Aldi ( , stylised in all caps) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 13,600 stores in 18 countries. The business was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when they took over their mother's store in Essen.
The enterprise was split into two separate groups in 1960 that later became Aldi Nord (initially operating in northern West Germany), headquartered in Essen, and Aldi Süd (initially operating in southern West Germany), headquartered in neighbouring Mülheim. As the business expanded internationally, the two divisions maintained this separation, dividing global markets between them, with the exception of the United States, where both operate: Aldi Süd under the Aldi name, while Aldi Nord owns Trader Joe's.
In 1962, they introduced the name Aldi (a syllabic abbreviation for "Albrecht Diskont"). In Germany, Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd have been financially and legally separate since 1966, although they may appear to operate as a single enterprise with certain store brands or when negotiating with contractor companies.
Aldi is the main competitor of the German discount chain Lidl in most markets.
Ownership Aldi Nord Aldi Nord is owned by three private family foundations (): Markus-Stiftung, Jacobus-Stiftung, and Lukas-Stiftung, which together hold 100% of the company under a structure known as a Doppelstiftungsmodell (). These foundations are based in Nortorf, Schleswig-Holstein.
The foundations' assets include Aldi Nord's operations in Germany, organised into 23 regional companies, as well as international subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, and ownership of Trader Joe's in the United States. The group also owns its headquarters in Essen, office and warehouse facilities, and more than 5,300 store properties worldwide. The group has been described as having little or no debt.
Aldi Süd Aldi Süd is owned by three private family foundations: the Siepmann-Stiftung (75%), and the Oertl-Stiftung and Elisen-Stiftung (together 25%), also structured under a Doppelstiftungsmodell. These foundations are based in Eichenau, Bavaria.
The foundations' assets include Aldi Süd's operations in Germany, organised into 24 regional companies, and international subsidiaries in Australia, Austria, China, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The group owns its headquarters in Mülheim, office and warehouse facilities, the Öschberghof hotel in Donaueschingen, and more than 5,000 store properties worldwide. The group has been described as having little or no debt.
History
In 1913, Karl and Theo Albrecht's mother opened a small store in a suburb of Essen, Germany. Their father was employed as a miner and, after asthma forced him to quit that job, later found work as a baker's assistant. Karl and Theo were born in 1920 and 1922, respectively. Theo Albrecht completed an apprenticeship in his mother's store, while Karl Albrecht worked in a delicatessen.
Karl Albrecht took over a food shop seized from Jewish grocer Judt, and he later served in the German Army during World War II. In 1945, the brothers took over their mother's business and soon opened another retail outlet nearby. By 1950, the Albrecht brothers owned 13 stores in the Ruhr Valley.
The brothers' idea was to subtract the legal maximum rebate of 3% before sale. The market leaders at the time, which often were co-operatives, required their customers to collect rebate stamps and to send them at regular intervals to reclaim their money. The Albrecht brothers also rigorously removed merchandise that did not sell from their shelves, cutting costs by neither advertising nor selling fresh produce, and keeping the size of their retail outlets small. By 1960, 300 stores were in Germany.
Split The brothers split the company in 1960, reportedly over a dispute about whether they should sell cigarettes. The split led to Theo running Aldi Nord and Karl running Aldi Süd. At the time, they jointly owned 300 shops. Journalist Martin Kuhna, however, questioned said reason for the split in an article published by the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung in September 2009, where he suspected that the real reason for the split lay in the vastly differing management styles of the brothers. In 1962, they introduced the name Aldi—short for , which translates into English as Albrecht Discount, which became their formal corporate name in 1975. Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd have been financially and legally separate since 1966.
International expansion Aldi started to expand internationally in 1967, when Aldi Süd acquired the grocery chain Hofer in Austria. Aldi Nord opened its first stores abroad in the Netherlands in 1973, and other countries followed. In 1976, Aldi Süd opened its first store in the United States in Iowa, and, in 1979, Aldi Nord acquired Trader Joe's.
After German reunification and the fall of the Iron Curtain, Aldi experienced a rapid expansion. The brothers retired as CEOs in 1993. Control of the companies was placed in the hands of private family foundations, the Siepmann Foundation (Aldi Süd), and the Markus, Jakobus, and Lukas Foundation (Aldi Nord).
In August 2023, Aldi Süd agreed to acquire about 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket locations across the southeastern United States, completing the acquisition on 7 March 2024. In February 2025, Aldi sold 170 of the stores back to Southeastern Grocers in a deal involving its former leadership and C&S Wholesale Grocers. At the same time, Aldi said it would still convert around 220 Winn-Dixie and Harveys locations to its own format by 2027, operating them under existing brands under licence until conversion is complete.
Business organisation Germany
The Aldi Nord group currently consists of 35 independent regional branches with around 2,500 stores. Aldi Süd is made up of 24 companies with around 2,000 stores. The border between their territories is commonly known as the () and runs from the Rhine via Mülheim an der Ruhr, Wermelskirchen, Marburg, Siegen, and Gießen east to just north of Fulda.
