It's strange to see this hit the US only just now. Chains like these are huge in Europe. In Belgium, where I live, Aldi isn't very big. They're being outplayed by a bigger local player: Colruyt. Aldi stores are usually pretty small while Colruyt stores are pretty large. You can see the staff driving around carts inside of the store to put everything on the shelves. They also always have a huge refrigerator room instead of seperate refrigerators. It allows for them to drive into these rooms so everything is faster as well.

Colruyt also got subsidiaries that have smaller stores for city centres like Okay which is just a tad smaller because it's in the city centres. Colruyt's own stores are often in smaller cities or around towns where there's plenty of room to build a store.

The reason Aldi is not very big in Belgium is because they're perceived as being lower quality. Perhaps it's because people don't want to change brands, but want to pay a lower price. They can get the same items/brands at Colruyt, but for a lower price. From personal experience I can also say that Aldi stores aren't as pleasant to shop in as Colruyt. This is because Aldi's aesthetics are pretty old. It feels like you're walking in some old store that's from the 90s or older. Colruyt and Okay stores feel more like you're walking into a warehouse.

Just my two cents. I just went shopping to Okay today and on other days I go to a Spar, which is also a Colruyt subsidiary, but a tad bti more upscale. Though not as upscale as Delhaize in Belgium. Delhaize is one of the more expensive ones, though you also get some more upscale items like freshly made juice, fresh sushi, fresh lobsters... compared to the others. They can be either owned independently or by the chain. The ones that are owned independently are imo better because they often have "home-made" food because they've got a bakery, kitchen, and butcher and it's of good quality. (I personally adore one of the Delhaize's bakeries at my parents' house.)

That's all. What a rant.