Latest news with #TheoAlbrecht
The Sun
07-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Aldi fans stunned after only just realising the real meaning behind supermarket name
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. 2 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 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.
Forbes
11-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How Trader Joe's Became A Grocery Cult
How Trader Joe's Became a Grocery Cult Meet Aldi's little cousin, one of America's top two favorite grocers, known for its exotic-yet-affordable private label products and great customer service. The pandemic that rendered malls and department stores extinct has also changed the way consumers prefer to shop for food. As we noted here a year ago, the sprawling suburban supermarket and big box destination retailers have shifted their growth strategies by adding new stores in outdoor shopping centers with smaller footprints, a smaller selection of products, with shorter drives for shoppers. One of the leading beneficiaries of this trend in the grocery business has been Trader Joe's, the Hawaii-themed chain famous for its eclectic private label foods featuring international flavors and ingredients at competitive prices. According to the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index, a widely-followed nonprofit that crunches data from about 41,000 shoppers in a dozen or so retail categories, Trader Joe's is now tied (with Publix) for first place among grocers. The core Trader Joe's (TJ's) customer is not just satisfied, but bordering on fanatic. According to a recent article, TJ-branded, Easter-themed tote bags that were introduced last month at $2.99 sold out so fast that a secondary market developed. On sites like eBay, sellers are currently asking up to $100 for the set of four. On social media sites like Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit, fans post alerts about hot new products with breathless headlines—'Watermelon Plums spotted at Trader Joe's!' The things people like about TJ's—great customer service, low prices, and an eclectic product mix—are similar to the things shoppers like about another small-footprint grocer we looked at recently—Aldi. No surprise, perhaps, since the original owners of Aldi's and TJ's were brothers: Karl and Theo Albrecht. Together they operated a chain of stores in Germany from the 1940s until 1966 when, according to lore, the brothers decided to split after one of them objected to selling cigarettes. The separation produced two financially and legally separate entities—Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd. Today, Aldi Süd operates about 12,000 stores worldwide, including more than 2,500 Aldi stores in the US. Aldi Nord operated largely in Europe until 1979 when it bought Trader Joe's, a California-based grocer, from its founder, Joe Coulombe. It remains a private company today, still owned by a branch of the Albrecht family. The pandemic was good to TJ's. Revenue for the fiscal year ended this past Jan. 31 was $56.4 billion, a 35% increase from five years earlier. Like Aldi, TJ's has been building out its fleet of stores (currently more than 600), a third of which are in California with the rest mostly clustered in the Northeast. In step with the trend among large retailers to expand by building smaller locations closer to customers, TJ's signage now includes the tagline, 'Your Neighborhood Grocery Store.' The Aldi quirk that has helped fuel its success is the 'Aldi Finds' aisles in each store, a collection of constantly changing merchandise at bargain prices that customers refer to as the 'aisle of shame.' Among TJ's quirks is its Hawaiian theme displays, creative chalkboards, and 'subtle hippie aesthetic.' Its private label items are playfully titled and colorfully labeled, inspiring one customer, after visiting 150 stores, to create a book—'The Art of Trader Joe's.' A deep bench of knowledgeable alert associates wearing Hawaiian shirts are often cited for such good deeds as gifting a bouquet of flowers to a weepy widow. According to industry news site 'Trader Joe's focuses on fostering the social experience of grocery shopping.' It is clear that Trader Joe's has gotten it right in understanding and serving its customers.
