Aldi

Aldi is a supermarket in Germany and in most parts of the European Union. Aldi shops are also in Australia, the UK and the United States. Most German towns and villages have at least one Aldi shop. There are about 4,100 stores in Germany, and 7,600 worldwide. The name of the shop stands for ALbrecht-DIscount.

Aldi Einkauf GmbH & Compagnie, oHG
Company typePrivately held company
IndustryRetail
FounderKarl Albrecht
Theo Albrecht
HeadquartersEssen, Germany (Aldi Nord)
Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany (Aldi Süd)
Number of locations
9,221
Area served
Global
Key people
Matthew Barnes (CEO, UK Operations)[1]
ProductsDiscount store, Supermarket
RevenueIncrease €53 billion (2009)[2]
Websitealdi.com
2015

The company is a food retailer, but it also sells non-food at times. In the 1990s, Aldi often sold computers that were sought after. Aldi has a reputation for being cheap. It forces its suppliers to sell to them at low prices.

History

The company was started in 1913 as a family grocery business in Essen.[3] In 1946, brothers Karl Albrecht (1920-2014) and Theo Albrecht (1922-2010) took over the business from their mother. Theo had been held by the US in a prisoner of war camp. They started the idea of discount shops in Germany. They decided to have a limited range of goods and sell them at a discount price. In 1960, the company was split into Aldi Nord (Aldi North) under the control of Theo, and Aldi Süd (Aldi South) under the control of Karl.[3] The brothers became billionaires. In 2009 Karl's wealth was estimated to be €25 billion.[3] Theo was kidnapped in 1971 and held prisoner for 17 days until a seven million mark ransom was paid.[3] The family have avoided publicity and there are few known photographs of them.[3]

Geographic distribution
CountryNameAldi groupSinceOutlets
 GermanyAldiNord19462,400
AldiSüd19461,790[4]
 AustraliaAldiSüd2001311[5]
 AustriaHoferSüd1968430[4]
 BelgiumAldiNord1976380
 DenmarkAldiNord1977244
 FranceAldiNord1988680
 HungaryAldiSüd200875[6]
 IrelandAldiSüd1998105
 LuxembourgAldiNord199012
 NetherlandsAldiNord1973406
 PolandAldiNord2008100
 PortugalAldiNord200636
 SloveniaHoferSüd200571
 SpainAldiNord2002250[7]
  SwitzerlandAldi SuisseSüd2005130[4]
 United KingdomAldiSüd1990550[8]
 United StatesAldiSüd19761,200[9]
Trader Joe'sNord1979399
total number of Aldi Nord stores4,805
total number of Aldi Süd stores4,430
combined total of Aldi stores9,235

Australia

Aldi started in Australia in 2001.[10] At the end of 2010 there were 210 Aldi stores in eastern Australia and the company were planning to open 20-30 stores each year.[10] In 2009 the Australian stores made a profit of AU$91.94 million, up 27% on 2008.[10] In January 2024 Aldi was operating 591 stores in Australia.

United Kingdom

Aldi opened its 1000th store in the UK in September 2023 - in the affluent town of Woking. It is the UK’s fourth-biggest grocer by market share and plans to open 500 more. Sales had increased by 21% in August from a year earlier. It has lower operational costs than other supermarkets and sells mostly own-label products. [11]

References
  1. Feb 2010, 27. "Joint chiefs take over at Aldi UK". www.thegrocer.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2019. {{cite web}}: |first= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. "Obituary: Theo Albrecht."
  3. "Aldi's reclusive founder dies, age 88 - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. London. 28 July 2010. ISSN 0307-1235. OCLC 49632006. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  4. "Aldi Süd Facts and Figures". Archived from the original on 22 December 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2008.
  5. "Subscribe to The Australian - Newspaper home delivery, website, iPad, iPhone & Android apps". myaccount.news.com.au.
  6. Maarten Reul (24 October 2011). "Aldi Hungary to open 40 new stores, chooses quality over price". RetailDetail. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  7. "Aldi abrirá su tienda española número 250 en Cataluña y prevé más aperturas". Cinco Dias (in Spanish). 7 November 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  8. Wallop, Harry (29 October 2013). "How Aldi won the class war - and became the fastest-growing supermarket in Britain" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  9. "Discount grocer opens North Bergen store" Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine. The Hudson Reporter. 26 March 2013.
  10. Greenblat, Eli (3 October 2011). "Booming Aldi steps up store wars". theage.com.au. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  11. Onita, Laura (10 September 2023). "Day of the discounter: when will the UK reach peak Aldi and Lidl?". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 September 2023.

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