire in 1978 and now has more than three million customers a week.
And Tesco was originally just a group of market stalls in Hackney.
It wasn't until founder Jack Cohen bought a shipment of tea from trader T.E.Stockwell in 1924 that he decided to merge their two names and create Tesco.
Why do Aldi and Lidl have such fast checkouts
IF you've ever shopped in Aldi or Lidl then you'll probably have experienced its ultra-fast checkout staff.
Aldi's speedy reputation is no mistake, in fact, the supermarket claims that its tills are 40 per cent quicker than rivals.
It's all part of Aldi's plan to be as efficient as possible - and this, the budget shop claims, helps keep costs low for shoppers.
Efficient barcodes on packaging means staff are able to scan items as quickly as possible, with the majority of products having multiple barcodes to speed up the process.
It also uses 'shelf-ready' packaging which keeps costs low when it comes to replenishing stock.