Trader Joe's Brother

About a month ago, I received a grocery flyer in the mail for a store called Aldi. As I flipped through it, it seemed promising. There were a lot of different kinds of foods, like gourmet jars of pickles, as well as regular things, all at pretty good prices. Since coming to Lansing, I've had to adjust where I grocery shop, and say goodbye to certain favorite snacks because they aren't available here (Carmen's tortilla chips and Toby's Jalapeno Tofu Pate, sigh). Anyway, I thought, "Hm, this is an interesting store, but could be weird" then recycled the flyer and forgot about it. Until yesterday, when Kevin asked, "Have you heard of the grocery store Aldi?" and I responded that yes, I had, but didn't really understand it. I thought maybe it was a kind of Grocery Outlet place with dented cans of green beans on sale or something. Apparently, there was a little article online in a blog that we read that talked about the fabulousness of this grocery store. And the even more surprising read was that this store is actually run by the brother of Trader Joe's, and is a kind of European miniature version of TJ's. But with less glam. It basically feels like a German grocery store, where it got its roots. We decided to check it out. There are a few things that make this place kind of awesome: plugging a quarter into the grocery carts to use one, then getting it returned when you lock the cart back up, a seated checker who throws your groceries back into your cart so you can push them over to a long counter when you bag them yourself, an assortment of some odd yet enticing condiments, no music so I don't walk out of the store with a Phil Collins song in my head, and everything is shelved in boxes. Seriously. This place is awesome and I'm so glad we finally found it.