Aldi

I have such mixed emotions about Aldi.
Ok, here’s the upside: their products are cheap, and most of them are surprisingly high-​quality. I find their wares to be on about the same level as the Harris Teeter store brand, if not a little better. And by cheap, I mean pretty cheap: a bottle of grade-​A maple syrup for $ 3.99? Individual yogurt cups for $ 0.35? Yes, please.
Here’s the downside: well, it’s Aldi. The employees are efficient and quick at the register, but you’re not going to find any on the floor when you need help. Many of the other customers like to park their carts in the middle of the aisle and look around slack-​jawed, as though their desired items will magically appear before them. Children tend to run around uncontrolled. I once had to ask an (adult!) couple making out in front of the freezer case to move THREE times before they scurried along. Additionally, the produce is hit or miss.
I shop at Aldi almost every week because it truly saves us a lot of money without obnoxious coupon clipping. I just my fellow Aldi shoppers exercised a little more common sense.

«Why spend money when you don’t have to» is my motto. I probably should put that in my Unilocal profile somewhere because it’s true. Another one is «Money is to pay people to do things that you don’t want to do yourself» but I digress. We’re here at Aldi, where it’s all about less expensive groceries and produce. They trim their costs by not having big fancy displays or endcaps, with a very limited selection (typically only one brand of an item and only in one size) and a limited staff (typically two cashiers, a stocker and a manager). You need to have a quarter to get a shopping cart (you get it back when you return) so that they don’t have to invest in a cart wrangler or tie up parking spaces with cart corrals. The staff at this location is friendly and efficient and no, they don’t bag your groceries for you. It’s back into the cart and then you get to bag ‘em up yourself out of the way.
Most of the stuff is from brands you will never have heard of, but in almost all cases a bottle of ketchup is a bottle of ketchup and a jug of milk is the same as any other you can get at the Teeter or Wally World. If an Aldi shop is convenient for you, why go anywhere else to spend more? Maybe some don’t like this low cost method of doing business, but that’s fine. You’re paying more to enjoy that convenience and «higher touch» shopping experience.
You’ll want to bring your own bags, as Aldi charges for those.
As Chad mentions, Aldi does NOT accept credit cards as it’s another cost thing. You have to bring cash or use a debit card.

Cannot beat the prices! This store is neat and clean, as well as having great employees.

Many people advocate clipping coupons. I’ll admit to having scoured the newspaper for coupons, and even looked online. But these days, I just don’t bother. Between the time it takes to look, clip, categorize and keep up with all of that, and then figure out who has the lowest price where, I don’t have the time.
Rather than figure out all of that, we just shop at Aldi. Yes, I know that the selection isn’t as wide, but for your typical staples, I don’t need to have fifteen types of green beans, one will do nicely. If I happen to need some unusual spice or other item that isn’t carried at Aldi, I’ll pick it up when I go to Sam’s. Otherwise, I get the standard fare at Aldi, and I don’t spend all that time worrying about it.
Just make sure you bring a quarter (for the cart — you get it back when you’re done) and cash or an ATM card, because Aldi doesn’t take checks or credit cards.