It looks like the German supermarket LidlAldi has made it to Lileks neighborhood in Minnesota. He describes it perfectly. Cut-rate products at cut-rate prices. Except in Germany, you actually see name brands occasionally. Lidl makes a living at buying bulk of whatever is the cheapest this week and selling it like hot-cakes to cheap German consumers. They even sell computers & furniture, but you have to get there the on the first day of the sale, or they're gone. All the German hausfrau's get there and buy them out the first day. Anyway, they've been slowing branching out into the US. I think this is hysterical because they look EXACTLY the same. They have the same hours (9-7 M-S, closed sunday), the same format inside (wares in boxes on the floor) and the same pay-a-quarter for the buggy.
I hate this place. I do not like shopping at Lidl or Norma or Aldi or any other varient of this kind of store. I prefer to shop at Toom. Great selection, big store, decent prices. This preference was one of the reasons my (former) German boyfriend called me "expensive". Me? I am one of the least expensive people you know.
Update: Scott is correct, Lileks went to an Aldi, not a Lidl. Still, everything above still applies (except Lidl's opening in the USA, that's strictly Aldi).
Posted by Jinglelady at December 17, 2004 01:47 PM | German Life | TrackBackI think Lileks was at Aldi, not Lidl. Then again, Aldi and Lidl are easily confused.
Posted by: Scott Hanson at December 17, 2004 02:43 PMWe have Lidl and Aldi both in Ireland. I hate shopping at either place...Aldi is ever-so-slightly better than Lidl, though. At Lidl they won't allow you to put your purchases in a bag until you've moved away from the cash register lane, even if there's nobody behind you in line.
By the way, how do Germans pronounce Lidl? In Ireland people tend to say it "Liddle", but my husband thinks it should be LEE-dull.
I hate Lidl and Aldi too! I tried to shop there when I first moved here, but could never find anything I wanted and the whole atmosphere of those stores just feels so... cheap! Yuck!
On another note, when I lived in Des Moines (Iowa) about 10 years ago there was one Aldi. It was the nastiest store in the worst part of town and only the trashiest people shopped there.
Maybe that is part of the reason I was prejudiced against it when I first came here...
Posted by: Renee at December 17, 2004 04:13 PMLili - Your husband is close. Lidl is pronounced 'LEE-dil', while Aldi is 'AHL-dee'.
Renee - There's a store in my home town like that Aldi in Des Moines - it's called a "Sav-A-Lot"...ick ick ick.
Posted by: Anna at December 17, 2004 06:09 PMLOL! It's even in the same 'part' of town!
Posted by: Brett at December 17, 2004 08:16 PManother reason not to buy at Lidl (at least in Germany) is because of how they treat their employees: http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,332210,00.html (in German)
Posted by: Dominik at December 18, 2004 01:58 AMbhofizoeaya kloinmzu.
Posted by: Hieronimus at December 21, 2004 11:23 PM