Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two
German multinational family-owned
discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries.
The chain was founded by brothers
Karl Karl may refer to:
People
* Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne
* Karl of Austria, last Austrian Emperor
* Karl (footballer) (born 1993), Karl Cac ...
and
Theo Albrecht in 1946, when they took over their mother's store in
Essen
Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...
. The business was split into two separate groups in 1960 that later became Aldi Nord (initially Northern
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
), headquartered in Essen, and Aldi Süd (initially Southern West Germany), headquartered in neighbouring
Mülheim.
In 1962, they introduced the name Aldi (a
syllabic abbreviation for "Albrecht Diskont").
In Germany, Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd have been financially and legally separate since 1966, although both divisions' names may appear as if they were a single enterprise with certain
store brands or when negotiating with
contractor companies. Each company is owned and operated independently, but they do have contractual business with one another.
Aldi's German operations consist of Aldi Nord's 35 individual regional companies with about 2,200 stores in western, northern, and eastern Germany, and Aldi Süd's 32 regional companies with 2,000 stores in western and southern Germany. Internationally, Aldi Nord operates in Belgium, Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Spain, while Aldi Süd operates in Australia, Austria, China, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In Austria and Slovenia, Aldi operates stores under the Hofer brand. Aldi Nord also owns the
Trader Joe's grocery chain in the United States, which operates separately from the group.
Aldi is the chief competitor of the German discount chain
Lidl in several markets.
History

In 1913,
Karl Karl may refer to:
People
* Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne
* Karl of Austria, last Austrian Emperor
* Karl (footballer) (born 1993), Karl Cac ...
and
Theo Albrecht's mother opened a small store in a suburb of
Essen
Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...
, Germany.
Their father was employed as a miner and, after asthma forced him to quit said job, later found work as a baker's assistant. Karl and Theo were born in 1920 and 1922, respectively.
Theo Albrecht completed an apprenticeship in his mother's store, while Karl Albrecht worked in a
delicatessen.
Karl Albrecht took over a food shop formerly run by Judt, and he later served in the
German Army
The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. In 1945, the brothers took over their mother's business and soon opened another retail outlet nearby.
By 1950, the Albrecht brothers owned 13 stores in the
Ruhr Valley.
The brothers' idea was to subtract the legal maximum rebate of 3% before sale. The market leaders at the time, which often were
co-operatives, required their customers to collect rebate stamps and to send them at regular intervals to reclaim their money. The Albrecht brothers also rigorously removed merchandise that did not sell from their shelves, cutting costs by neither advertising nor selling fresh produce and keeping the size of their retail outlets small.
By 1960, 300 stores were in Germany.
Split
The brothers split the company in 1960, reportedly over a dispute about whether they should sell
cigarettes. Karl believed they would attract shoplifters, while his brother, Theo, did not. This led to Theo running Aldi Nord and Karl running Aldi Süd. At the time, they jointly owned 300 shops.
Journalist Martin Kuhna, however, questioned said reason for the split in an article published by the ''
Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' (WAZ) in September 2009, where he suspected that the real reason for the split lay in the vastly differing management styles of the brothers. In 1962, they introduced the name Aldi—short for , which translates into English as Albrecht Discount, which became their formal corporate name in 1975. Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd have been financially and legally separate since 1966.
The individual groups were originally owned and managed jointly by the brothers. After the death of Theo's son
Berthold, Aldi Nord continues to be controlled by the Albrecht family through its Markus, Lukas, and Jakobus Foundations, which hold a combined 80.5 per cent of the company's issued capital.
International expansion
Aldi started to expand internationally in 1967, when Aldi Süd acquired the grocery chain Hofer in Austria. Aldi Nord opened its first stores abroad in the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
in 1973, and other countries followed. In 1976, Aldi Süd opened its first store in the United States in
Iowa
Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
, and, in 1979, Aldi Nord acquired
Trader Joe's.
After
German reunification
German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...
and
the fall of the Iron Curtain, Aldi experienced a rapid expansion. The brothers retired as CEOs in 1993. Control of the companies was placed in the hands of
private family foundations, the Siepmann Foundation (Aldi Süd) and the Markus, Jakobus, and Lukas Foundation (Aldi Nord, Trader Joe's).
