Aldi, the discount supermarket chain, has reportedly purchased a building in Little Rock, to the delight of its local fan base.
Thousands of Facebook users liked, commented and shared late-June media reports of Aldi buying the former Bed, Bath & Beyond at 12309 Chenal Pkwy. (Aldi did not respond to request for comment; information about its projected opening is unknown.)
LaShawn Horton shops at Aldi stores in Tennessee and Texas every time she visits family there. She said she appreciates the prices (especially with her baking hobby and teenager at home), cleanliness and staff's courtesy.
"I don't have to wait in line, versus local grocery stores," she said. "You have to wait in line for 5, 10, 15 minutes, if not more, because they only have one or two cashiers."
Felicia Kaye is excited "for the cute little economical things" Aldi carries, from wine deals to canned goods to its own brands.
"I grew up with Aldi when I lived in Missouri, and I always had a lot of fun going in there with my mom," she said. "It's a little quirky, because you have to bag your own things, but affordability is top."
And Laura Spangler is excited at the prospect of buying cheaper organic goods than she currently can. Three of her four children attend John Brown University in Siloam Springs, and trips to Northwest Arkansas always involve a stop at Aldi.
"Anytime my kids are coming home from school, I'm like, 'Pick us up a few loaves of sprouted bread,'" she said, praising the store's produce, ready-meals, dairy and gluten-free options.
The prices are good, but Spangler is also happy to have another grocery option incoming besides Kroger and Walmart. "I think people are just excited about having another option," she said.
Craig N. Geiger, who directs the graduate program in marketing at the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business, identified all these features customers like in an interview.
He said the Aldi business model also focuses on customer service, even as a discount supermarket chain, and selectivity in stocked products. Each Aldi is a small discount grocery store with limited options, but they carry a full array of groceries, sell unexpected items and make the most of a customers' time.
Aldi is similar to Trader Joe's in that both stock fewer items and carry the occasional surprise on the shelves. Aldi has independent northern and southern divisions in its native Germany. Aldi Nord bought Trader Joe's in 1979; Aldi Süd opened its first American store in 1976.
"It's all about efficiency and shopping experience in a couple areas. You can shop those five or six -- it's always five or six aisles, generally five -- fast. And customers want that," Geiger said. The store also boasts speedy checkout times: cashiers don't bag customers' groceries, and staffing goes up as checkout lines form. Aldi employees are cross-trained, which allows the business to quickly fill in gaps in certain areas when they arise.
Even though Aldi does not carry a wide array of brands, Geiger noted that the limited assortment still covers much of what could be expected on a grocery list. And Aldi is consistently competitive in pricing, helped by avoiding brand-name items, its smaller store footprints and its limited store hours. Aldi also has a number of its own individually branded snacks, beverages, dairy goods, chips, crackers, cereal, condiments and other items -- unlike supermarket chains that have one in-store brand for multiple items.
"It is Aldi's other brands that people recognize for being as good or better than national quality at Aldi prices," Geiger said. "You don't need 52 million peanut butters; they'll have two. But that satisfies the need for the price-shopper as well as what might be known as a higher-end consumer seeking that thrill from discovering new products."
Aldi stores are corporate-owned, not franchises, and in 39 states. Geiger said their growth has been slow but that they are increasingly opening in competition with locally established supermarkets. He noted that their Bentonville location is very close to Walmart's home office.
"As they look at markets to go into, they see opportunity to compete because they have a different offering," said Geiger. "They'll compete just about anywhere."