When looking for the basics, Aldi is a store that is easy to use because it is smaller, yet it has low prices that are hard to beat. Aldi conveys a distinctive friendly and cozy atmosphere that most customers usually feel whenever they enter the store.

They stock some name-brand products at low prices along with Aldi-specific brands that are great in quality but priced competitively with generic brands. Sometimes Aldi’s store brand is lower in price by as much as 30 percent than the Walmart store brand of a similar product. In fact, it may only be a matter of time where some of the Aldi product names are as commonly known as regular nationally known brands. Items are also easy to find because there are not very many aisles in the store. In fact, most stores consist of four main aisles.

Aldi requires shoppers to pay a deposit on their shopping cart. They deposit a quarter into the shopping cart and when they return the cart after they are through with it, they are able to get their quarter back. This helps in keeping the clutter down in the parking lot and is one of the ways they keep some of their costs down because they do not have to pay someone to police the parking lot to coral shopping carts. Aldi is then able to transfer what they save to the customers in the form of lower prices on their products.

Aldi is a self-bagging store with several options concerning the bagging process. Customers can bring their own bags, whether bags that they reuse, canvas bags or any other containers. Aldi also allows customers to remove empty boxes that merchandise came in and use them for grocery bagging purposes. In addition, Aldi sells three types of plastic bags, paper bags and canvas bags. Aldi’s system of not bagging items reduces their overhead in labor and encourages customers to reuse bags that they might otherwise dispose of, which has a great impact on the environment. A little more effort in the grocery shopping process and doing without name-brand items saves the consumer money.

Walmart, due to its large size, carries name brand items and offers more of a variety than Aldi. This is especially important if you have a pet that will not just eat anything, such as a cat. In addition, Aldi carries items for other types of pets including parakeets and other birds, gerbils and other small animals. They also stock tropical fish, aquariums, fish food and other supplies related to the care of tropical fish.

While Aldi tries to offer a variety of items, anywhere from cooking utensils to camping gear, Walmart, especially superstores, are a complete department store with many things Aldi simply does not have room enough to stock. Walmart can offer a one stop shopping experience with other business located within the store with there own pharmacy and banking, photographic company that will process photos while the customer waits. The consumer can find nail and beautician services as well as an optical store where the customer can have glasses made with an outside prescription or have an eye exam at their store.

Walmart is opened 24-7 except a few holidays, which is great if you need something and the other stores are closed. In contrast, some Aldi stores do not open their doors until 9:00 in the morning. Aldi also closes in the evening, forcing customers to go somewhere else that is open when they need a forgotten item.

Dollar stores make people think that they are a getting a good deal. In some cases, the customer is getting a good deal but sometimes that dollar store item that people think that they are saving money turns out that they are not because the item purchased is a smaller size.

The bottom line is that most people have a tendency towards doing some of their shopping at Aldi and some of it at Walmart. They may also fill in with other stores, including dollar stores and stores that are not in the same price range that they prefer. However, with gasoline prices the way they are, people are trying to get along with their shopping without additional stops or going out of their way in order to save money.