re: When will Aldi come to Northeast Louisiana?

It's a fine store and pretty clean/efficient from a discount retailer perspective. But it's not really something I'd say I missed. It's like those Amazon retailers or Wal Mart Neighborhood market in scope/size, but slightly cleaner and nicer.

I'm sure that Monroe, West Monroe, and Ruston are on the map for ALDI. They are expanding a lot. Once they have a DC that can service that area, you'll see them spread into the area like Kudzu.

I think if LaTech grows a bit more and a new major factory/automotive assembly plant opens up near Monroe....the area could make the case for a Whole Foods or Trader Joes potentially. That might be 5-10 years away though at least. Trader Joes uses the same DC's as ALDI, so they tend to come in at the same time.

Aldi is awesome. We love it. I went to Publix last night and got less stuff than I got last time I went to Aldi and paid nearly twice the amount. And Aldi's goods are quality.

Brookshires >>> Albertson's

I'm a cheap arse when it comes to foods. I'll hit up the Mexican grocery "Mi Puebla" for produce (it's about a third of the price of Publix and half the price of Wal Mart) and certain hard to find items like dried peppers as they have every variety you could possibly imagine, Aldi for canned goods and like others have said chips and snacks, and then Sprouts for meat. Sprouts butchers know what they are doing and their house made sausages are great. Also, if the meat is a weeks or less than the sell buy date (still nice and red...not that green shite you see other places), it's half off and I will snatch a ribeye for $6 a lb.

You aren’t missing anything. I prefer Trader Joe’s.

The German desserts and cookies all taste like corrugated cardboard, but other than that Aldi is the spot.

The refrigerated vacuum sealed barbecue burnt ends and chicken fajitas that you drop in boiling water are tremendous. The other go-to is the 3 pound ground beef logs that comes out to like $3.50 per pound.

Aldi is a very underwhelming grocery store with a nice exterior

The real issue is the supply chain.

In NELA you lack the population to support an independent supply chain to provide alternatives for a retailer to offer any alternatives. What you see is what you get unless you special order which jumps from one supplier to another.

I would bet BR and NOLA would be about the same if they were not so close to the GOM providing supply.

Our Winn Dixie is shutting down bc Aldi bought out the chain. While Winn Dixie isn’t top tier and has sank pretty low, I could still get bargains on my usuals. Now, we are left with basically Rouses and Walmart. Whole Foods a few local groceries, if you like great customer service and higher prices. I went to the smaller Aldi here to check it out. Not impressed and not comfortable eating their imports. I don’t buy frozen fish and shrimp from foreign companies when we have an abundance of fresh here. Although the chocolate was very good! I’d return for chocolate!