History

The Meaning Behind Aldi's Unique Name By Jonathan Kesh Nov. 22, 2025 11:00 am EST

Both Aldi and Trader Joe's have loyal grocery shoppers , but Aldi has picked up an especially good reputation among its devotees for being a cheap supermarket, and it extends beyond the various Aldi dupes . This shouldn't be too surprising, as its low price is embedded in its name, though it may have been in hiding since the 1960s. The name Aldi is a shortened version of the words "Albrecht Discount," or more accurately, "Albrecht Diskont," since the store was founded in Germany.

Aldi was originally a family business, and "Albrecht" refers to the Albrecht family. Anna Albrecht first opened a humble grocery store in 1913 in Essen, Germany, shortly before World War I, and her two sons,

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