Acquisition of Winn-Dixie and Harveys
In August 2023, Aldi Süd acquired
Winn-Dixie and
Harveys Supermarket in the US, including about 400 stores across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. On March 7, 2024, Aldi Süd closed the Southeastern Grocers acquisition. On February 7, 2025, Aldi divested around 170 Winn-Dixie and Harvey Supermarket stores as well as 170 of its liquor stores back to Southeastern Grocers in a private investor deal that represents the leadership of SEG and includes C&S Wholesale Grocers. Aldi also announced plans to convert 220 of the stores over to its own format by 2027 which they will run under license from SEG until the final store is converted.
Business organisation
Germany

The Aldi Nord group currently consists of 35 independent regional branches with around 2,500 stores. Aldi Süd is made up of 24 companies with 2,000 stores. The border between their territories is commonly known as the () and runs from the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
via
Mülheim an der Ruhr,
Wermelskirchen,
Marburg,
Siegen, and
Gießen east to just north of
Fulda.
The former
East Germany
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
is served by Aldi Nord, except for one Aldi Süd in
Sonneberg,
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
, whose regional office is in
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
. The regional branches are organised as
limited partnerships, with a regional manager for each branch, who reports directly to the head office in Essen (Aldi Nord) or Mülheim an der Ruhr (Aldi Süd).
Internationally
The Aldi group operates over 12,000 stores worldwide. Aldi Nord is responsible for its stores in Northern Germany, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. Aldi Nord also owns the
Trader Joe's grocery chain in the United States, which operates separately from the group.
Aldi Süd's responsibilities are for Southern Germany, Australia, China, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and through Austrian subsidiary Hofer AG in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, and Switzerland.
In Austria and Slovenia, Aldi Süd operates their stores under the Hofer brand. Aldi Süd's first Swiss store opened in 2005, and it has operated in Hungary since 2007. Aldi Süd had invested an estimated €800m (US$1bn; £670m) in Greece from November 2008 until pulling out in December 2010.
While Aldi Nord has renamed its Dutch and Belgian subsidiaries ''Combi'' and ''Lansa'' to the ''Aldi Markt/Aldi Marché'' brand, Aldi Süd tries to maintain a regional appearance, branding its stores ''Aldi Süd'' in Germany, ''Aldi Suisse'' in Switzerland, and ''Hofer'' in Austria and Slovenia.

Aldi launched in Great Britain on 5 April 1990, when it opened its first store there in
Stechford,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, using the wholly owned English-registered company of Aldi Stores Limited. In October 2013, Aldi opened its 300th store in Great Britain. By 2017, Aldi had over 600 stores there and was opening them at a rate of more than one a week. In January 2022, Aldi launched its Shop&Go concept in Greenwich, London. In September 2022 Aldi overtook Morrisons to become Britain's 4th largest supermarket, with a 9.3% market share. In September 2023, Aldi opened its 1,000th location in the UK and shared its plan to open another 500 as a long-term goal.
Aldi entered the Irish market in 1999. In November 2024, its 163rd store in Ireland opened in
Tullamore (County Offaly).
Aldi opened its first Australian store in Sydney in 2001 and has grown rapidly since, maintaining a 12.6% market share as of early 2016. It has yet, , to open any stores in the state of
Tasmania
Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
and in
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
. Financial website Canstar rated Australia's supermarkets based on the feedback of 2,897 consumers who had visited one in the past month with Aldi coming out on top. By August 2019, there were 540 Aldi stores in Australia. Aldi had approximately 11 percent share of the Australian grocery market in 2018.
Aldi Süd expanded to the United States under the Aldi banner, having expanded throughout the
Eastern and
Midwestern US. Aldi Süd revealed expansion plans in 2015, and it expanded into the
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
market, where Aldi Nord's Trader Joe's is based. Reports in August 2019 stated that the company was in the process of using a $3.4 billion investment to expand to 2,500 stores in the country by the end of 2022. It also invested an extra $1.6 billion to renovate 1,300 of its US stores.
By October 2024, 2,428 Aldi Süd stores were in 39 US states. Groceries ordered online could be delivered to homes in the areas covered by 95% of stores in the US, provided in conjunction with
Instacart. In March 2024, Aldi said that it is planning to invest over $9 billion and open 800 new stores in the United States by the end of 2028.
Aldi Süd opened its first 10 stores in Italy in March 2018. In the first year of operation, 51 outlets were opened. By October 2019, 66 stores were in northern Italy. At that time, the company was planning to open 80 new stores in the country, as well as a distribution centre in Landriano.
