Ryan and I had been hearing about this new discount grocery store in Vernon and being the thrifty shoppers that we have become, we decided to check it out. The store is called Aldi, but we prefer to call it Aldi’s. As in some little old guy name Aldi opened this market, and he owns it, so it’s called Aldi’s. It’s different from other grocery stores for several reasons, all of which I approve of.

Reason #1: You have to pay 25 cents to rent a shopping cart. You get that 25 cents back when you return it. This way there are no carts left in the parking lot, and no poor cold bag boys that have to retrieve them. You literally put your quarter in a slot and unchain the cart yourself.

Reason #2: The aisles are wider and fewer, but there are still a lot of selections.

Reason #3: You probably haven’t heard of most of the brands, although we did find several national brands there as well.

Reason #4: The prices are great! We walked out of there having only spent $50 on groceries! We usually spend $100+ per week.

Reason #5: They don’t have shelves. Everything is pretty much displayed as it was shipped, on pallets.

Reason #6: Plastic bags don’t exist, and paper bags are for sale, so bring your own bags!

Reason #7: Checkout – the cashiers are literally timed. After the ring all your groceries, transporting them from one cart to another, you take them in the cart over to a long counter where you bag them yourself. And they do not take checks or credit cards, only debit or cash. I can’t believe there is a grocery store where I will never get stuck behind some woman writing a check!

I am sure there are other great reasons, but I can’t remember them now. We got pretty much everything we needed there, and for great prices! The selection is limited, which is kind of nice – it means I won’t buy a lot of things that aren’t on my list.