Aldi

I love this place. There is a sort of route you follow in the store and they pile stuff on the shelves. It is so different from any other grocery store in the fact you never have people slowly cruising the aisles taking up the whole lane, you have smokin awesome prices on all the stuff and the quality is good. Downsides are they do not refrigerate the produce, packages generally are smaller, and they stock cool stuff I buy on impulse.

Most of the Aldis are the same around town, but this was the first time I’d visited this location. A woman from the store at 50^th-​ish and L called this one to hold an item for me. The lady at the store on L was beyond helpful.
That all changed when I got to this one. The woman working at this location could barely hold a conversation and had a tenuous grasp on reality. Concepts like «sale item,» and «on hold» were lost on her. I might as well have been speaking Esperanto. All I got were blank stares and meandering sentences that had no meaning. It was as if she just pulled random words and strung them together. I’ve truly never had an interaction like that before and I used to bartend.

Oh how I love thee Aldi! This isn’t your typical mega mart grocery store but you won’t find prices this good anywhere else in town. If you want avocados for under 50 cents, a pound of butter for under 2 dollars, a gallon of milk for less than 2 bucks, or a slew of other fantastic deals then Aldi is the place for you. I have only been disappointed with one item I purchased here (their feta cheese) and I’ve tried a lot of items. While you probably can’t find everything on your weekly shopping list here you will find plenty of staples to stock up on as well as seasonal items. For example, they sell certain sausages and mustards only near Ocktoberfest, corned beef only near St. Paddy’s day, certain baking items only at Christmas, etc, etc.
If you’ve never been to an Aldi before let me give you the Cliff’s notes version of what to expect/​do. First, you will need a quarter to «rent» a cart. It can’t be two dimes and a nickle, or five nickles, or anything other than a quarter. The carts, or buggies as my fellow southern transplants would say, are outside to the right of the store. You slide the quarter in the lock and it will release a cart. Bring the cart back when you’re done and it will spit your quarter back out. The store is rather small but they have a lot of variety packed in there. You’ll either need to bring your own bags from home or purchase them at the counter. You can buy a large plastic bag for around a dime or a paper bag for a few cents less. I’d recommend the plastic as they’re a nice size with a handle and you can reuse them later. You may have to wait a while in line since normally only one or two are open. The cashier will scan your items and place them in another cart. There is a counter across from the register where you bag your own items. You’ll either need to pay with cash or a debit card which cannot be ran as credit so make sure you know your pin.
As an added bonus, Aldi has a money back guarantee. Don’t like it? Bring it back and get your money back. Simple as that.
I’d urge everyone to give Aldi a chance.