In mid-2019, Aldi Süd opened two small, upscale stores in
Shanghai. Two more were opened in late 2019.
This is the first of a planned 100 such locations in the city.
In December 2020, Aldi bought 545 supermarkets and three warehouses of
Leader Price and another two Casino supermarkets in France for €717 million from
Casino Group. The transaction is part of Aldi's plan to catch up with Lidl in France.
In December 2022, Aldi Nord issued a press release stating that Aldi is withdrawing from Denmark after 45 years of operations there; 114 of the chain's total of 188 stores will be taken over by Norwegian competitor
Rema 1000. In August 2023, the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority approval of the Rema 1000 acquisition was announced.
Geographic distribution
Business practices
In-store layout
Aldi stores are noted as examples of so-called
no-frills stores that often display a variety of items at discount prices, specializing in staple items, such as food,
beverage
A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothie ...
s, toilet paper, sanitary articles, and other inexpensive household items. Many of its products are
own brands, with the number of other brands usually limited to a maximum of two for a given item.
Aldi mainly sells
exclusively produced, custom-branded products, often very similar to and produced by major brands, with brand names including Grandessa, Happy Farms, Millville, Simply Nature, Clancy's, and Fit & Active.
Branded products carried include
Haribo in Germany,
Knoppers in Belgium, France, and the United States,
Marmite and
Branston Pickle in Great Britain, and
Vegemite and
Milo in Australia. Unlike most shops, Aldi does not accept manufacturers'
coupons, although some US stores successfully experimented with them.
In addition to its standard assortment, Aldi has weekly special offers, some of them on more expensive products such as electronics, tools, appliances, or computers. Discount items can include clothing, toys, flowers and gifts. Special offers have limits on quantities and last one week. Aldi's early computer offers in Germany, such as a
Commodore 64 in 1987, resulted in those products selling out in a few hours.
In many of its US locations, Aldi has "Aldi Finds" aisles placed in the center of their stores that feature random specialty items marked down in price, which has been nicknamed the "aisle of shame".
Aldi is the largest
wine retailer in Germany. Many Australian stores now sell alcoholic beverages. Some US stores also sell alcoholic beverages, mainly beer and wine, where permitted by local and state laws.
In March 2019, Aldi Süd launched smaller-format stores in the UK called Aldi Local, with the first store in
Balham
Balham () is an List of areas of London, area in south-west London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, with small parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. It has been settled since Saxon times and appears in t ...
, south London. The store has slightly fewer products than a regular Aldi, a preference for fresh products, two sizes of baskets rather than trolleys, and lacks the notable "middle aisle" of weekly offers.
In 2021, Aldi UK opened its first
cashierless store in
Greenwich.
File:15-05-26-Aldi-Nord-Innenansicht-RalfR-DSCF5928.jpg, Aldi Nord interior
File:Aldigang.jpg, The inside of an Aldi Nord in Dortmund, Germany. All Aldi stores display their products in their original shipping boxes.
File:Aldi.jpg, The inside of an Aldi Süd store in Hungary
File:Obst- und Gemüse-Abteilung im aktuellsten Design von Aldi Süd 2 (Stand- Frühjahr 2021).jpg, New style of fruits and vegetables displays in a rebuilt Aldi Süd in Diez an der Lahn, Germany
File:Aldi Local Balham 20190322.jpg, The outside of an Aldi Local, in Balham
Balham () is an List of areas of London, area in south-west London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, with small parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. It has been settled since Saxon times and appears in t ...
, London
File:Aldi Nord Electric Vehicle Charging Station. Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland.jpg, Electric vehicle charging station on the wall of Aldi in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland
Advertising policy
In the United States, it advertises in newspapers, on television, print ads distributed in stores, and via the Internet.
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, print and television ads have appeared since May 2005. In 2016, Aldi began producing a series of Christmas ads to rival
John Lewis' featuring a carrot named Kevin. In 2024, Aldi partnered with British television channel
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
to sponsor its food programming strands.
In Australia, television advertising is common, and the current ads are listed on the Australian website.
In Belgium, print, radio, and television ads started appearing in late 2017. These ads were based on the positive results of taste tests, where the chain pitted its own products against common name-brand products.
Logos and branding

The two stores Nord and Süd have distinct logos with Nord displaying the entire 'A' for Aldi. Süd unveiled a logo in 1982 which displays half an "A". In 2006, Aldi Süd modified the logo slightly and then in March 2017, unveiled a new logo that removed the blue box line around the artistic 'A' and revealed a more rounded, three-dimensional look for the logo, as well as a new font for the word ALDI, further differentiating it from the Aldi Nord logo, which had shared the same font for the brand until then.
