Aldi soft opening day in Altadena, April 5, 2017 (Photo – Staff).
April 5th, 2017 was the soft opening day for Aldi in Altadena.
By Wafic Khalil
In anticipation of its Grand Opening (April 6th) Day, customers flocked to the Aldi’s store to check out the store, and so did we.
We were greeted with a friendly employee at the entrance that was tasked with showing customers how to get a shopping cart. He demonstrated by inserting a quarter (refundable at the end of your shopping trip) in the coin slot in order to release the cart.
Aldi’s goodie table (Photo Staff).
A free goodie table greets you as soon as you enter the store. Strategically located at the entrance to get your attention and give you a good welcome feel. The store is clean with a fresh look that you expect from a brand new store. The aisles are all neatly packed with organic items sprinkled around the store (as opposed to one specialized organic section). High ceilings and bright colors, coupled with good organic prices (at least on soft opening day), made for a relaxed and enjoyable shopping experience.
Aldi’s recyclable bag (Photo – Staff).
Free, large Aldi bags were being handed out, and employees, who were brought from other Aldi stores for opening day, were present to greet and answer any questions.
Checkout was easy and fast. On our trip, one of the employees noticed the line and immediately opened another register. The only downside to the whole experience was the fact that you still had to swipe your chipped credit card (as oppose to ‘card dipping’ instead, which allows you to insert your card into a terminal slot). A puzzling fact since this is a brand new store but the chip card readers are still not activated!
Opening day
On Thursday, April 6, there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 8:25 a.m., plus the first 100 customers will receive a golden ticket, each containing ALDI gift cards of various amounts.
Customers will also have an opportunity to sample exclusive brand products and enter sweepstakes for a chance to win a year’s supply of ALDI produce.
Overall
Insert a quarter to get an Aldi shopping cart (Photo – Staff).
Overall the experience was a positive one, and we ended up with a bag of 4 organic avocados for $3.99 (the sign stated $3.98 price but who’s counting) and organic bananas for .59c/lb.
Tip #1: Aldi discounts their bread five days before the item expires so make sure you look for that.
Tip #2: Aldi Double Guarantees your item: If you don’t like it, they will replace the item AND refund you the money.
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