Video: ALDI Opens First Northeast Mississippi Store

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – A new grocery store is now open in Tupelo, and the store is different from traditional supermarkets in many ways.

Carolyn Floyd arrived at the North Gloster ALDI Food Store at 10 p.m. Tuesday night. It meant she was first in line for the ribbon cutting and grand opening .

She also won a$100 gift card. The Blue Springs resident says she is glad ALDI has come to the All American City.

“I love the prices, I love all the food that I buy,” Floyd said.

ALDI stores are different from traditional supermarkets in many ways, beginning in the parking lot. Customers pay a quarter to get a shopping cart. The quarter is refunded if the cart is returned to the cart corral.

ALDI promises prices that are about half of those at other stores. They do that by carrying generic brands.

Also, shoppers sack their own groceries at a counter just beyond the registers. Customers we spoke with didn’t mind bagging their purchases to save money.

“I’m glad I did cause I got some milk for 99 cents. Y’all need to come on Starkville people,” said Starkville resident Betty Young.

More than an hour after the doors opened, every register line was full. In fact, the lines were stretching about halfway through the store. On opening day there were about 20 employees, but in another cost saving measure, on a typical day, the employee count is much lower.

“Some days you will come in and there may be only two or three employees working the store.Everybody who works at Aldi can do everything. Everybody is a stocker. Everybody is a cleaner. Everybody is the meat, produce cooler department,” said Ben Wright, District Manager.

ALDI will open a second Northeast Mississippi store in Corinth early next year.

The Tupelo store is part of ALDI’s expansion strategy, which will add 25,000 new jobs in stores, warehouses and offices.

ALDI has 1,600 stores nationwide.