This Rapidly Expanding Grocery Chain Is Shockingly Cheaper Than Wal-Mart
<img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5266ed9969bedd3c0cab2fb7-1200-924/aldi-supermarket.jpg" border="0" alt="aldi supermarket">
The German grocery chain Aldi offers drastically cheaper prices than Wal-Mart, according to a recent price check.
Blogger Erin Kelly compared the prices of 28 items at Aldi and Wal-Mart stores in Manhattan, Kan., and found Aldi's prices were 22% cheaper.
Kelly's basket total at Aldi came to $64.06, compared to $82.62 at Wal-Mart.
"With the exception of the milk and eggs, which usually are cheaper at Aldi, every single item was cheaper at Aldi than Wal-Mart," Kelly wrote on her blog. "Every penny adds up."
Kelly's findings are in line with a Cheapism <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">study last year that</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> declared Aldi the low-price leader ahead of Wal-mart and Kroger. </span>
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The study compared the cost of </span>37 items<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">from each of the three chains' locations in the Columbus, Ohio area. Aldi's basket total came to $72.30, compared to Wal-Mart's $85.88 basket and Kroger's $93.73 basket.</span>
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Based on her findings, Kelly says she could save $75 to $100 a month shopping at Aldi over Wal-Mart.</span>
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Here's the full breakdown of her savings:</span>
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/54aaf84c69bedd2d1e870503-620-815/screen-shot-2015-01-05-at-2.53.19-pm.png" border="0" alt="Aldi survey">
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<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Aldi keeps its prices low by offering a lean selection of items that's heavy on house brands. The chain carries just 5% of the inventory found in traditional grocery stores, according to Cheapism's Raechel Conover. </span>
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">For Kelly, that typically means two shopping trips — one to Aldi and one to Wal-Mart — to find everything on her grocery list.</span>
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>Aldi also saves money by requiring customers to bring their own shopping bags, bag their own groceries, and pay a 25-cent deposit to use carts. The deposit is refunded when customers return the carts, so Aldi doesn't have to pay employees to round them up and return them to the front of the store.</span></span>
Aldi has more than 1,300 U.S. locations, mostly in the Midwest and East, and plans to open 650 more U.S. stores within the next four years.
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