Although ALDI is reputed to be the object of derision for status conscious young people in the U.K. , no one here seems to know what it is. The only time I'ue been ribbed about shopping at Aldi it was by a person from the U.K., and that was a pretty mild teasing.
From what I've gathered by informally polling people who've visited a grocery store in the U.K., Aldi faces much stiffer competition there than they do in Rosemount, Minnesota. U.K. grocery stores have clean floors and produce free from mold, unlike the warehouse chain in Rosemount. Amazing!
What I love about the Rosemount Aldi is the cleanliness. There are never pallets or crumb-ridden sample carts blocking the aisle. Plus, the line is short and the manager is very nice.
Best of all, on Sundays they roll out the special purchase items. They are fun stuff, like cordless drills and closet organizers. Last weekend I bought a rice cooker/vegetable steamer for $19! And I learned an inside tip.
Remember, you heard it here first. On October 29th, the special purchase items will be laptops.
Aldi only sells computers once or twice a year. In 1987, Aldi featured Commodore 64 computers as a special purchase item. They sold out within hours.
The full specs for the Oct. 29th special purchase laptops are available at Aldi's website. The manufacturer is the German-based company Medion, which manufactures HP computers for the European market. I researched the last special purchase laptops sold in the U.K., and discovered they were fast and filled with extras for £400. The buzz is Medion is trying to break into the North American market, so the U.S. laptops are priced a bit cheaper, only $599. They feature a 2 gHz AMD Turion processor and 1 GB of RAM.
So now I'm faced with a dilemma. Should I snub both of my Pillowtops for an ALDI laptop? The idea of owning a super-speedy DVD/CD burning 'top from ALDI is irresistable. I feel so greedy. There are people all over the world who would be proud to own a single hand-cranked laptop, and here I want to own three with rechargeable batteries. I have a Pillowtop obsession.
The hand-cranked laptop was developed at MIT for the "One Laptop Per Child" program, which provides laptops to children in areas without stable electricity.
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The reusable bags ALDI sells is a far better invention than the single crank laptop. Take a look at www.cleangreenbags.com to see why!
ReplyDeleteMaybe - I haven't actually tested the single crank laptop, but I used a couple of reusable ALDI bags last night. The only other U.S. stores that I've shopped that encourage reusable bags are Buy'n'Save (Nash Finch's discount grocery chain), Goodwill and local co-ops. Reusable bags rock - especially when it is raining out. You don't have to worry about the bags getting wet and splitting open on the driveway.
ReplyDeleteHey, if you come visit me in Ukraine, I will show you a babusa (grandma) that sells green bell peppers for 10 kopecks a piece (about 2 cents American) - That's 49 for .99! Kristina
ReplyDeleteWow! That's the best price ever! The cost of the plane ticket might negate my savings, however. I can only eat about 5-7 green peppers a week.
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