Aldi made its bones on "high quality - low cost" with a number of "cost cutting measures"
- cash (later checks); no credit cards
- now credit cards, no checks.
- no baggers / utility employees
- no frills
- minimum "display" effort - open the case lot - plunk it on a shelf
- no free bags - BYOBag/Box
- Feed-a-Quarter shopping cart control; put in a quarter to release a cart; get a quarter when it is returned
the "high quality" bit is somewhat imagination. few national brands - many local/store brands which in their marketing hype are "better" - your experience and opinion may vary.
personally I _like_ the shopping cart "deposit" idea (this is common throughout Europe) - if you've ever come back to your car on a windy day to find some lazy SOB's cart embedded in your car door, you might like it too....
dimly from memory, it's a German originated business; three brothers currently doing their thing; they got along so well that they had to split the business into North Germany, South Germany and USA. what you're seeing in USA is one man's vision of how to run a grocery store - absence any input from reality. well, except for the credit card bit. they finally figured out not everyone walks around with $200-$300 in their pocket. actually that credit card acceptance co-coincided with the Federal move to food stamp debit cards. funny thing about that....