The former East Germany is served by Aldi Nord, except for one Aldi Süd in Sonneberg, Thuringia, whose regional office is in Bavaria. The regional branches are organised as limited partnerships, with a regional manager for each branch, who reports directly to the head office in Essen (Aldi Nord) or Mülheim an der Ruhr (Aldi Süd).
Internationally
The Aldi group operates over 12,000 stores worldwide. Aldi Nord is responsible for its stores in Northern Germany, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. Aldi Nord also owns the Trader Joe's grocery chain in the United States, which operates separately from the group. Aldi Süd's responsibilities are for Southern Germany, Australia, China, Ireland, the United Kingdom (not in Northern Ireland), the United States, and through Austrian subsidiary Hofer AG in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, and Switzerland.
In Austria and Slovenia, Aldi Süd operates its stores under the Hofer brand. Aldi Süd's first Swiss store opened in 2005, and it has operated in Hungary since 2007. Aldi Süd had invested an estimated €800m (US$1bn; £670m) in Greece from November 2008 until pulling out in December 2010. The first Aldi stores opened simultaneously on 13 November 2008 in Aridaia, Vrasna, Giannitsa, Kalamaria, Larissa, Serres, and Stavroupoli. The untimely investment in expensive real estate at that period, the economic crisis that immediately followed, as well as the dominance of Lidl, contributed to their short-lived presence in the Greek market. They withdrew permanently in July 2010.
While Aldi Nord has renamed its Dutch and Belgian subsidiaries Combi and Lansa to the Aldi Markt/Aldi Marché brand, Aldi Süd tries to maintain a regional appearance, branding its stores Aldi Süd in Germany, Aldi Suisse in Switzerland, and Hofer in Austria and Slovenia.
Aldi launched in the United Kingdom on 5 April 1990, when it opened its first store in Stechford, Birmingham, using the wholly owned English-registered company of Aldi Stores Limited. In 1994, it opened its first store in Scotland in Kilmarnock. In October 2013, Aldi opened its 300th store in the UK. By 2017, Aldi was opening UK stores at a rate of more than one a week. In January 2022, Aldi launched its Shop&Go concept in Greenwich, London. In September 2022 Aldi overtook Morrisons to become Britain's 4th largest supermarket, with a 9.3% market share. In September 2023, Aldi opened its 1,000th location in the UK and shared its plan to open another 500 as a long-term goal.
Aldi entered the Irish market in 1999. In October 2025, its 165th store in Ireland opened in Monaghan Town (County Monaghan), serving its one billionth customer.
Aldi opened its first Australian store in Sydney in 2001 and has grown rapidly since, maintaining a 12.6% market share as of early 2016.Aldi arrives in Australia , ABC Online, 25 January 2001Mike King, Aldi is stealing market share from Woolworths Limited , The Motley Fool, 15 April 2016 It has yet, , to open any stores in the state of Tasmania and in Northern Territory. Financial website Canstar rated Australia's supermarkets based on the feedback of 2,897 consumers who had visited one in the past month with Aldi coming out on top. By August 2019, there were 540 Aldi stores in Australia. Aldi had approximately 11 percent share of the Australian grocery market in 2018.
Aldi Süd expanded to the United States under the Aldi banner, having expanded throughout the Eastern and Midwestern US.Delhaize Group to Sell 66 Bottom Dollar Food Store Locations , MarketWatch, 5 November 2014 Aldi Süd revealed expansion plans in 2015, and it expanded into the Southern Californian market, where Aldi Nord's Trader Joe's is based.Kelly Taylor, Aldi To Open 45 Stores In Southern California By 2016 , Fox LA. Reports in August 2019 stated that the company was in the process of using a $3.4 billion investment to expand to 2,500 stores in the country by the end of 2022. It also invested an extra $1.6 billion to renovate 1,300 of its US stores.
By October 2024, 2,428 Aldi Süd stores were in 39 US states. Groceries ordered online could be delivered to homes in the areas covered by 95% of stores in the US, provided in conjunction with Instacart. In March 2024, Aldi said that it is planning to invest over $9 billion and open 800 new stores in the United States by the end of 2028.
Aldi Süd opened its first 10 stores in Italy in March 2018. In the first year of operation, 51 outlets were opened. By October 2019, 66 stores were in northern Italy. At that time, the company was planning to open 80 new stores in the country, as well as a distribution centre in Landriano.
In mid-2019, Aldi Süd opened two small, upscale stores in Shanghai. Two more were opened in late 2019. This is the first of a planned 100 such locations in the city.
In December 2020, Aldi bought 545 supermarkets and three warehouses of Leader Price and another two Casino supermarkets in France for €717 million from Casino Group. The transaction is part of Aldi's plan to catch up with Lidl in France.
In December 2022, Aldi Nord issued a press release stating that Aldi is withdrawing from Denmark after 45 years of operations there; 114 of the chain's total of 188 stores will be taken over by Norwegian competitor Rema 1000. In August 2023, the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority approval of the Rema 1000 acquisition was announced. Another 21 of the initial 188 stores was taken over by Danish competitor Netto during 2023.
Geographic distribution