Sustainability
Between 2012 and 2019, Aldi's UK operations became "
carbon neutral", with investments in
solar,
green energy, energy efficiency, and
offsets reducing
greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...
by 53% per square meter of sales floor. On 4 March 2020, Aldi announced that all its suppliers In January 2024, the company announced plans to eliminate plastic bags from its 2,300 US stores. Cloth bags would still be available for customer use. It also said it would aim to use natural
refrigerants in its US stores by the end of 2035. Other grocery retailers were making similar moves at the time of the announcement.
Reputation
In the United Kingdom, Aldi has won Supermarket of the Year two years in a row (2012/13), and in 2013, Aldi won the
Grocer of the Year Award. In February 2015, Aldi narrowly lost to
Waitrose for the title of Supermarket of the Year 2015. In April 2015, Aldi overtook Waitrose to become the United Kingdom's sixth-largest supermarket chain.
In February 2017, Aldi overtook the
Co-op to become the United Kingdom's fifth-largest supermarket chain. In May 2017, Aldi lost out to
Marks & Spencer for the title of Supermarket of the Year 2017, published by the magazine ''
Which?''. According to 2019 research, nearly two-thirds of households in the UK visit an Aldi or Lidl branch at least once every 12 weeks.
In the United States, due to the relatively low staffing of Aldi locations compared to other supermarket chains, Aldi has a reputation of starting employees out at significantly higher than
minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...
, unusual among American supermarkets.
In Ireland, Aldi has been accused of a "lack of corporate responsibility" to their farmer suppliers by the
Irish Farmers' Association
The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) (Irish: ''Feirmeoirí Aontaithe na hÉireann'') is a national organisation to represent the interests of all sectors of farming in Ireland. The IFA is Ireland's largest farming representative organisation an ...
.
Aldi was named 2018 Retailer of the Year by ''Supermarket News''.
Australian trucking giant Scott's Refrigerated Logistics was plunged into
receivership
In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...
and
liquidation in March 2023 after going into
voluntary administration that February. This sparked protests from the
Transport Workers' Union, who put the blame on Aldi Australia for increasing strains on the company during the last few years of shortages and inflation.
Subsidiaries and joint ventures
Subsidiaries include the mobile network operator Aldi Talk, the alcoholic drink brand Aldi Alcohol, and petrol station retailer Diskont.
Home appliance and multimedia products are labeled under different names, mostly manufactured by
Medion.
Aldi Talk
Aldi has a
mobile virtual network operator in Germany called Aldi Talk, also known as MEDIONmobile (
service provider is
Medion). Aldi operates a similar network in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
using
Telstra's network, called "ALDImobile". Aldimobile is also in Switzerland by
Sunrise LLC. In Austria and Slovenia, Hofer stores serve as distributors for the brand HoT Hofer Telekom (service provider is Ventocom).
Aldi Alcohol
Aldi sells low-cost alcohol from its alcohol stores. Until March 2016, Aldi had an alcohol website serving the east coast of Australia. This has now been closed down, citing it wishes to focus on expanding the supermarket chain across Australia. In November 2019, Aldi announced same-day beer and wine delivery via a partnership with Instacart in the US.
Diskont
In Austria through its subsidiary Hofer, Aldi has a joint venture with the local petrol retailer
OMV Downstream GmbH, to create some
no-frills petrol stations called Diskont. The 85 stations in Austria are on or near the stores, providing
self-serve unleaded or
diesel fuel by card-operated pumps. These have been in operation since 2009.
Aldi Insurance
Aldi launched Aldi Insurance in Australia in June 2024. The company provides home and contents insurance, car insurance, and landlord's insurance backed by Honey Insurance and
RACQ Insurance.
Notes
References
External links
*
How a cheap, brutally efficient grocery chain is upending America's supermarkets– ''CNN''
"The long read – The Aldi effect: how one discount supermarket transformed the way Britain shops" ''The Guardian''
{{Authority control
1946 establishments in Germany
Arts and crafts retailers
Companies based in North Rhine-Westphalia
Discount stores of Germany
Family-owned companies of Germany
German brands
Privately held companies of Germany
Retail companies established in 1946
Supermarkets of Germany
Trader Joe's