ALDI Food Market
Opened: between 2007 and 2011
Previous Tenants: none
Location: 500 Lincoln St, North Lincoln St/Lincoln Plaza, Worcester, MA
Photographed: February 17, 2019 and November 2, 2019
This, folks, is an ALDI. End of store tour. Have a great day.
Okay, maybe I'll say a little more, even though ALDI famously sticks almost-religiously to their standard store format. It's an 18,000 square foot store, constructed between 2007 and 2011. Around 2018, it was renovated to the current decor package, and I photographed it the following year. Although you can see the decor is up-to-date, the flooring remains from the
original decor package.
In a slightly unusual setup (only slightly, though), produce is in the front left corner instead of the back with baked goods behind it. Dairy/meat/deli items are on the back wall and extend about halfway down the right side wall, with frozen foods in the front half of the right side.
This is the only ALDI in the immediate area (the next is 14 miles north in Leominster or 17 miles southeast in Milford), so it gets a fair amount of traffic.
I do really like this decor package for ALDI; I think it's attractive and pleasant while still reminding everyone we're in a discount store.
And a look at the front-end...
Recall that when I was in Worcester, I was completely on foot (and occasionally bike), so all my travels were just either on the sidewalk or on the slightly-reliable city bus system.
And that's why my initial pictures of the store are from so far away -- because they're from the sidewalks on the other side of the street.
We're gonna wrap up the main coverage of this area with one final store tour, at the big-chain supermarket directly across the street tomorrow!
The Aldi in Voorhees NJ is set up similarly, where you walk directly into the produce department. It's definitely my preferred store, mostly for this reason.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I wonder how many ALDIs are set up that way.
DeleteIt's mostly common among newer buildings, while the bakery-produce layout is most common among retrofits. Occasionally you get the opposite among each store type.
DeleteThinking I've seen at least one or two like that here in NY as well, but can't remember at the moment which ones.
DeleteA number of them do - the ones in Colonie, Troy, East Greenbush (new), Rotterdam (new), and the replacement Queensbury stores have that layout.
DeleteOr, as some would call it, the one in North Greenbush (which replaced the Rensselaer store, and was just across Route 4 for a short time from the ShopRite store). ;)
DeleteNot surprising, I lost count of how many times people and stories about that closing wanted to call it the East Greenbush ShopRite (which, of course, closed many years earlier the first time when Big V had stores in the area and was along Columbia Turnpike/9&20).
Strange way of describing the distance between the (now Market32) and the new Aldi, though not as strange as the choice of flooring - which appears to be some kind of rubber-like flooring as opposed to bare concrete or that light grey tile laid out in a running bond pattern they normally use in newer stores.
DeleteNot sure why that is strange - that plaza with the ShopRite is basically on the corner of Route 4 and Route 43, it just sits a distance back from both roadways, even though the "back" access comes in from Blooming Grove Road with the main entry on Route 43.
DeleteHowever, you just cross Route 4 from the Aldi spot onto Blooming Grove and then turn right a very short distance up into the plaza, and when you get to the "top of the hill" inside the plaza, look down and you are directly across from the light that you just came through crossing Route 4.
I think the driveway is only done that way due to the elevation change (to make the road less steep going in & out).
One thing that drives me crazy about ALDI is that they use their end caps for permanent placement of regular ol' products that you would THINK are in one of the aisles but they are not. They don't utilize end caps for specials, promotions or seasonal offerings. At this point, I am so spoiled by LIDL I can't find much of a reason to go to ALDI anymore.
ReplyDeleteSince I don't ever shop at ALDI, I can't say I've noticed that -- but that is fascinating, thanks for pointing that out!
DeleteI guess it sort of makes sense, since Aldi really doesn't do so much in those special categories, and they already have the aisle(s) in most stores for what they do have (the special buys or whatever they are called).
DeleteNot like more traditional markets that have items on sale weekly.