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Comment by dougmwne | Hacker News Reader

Missing here is the 3rd cheap German grocery store that Americans love: Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's is owned by the same family that owns Aldi Nord. Aldi Nord also operates Lidl stores in the US. If you pay close attention, you will see some of the same products with different branding and if you squint you will notice the same reduced SKU grocery discounter business model.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi

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Aldi and Lidl are German stores/brands that have moved into the US. Trader Joe's is an American-founded and centered company that was owned by an American (for many decades) and then bought by a German brand.

They're not exactly the same.

I mean it was bought by Theo Albrecht on 1979. Pretty must everything about the company's DNA is influenced by its Aldi parent company.

Operationally, yes, branding and positioning, no.

> Aldi Nord also operates Lidl stores in the US.

That would be fascinating because they’re fierce competitors in Germany. However I couldn’t find a source for this to be true. Instead I found a few articles about Lidl opening a US headquarter[0] and having their own distribution centers.

0: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/mcaul...

I agree that Americans love Trader Joe's, but I would by no means consider it to be a cheap grocery store.

At least in NYC, Trader Joe's is cheaper or comparable with other grocery stores. I spend about half there as I would at a whole foods for a weeks worth of food.

It depends on how much processed food you eat

It is actually cheap relative to the quality you get, so a lot of value. A linked article from TFA notes how TJ's is ranked #2 for quality https://clark.com/shopping-retail/cheapest-grocery-stores/ . Sure you can't find the junkiest cheapest things like at a Walmart, but if you need actual food basics like fresh organic produce, organic japanese green tea bags, kefir, and salmon lochs, there's almost nowhere cheaper.

> salmon lochs

Lochs (LO-Hs) are scottish lakes, lox (LOKS) are yiddish salmon fillets...

Ah yes. My mind must have just went to the first unusual ‘ks’ spelling, knowing it was an odd one.

My local "regular" grocery store , Ralphs,has several identical items to Trader Joe's (like the exact same orange chicken, salsa, etc with different labels). The TJs version is universally cheaper. It's a bit more expensive than Walmart and the dollar store but arguably a much better value.

My average bills there are close to shopping at Aldi. Here in Florida at least Publix is significantly more expensive.

I'm german and never heard of "Trader Joe's". Seems like it's really an US store, that was acquired by Aldi Nord.

It doesn't really look like an Aldi, but Aldi Nord is selling products with under the Trader Joe label even in Germany! https://www.aldi-nord.de/sortiment/snacks-suessigkeiten/nues...

You don't know what you're missin!

Learning that Trader Joe’s and Aldi’s were so closely related was one of those facts that I never expected, but once I learned it, it made a whole bunch of things click in my head.

I honestly never understood the appeal of Trader Joe's. I think I'm in the wrong demographic. It seems like they completely nailed their marketing and millenials/zoomers are like moths to a flame with Trader Joe's. I always viewed it as "Zoomer Whole Foods" but that's not accurate. Trader Joe's definitely has a smaller product line and are ruthless with underperforming lines. Still, it's a place I never shop.

It is interesting it's owned by the same family though.

The demographic for Trader Joe's is people who want to feel quirky and original about buying groceries, but not by paying Whole Foods prices. They've nailed that marketing position pretty well, yeah.

It's processed convenience food that is just a little more healthy or tasty on average than the freezer isle at Walmart. It also tends to be just a little ahead of food trends than your typical grocery store. It has some "cute" branding too. It's for people who rarely cook but don't want a diet of 100% take-out. I think Whole Foods is for people who fancy themselves home chefs.

It has use in cities like SF that lack better options. They have parking and the prices are cheaper than whole foods and similar stores, and it's better than going to a corner store. That's about it.

They offer a lot of products we couldn't normally get conveniently elsewhere as well where we are.

Nope, GenX grew up on and still loves TJ’s, in SoCal anyway.

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