So I said I disagreed with you, but I do agree with you on produce based on your discussion. Some of the produce at our Aldi is not as beautiful as the one at Publix or WF - you seem to know the reasons for that and I I defer to you on that. But, in a way, I’ve never really thought of it that way. Produce shouldn't last that long and I don’t care if the zucchini aren’t perfect. But, I can see where that is a selling point that many retailers use successfully.
No, produce shouldn't last that long, but it should have a certain longevity to it. One of the larger chains (I can't remember which one) use to have a "5 Day Fresh Guarantee," but once Walmart introduced its guarantee -- which allows you to discard the item and bring in just your receipt if you weren't satisfied with your purchase and receive a full refund -- the large traditional chains matched the policy. Aldi itself has a "double guarantee" in which if you're unsatisfied with an item, they'll refund your money and give you a replacement free, but you need to surrender the item. But no honest person would like to waste their time making a return, let alone hauling the item(s) back.
As far as quality, I'm no food snob, but as I mentioned earlier, we use to do most of our shopping at discount grocers. When we became aware of available discounts, we started shopping at Ralph's (each location has a $5 off $50 coupon, which resets monthly, in the Entertainment app) and Albertsons/Vons (most weeks, they offer a $5 off $50 through their app) more, and boy, was the difference noticeable -- sweeter apples and oranges, sweet potatoes so sweet that they don't need butter, etc.
FWIW, back in December I did I price comparison project for another website. We shopped for 67 items, all but one were generics. 63 of the 67 items were available at Aldi's, and -- adjusting for size -- 58 of the 63 items were priced similar to Walmart. Of the five remaining items, four were priced significantly less at Aldi's, but all four were "Produce Picks." Walmart was significantly cheaper on one item (whipping cream) by $2.50. On the 63 items, Aldi's was cheaper by less than $3. This surprised me, because I was expecting Aldi to be significantly cheaper; a decade ago, they would've come out on top by a large margin. What really surprised me... Food4Less, which is Kroger's discount chain, beat Aldi by less than a $1.
That part doesn't bother me because I know exactly why they do it--they aren't asking me to actually pay for the cart so it makes a big difference. I have yet to see a cart in the parking lots. Sure not everyone reconnects the cart to get the quarter out (so sometimes you get lucky and don't have to worry about it) but they are always pushed back into the cart area.
People definitely leave their carts in the parking lot, but somebody will always take them because (a) they don't want to cough up a quarter and (b) they get a quarter back for each cart they return. I stop at the 99 adjacent to my local Aldi quite a bit, and I've returned a few carts. On a related note, the 99 now has a note up asking people not to take their carts into Aldi, so I assume it's a big problem.
I love, love, love Aldis! Amazing prices and lots of organic and gourmet food, including lots of European foods that are hard to find.
Aldi definitely has a lot of organic and (mostly German) European food... but gourmet?
. Heck, even Whole Foods doesn't carry a large assortment of gourmet foods...