*happy dance* FINALLY! ALDI, NOW OPEN IN POOLER (shouting from my rooftop)! These are the little things that bring me joy at this stage in my life LOL! Kristin told me of the opening, scooped me up and took me there, like a good friend should. Thanks, Kristin! xo. When we moved back to the mainland last year and the first place my mother-in-law took me to is an Aldi! Holy cow, if you ever want to experience reverse sticker shock, live in Hawaii and then go into an Aldi. I think I bought a whole field of corn on that first trip. My kids and I LOVE corn. They were about $1 for 1 corn in Hawaii. We spent a small fortune on corn during those 3 years. Then I walked into an Aldi and saw $0.20 for 1 corn! You better believe I bought what they had (just kidding, but close). So it was love at first sight, but then heartbreak occurred almost instantly when we moved to Savannah and learned that there was neither a Costco or Aldi. - Parking - Private lot. - Vibe - They've built quite the store in Pooler, next to Pet Smart. Understandably, the place was a zoo on opening day. We arrived around 10am and the parking lot was jam packed. The store had opened at 9am and I talked to some shoppers and some had started lining up at 7am. Wow, that's dedication, but also an indication of how much the people who know about Aldi, love them! They were giving out gift cards of $10, $25, $50 and $100 value to the first 100 customers. Well, I missed that boat, but I was just happy to be in the store. The giveaways didn't stop there though. Aldi had stuck a quarter in all of their carts, so we didn't need to worry about that. For you first time Aldi Nerds, one of the ways Aldi cuts prices and passes the savings to you is requiring a quarter deposit for their shopping carts, so that you'll return them to the front of the store and in turn, they don't have the need to hire runners to bring the carts back. It actually brings me back memories of my childhood in Canada when the grocery stores there had the same requirement back then. My parents would always let me keep the quarter for bringing it back. A girl's gotta eat LOL. Going back to the store, they had other giveaways like entering for a chance to win free produce for a year, an Aldi quarter holder keychain and free reusable bags for opening day. Once we checked out, they also gave us several coupons valid for the next few weeks. - TLC - They were well staffed for opening day with all cashes open. There were other employees stocking on the floor and others at the sample stations. Even the managers were out handing out reusable bags. I read an article once that all the employees were cross trained on all tasks required to run the store, so that will be nice when looking for help for any aspect in the store. That's genius because the worst a customer can hear is, I'm not sure, it's not my department, let me find someone that can help you and then they disappear trying to find someone. - About Aldi - The company comes from Germany. We were stationed there a long time ago and I saw them everywhere. I never felt the need to go into one back then because we had the commissary on base. We also didn't have kids who eat us out of house and home then either LOL. Aldi is also basically Trader Joe's estranged brother. The history is quite interesting, but they have similar, if not, carry some of the same products. To sum up Aldi, they offer great products at cheap prices (not always a predictable inventory), but they have the basics, you need a quarter for their shopping carts and bring the carts back yourself and bag your own groceries. If I can save some money, I'm willing to do a little work and I could probably use the extra steps on my Fitbit anyway. - Finds - Love the Chocolate Chip Brioche sliced loaf (great for french toast), a braided brioche chocolate chip loaf (it has custard pockets which are so good), sliced bread for 95 cents, salmon (fresh, never frozen), Pumpkin Spice stuff for the husband, cereal for the kids (half the price). So many things! Not gonna lie though, opening day was pretty overwhelming and I didn't spend nearly as much as I thought I would. I just couldn't focus with the madness of eager Aldi Nerds (that's what they call Aldi fans) loading up on groceries. Kristin and I navigated the store the best we could and picked up a few items, sampled a few things and headed out. I'll give it another week or so and let the joy of the opening soak in with everyone and return when I can hopefully browse the store with more focus. read more