Business

ALDI supermarket comes to Sheepshead Bay

August 5, 2013 Heather Chin

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, center, joins local elected officials and ALDI representatives in cutting the ribbon on the new ALDI supermarket in Sheepshead Bay. (BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photos by SB News)

Share this:

Sheepshead Bay finally has a new supermarket to replace the former Pathmark which once sat at Nostrand Avenue near Avenue Y, before closing in April of 2011.

Dozens of local residents arrived ready to shop at the new ALDI on Thursday, August 1, which boasts a streamlined aisle layout with over 1,400 popular food items, all under generic ‘ALDI-exclusive brands’ at steep discounts.

“We are pleased to bring our first store to the Sheepshead Bay area in Brooklyn to help customers get high-quality products at everyday low prices,” said Bruce Persohn, South Windsor division vice president for ALDI. “We challenge shoppers to switch from national brands to our high-quality exclusive brands and save up to 50 percent without compromising. As important as price is, the only way to attract and keep shoppers is to have high quality products.”

The new store layout took some getting used to for many shoppers, who expressed initial confusion over the shopping cart rental system, the layout, the absence of shopping baskets, and the charge for shopping bags.

“”It’s good, but they have their brands. I like to have brand-name Kellogg’s cereal, but I would come back because of the meat prices,” said Ana Rodriguez, who came away from her first trip with two packs of pork chops and some fruit snacks.

In a community as ethnically diverse and full of first and second-generation immigrants as Sheepshead Bay, there was also some concern over the lack of ethnic food options. Sabina Rosenblum, who said “there’s not a lot of kosher products and no deli counter.” Teresa Medina agreed, noting that she wished ALDI stocked more “Spanish food, like Bustelo Coffee.”

However, Michael Christopher, who drove over from Gerritsen Beach, exited the store with a cart-load of food and high spirits. “It looks like the prices are reasonable. We like Trader Joe’s, so we thought we’d try it out,” said Christopher. “There are different brands, so we don’t know how the quality is, [but] yeah, we would come again.”

ALDI is a national discount grocer owned by the same parent company as popular specialty chain Trader Joe’s.

ALDI Sheepshead Bay will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays. Cashiers accept cash, debit and EBT cards.