Evanston Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, joined employees of the new Aldi Food Market at 2211 Oakton St. to cut the ribbon marking the store’s grand opening this morning.
Evanston Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, joined employees of the new Aldi Food Market at 2211 Oakton St. to cut the ribbon marking the store’s grand opening this morning.
The store features a limited selection of products, compared to most supermarkets, but claims to offer customers substantial savings on what the store does stock. The store accepts cash and debit cards but not credit cards or checks.
Alderman Rainey said the City Council has been focusing on trying to attract new businesses to Evanston and that the new store is an example of the new businesses being attracted to town.
The store actually is across the street from Rainey’s ward, but she said Alderman Coleen Burrus, whose 9th Ward includes the store, was out of town and unable to attend the opening ceremony.
Company officials say the store will have about a dozen employees.
It’s located next to PetSmart in the Home Depot shopping center.
Wow!
I’m really excited. Now there is finally a place in town where I can get a 50 pack of lime-flavored PushUp Popsicles!
Activity at former Asbury Street Market
Do we know anything about the future of the former Asbury Street Market, at Asbury and Oakton? Seems there’s some work going on inside…
Just super…. ; (
Ask for a higher end grocery store in our neighborhood and we end up with this dump. This is what happens when you court Trader Joe’s…. the other brother moves in and gives us this crap.
First! Yeah, Aldi!
First! Yeah, Aldi!
Aldi and Trader Joe’s
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Aldi: http://blogs.brookfieldnow.com/practically_speaking/archive/2008/06/04/in-praise-of-aldi-s-and-trader-joe-s-wish-we-had-both.aspx
Come on now, don’t get all
Come on now, don’t get all freaked out people – Aldi actually carries some very decent items – they’re a German Company, and often carry really great affordable German stuff – their chocolate is great, seasonally they offer good sausages, and some of their other stuff is good quality and priced well – like their dairy products and stuff like that. As a mom with three elementary school aged kids I’m going to benefit from this local Aldi. And I don’t usually buy stuff like lime flavored pushup popsicles. They have more to offer than just that.
Nice Store
I’ve always thought of myself as a bit of a grocery store snob, and I always thought that Aldi was kind of gross. I went in last night and was very pleasantly surprised. There were some name-brand goods, and the Aldi brands still looked very appealing. They had several flavors of hummus (which are delicious!), some very good fresh salsa, and a pretty good selection of inexpensive canned goods. Black beans are black beans, and you can’t beat 56 cents a can. It won’t be my regular grocery store, but I will definitely go there for some things–the prices are great!
Aldi
After reading all of the positive reviews for Aldi, I went over to enquire for myself.
First, I am glad that such a store exists. People should have as much choice as possible when purchasing food. And it is good that this store is creating new jobs, and tax revenue, for Evanston.
I have previously visited the Skokie Aldi, and it was really nasty. I especially disliked the way that once you entered the store, you were forced to walk all the way through it before you were allowed to leave. Fortunately, the Evanston store allows you to exit at will.
Food selection: a few, very few, good items. Not many name brand items..the only brands I recognized were some Hershey miniatures and some packs of Wrigley’s gum…NO Cocoa Puffs! ..lots of low end stuff. I’ll stick with Marketplace on Oakton or Jewel most of the time.
As for the savings – if you have a family of 12 or you go shopping once a month, you might save. Otherwise, your small savings will not compensate for the slowness…there was only one line, and everyone in front of me was apparently shopping for their family of 12. Yes, I know it is a new store – but when I went there was only one cashier and a line of 5 or 6 customers, each with a loaded cart.
Seriously?
“Ask for a higher end grocery store in our neighborhood and we end up with this dump. This is what happens when you court Trader Joe’s…. the other brother moves in and gives us this crap.”
If you want a higher end grocery store go to one. There are several in town, namely the TWO Whole Foods. Not everyone wants to spend 300.00 on groceries. I too would have loved a Trader Joes, but if I had to pick between this and another Whole Foods, or another “organic” store, I would choose this.
Aldis
For all you high brow shoppers, go downtown and pay 500% more at Whole Paycheck. Like it or not, Aldis is thriving because they offer real value. With three kids to feeds, I love shopping at Aldis. No one beats their prices. Not even Walmart. Kudos to Ann Rainey and who ever else lobbied to bring Aldis to the 8th ward.
Aldis
I agree 110% with you Tom!! I am extremely happy to see Aldi in the 8th ward!!
Dump…
Wow. It’s unfortunate that we have people living in our town that would call Aldi a dump. You are referring to this grocery store as a place that is dilapidated, dirty, and disreputable? I am going to confidently say that an individual who calls Aldi a dump, is a person who would care more about having a motor less Jaguar in their driveway than a lower end car that actually runs. Please come to a community meeting, stand up and be the proud snob that you are. Better yet, go grocery shopping with the parent that is trying extremely hard to stretch every dollar that they have for their family. Shame on you.
Aldies
“Ask for a higher end grocery store in our neighborhood and we end up with this dump. This is what happens when you court Trader Joe’s…. the other brother moves in and gives us this crap.”
I assume the author is also a branch supporter. High end everything, budgets and costs mean nothing to them—in fact they probably brag about how much they spend on groceries and the expensive wine and cheese they stock—probably in addition to their lion steaks and foie gras.
Most of us have more common sense than unlimited budgets of the Evanston elite.
It’s Evanston, don’t you know? We don’t have any problems
Here in Evanston, no one talks about financial problems. Because, don’t you know, all of us have plenty of money and can spend it without concern.
Spend $300 each week at Whole Foods? Not a problem.
Shop at Aldi? No way. That’s for “other people” who don’t live in my neighborhood.
Spend thousands for real estate taxes now and even more in six months? Not a problem.
Dread opening the real estate tax bill when it arrives? No need to worry when there’s enough to pay the next five years in cash today.
Pay for duplicative services and feel good projects? Not a problem. Glad to do it so I can tell all my friends in Wilmette, Kenilworth, etc. that I live in such a progressive, forward-thinking community where we pay, pay, pay taxes for every idea that any do-gooder has.
Be concerned about cutting the City budget? Surely you jest. We don’t need to cut any expenses. Everyone in town can either afford to pay more or they don’t pay real estate taxes anyway.
Why would anyone live here if they didn’t have money to waste?
Frankly, I’m starting to ask myself that. For this City’s proclaimed love of diversity, it appears that nobody cares about keeping a middle class here. Unless you are wealthy or low income, everything about this town says that you don’t belong here.
Aldi’s effect
I think the coming of Aldi is impacting Target, causing it to become more creative and substantial in its groceries section. This is all good.
I was leery of Aldi’s, but am
I was leery of Aldi’s, but am convinced that their store brand is as good quality as the major brands. A single but hopefully telling example is their rather amazing apple pie filling; the can I opened was full of big firm pieces of apple, a real surprise, and can be used in a lot of ways. It may be that apples are cheaper than cherries; and the cherry version won’t be as good, but I’m looking forward to checking that out as well.