Aldi, a German family-owned, non-union discount retailer, is making inroads in large U.S. urban areas where Wal-Mart has faced opposition from unions and politicians,
the
New York Times
reported.
Citing an official at Aldi’s U.S. division, the
Times
article said that Aldi, which first came to the U.S. in 1976, at first opened only about 25 stores a year. In the last few years, it has added more than 250 stores and plans 80 more in 2011 and in 2012.
Aldi was founded by the Albrecht brothers, who worked in their mother’s German retail business and took it over in the 1940s. In 1961, they introduced the Aldi name, short for Albrecht Discount.
The
Times
article cited a
Stores
magazine report that said the Aldi group was the world’s eighth-largest retailer in 2009 (the most recent figures available), with about $67.7 billion in revenue.
“About 95 percent of its goods bear an obscure private label,” the
Times
report noted.
The article noted that the higher-end Trader Joe’s is owned by an Albrecht family trust.
The stores cut costs by having fewer product lines, charging a 25-cent deposit for shopping carts, accepting cash only, lacking a butcher and bakery and selling fruit in bags, the
Times
report said. (Source:
New York Times,
March 30, 2011.)
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