Bizarre Never Stops

‘Nuff said, eh?

Readers, what bizarre product placement have you seen in any of the stores you’ve visited?

Share away!!

German Grocer Aldi To Heat Up U.S. Competition

German Discount Grocer Aldi Sets U.S. Expansion Plan

Aldi says it will open nearly 900 stores, invest $5 billion over five years

Aldi says it will open 900 stores and invest $5 billion over five years. Photo by Anthony Devlin/Zuma Press

By Heather Haddon
June 11, 2017 9:00 p.m. ET

Competition in the U.S. grocery sector is about to get more fierce.

Discount grocery chain Aldi is expected to unveil on Monday plans to invest $5 billion to open nearly 900 stores and remodel hundreds more in the U.S.

The expansion, over the next five years, puts the German grocer on track to becoming the third-largest food retailer in the U.S. by store count, behind the larger Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kroger Co., and a growing threat to traditional food retailers.

Aldi said it is expected to have a total of 2,500 locations across the U.S. by 2022. Its plan comes as another German discounter, Lidl, is set to open its first 10 stores in the U.S. on Thursday as part of a multiyear expansion.

Executives at Wal-Mart and Kroger have been preparing for the growth of the discounters for years. Wal-Mart has been sprucing up its stores and slashing prices on some products in select markets, while Kroger continues to drive down costs to compete.

But the discounters could have a big impact on the U.S. grocery market as they did in Europe. Their market share there has steadily grown while traditional supermarkets have seen theirs fall.

Deep discount chains in the U.S. are expected to grow by up to 10% a year through 2020, five times the rate of traditional grocers, according to a recent report by consulting firm Bain & Co.

“It should absolutely be more than scary to traditional grocers and retailers,” said Mikey Vu, a partner in Bain’s retail practice.

Many shoppers in the U.S. are unfamiliar with Aldi. The chain has been in the U.S. since

Grocery Shopping & more Grocery Shopping: A Quick Price Comparison – @Publix v @Kroger

As a general rule, I don’t shop at Publix because the prices are higher.

Until now, that’d been only a casual observation.

I had never formally price checked… until now.

Recently, I decided to purchase some groceries at Publix only because the store was conveniently along my route.

My preference continues to be for Kroger.

The 11 items purchased at Publix were:

It’s A Dog’s Life… And They Called It ‘Puppy Love’

So, as it turns out, I bought these as a treat for my puppy. And what do you think she did? Read on to find out!

So…

a few days ago, as a treat,

I bought pig ears at a Kroger grocery store for Queenie, my 11 month old mixed-breed (sometimes aka “Heinz 57” – as in 57 different varieties) puppy.

Last night I

How much can one employee’s bad attitude cost? How about $360,000/yr?

I’ve decided to take a different track with this entry.

I choose to grocery shop at Kroger.

I don’t grocery shop at Wal-Mart. I don’t grocery shop at Publix. I don’t grocery shop at Winn-Dixie. For the most part, I don’t regularly grocery shop at local Mom & Pop grocery stores, though on occasion, I have. On occasion, I do shop at Aldi. I don’t shop at Sav-a-Lot. On rare occasion, I have shopped at various local ethnic grocery markets for specialty items. But on the whole, I do the exceeding majority of my grocery shopping at Kroger.

I have grocery shopped at Kroger for well over 10 years. In the Tennessee city where I’ve resided for the past year, there is

Wal-Mart shoppers now jumping the “Fail-Mart” ship in droves

Personal experience from this evening’s shopping:

Brentwood, TN – Having earlier gone out for an appointment in the early evening hours, I decided to stop by the local Wal-Mart (WMT) on Nolensville Road/US Hwy 31 and purchase some grocery items on the way home. It was purely coincidental that “Super Bowl Sunday” was/is tomorrow.

One of the first stops I made at the “super Wal-Mart” (one that has a grocery store), was to the dairy case. Dairy cases are always located in the rear of every grocery store. (Why?

Out of the mouths of babes

Yesterday, though I was in an emotional funk, recovering from a state of mental numbness brought about by the week’s events, I had the wherewithal to go to the grocery store for a few items.

Walking down one aisle to search for an item, I passed by and stood near a young couple with two equally young children, the elder a girl. I suppose the children were aged perhaps no more than 5 and 3.

Having found their goods, the family foursome walked to the end of the aisle near the end caps and