主题：【原创】Aldi的故事(下) -- 老马丁

history of Trader Joe's

It was established by a Californian businessman long time ago. In late 1970s, the business was in poor shape and Albrecht brother (the boss of Aldi Sud) decided to take over.

From its birth, Trader Joe's is a hippy store: catering to the grocery needs of petite bourgeois or middle class families, who value quality as well as prices. It uses partially the private label strategy, but still has many international brands, esp., those tasty snacks from Europe.

Trader Joe's won out because Americans are so poor in making delicate food. Most snacks sold in Trader Joe's are just daily delicacies for Europeans (from belgium, spain, France, Germany...)

Trader Joe's has most stores in California (the city I used to live has two TJ stores), then some stores along the rich east coast corridor. It missed out most of the mid-west market. Anyway, red necks do not appreciate the European delicacies as much as those petite bourgeois do along the two coasts.

Aldi US has its headquarter in Illinois. It expands its coverage gradually through state-by-state expansion. Its presence is very heavy in the mid-west part of the US (not passing the Rocky Mountains). It is market focus is the low-income community.

Aldi and Trader Joe's managements are totally separate. I talked to TJ's Californian managers and they are clueless with respect to the sister company Aldi, US.