Aldi, Northfield - Saturday 25th April 2015

After having an awesome Men's Breakfast at Canvas in Selly Oak, my friend Ian and I decided to head to Aldi in Northfield to see what it's like.

Recommended by the Wheelers from church, Aldi is a German "no frills" supermarket celebrating its 25th anniversary of opening in the UK. It is one of the newer supermarkets in Northfield, and has been opening for around 5 years.

So, what is the supermarket like? The criteria is as follows.

1. Clean - Generally okay.
2. Friendly staff - yes, they gave a hello and thank you greeting to me. Nothing else much to say though as Aldi's aim is to serve customers quickly.
3. Aisle width - variable. If it wasn't for the annoying "reduced" items clutter due to lack of space, the aisles are wide enough to fit at least two big trolleys.
4. Everything I was looking for was in stock - Mostly. I was annoyed with the fact that there wasn't any 4 pint milk bottles available during Saturday lunchtime! Also, there are also some goods not available due to its size. However, what makes it unique is the centre aisle with lots of random and mostly useful stock available.
5. Extras: pharmacy/opticians/specialist food/petrol station - It's a no frills supermarket but it does have a lot of random and useful stock at the centre aisles. I was also impressed that it has now improved its fruit and vegetable and meat stock. Ginger, garlic and other "not so seasonal" fruit and vegetables are available. There is also a lot of seasonal stock available and impressed with the amount of British goods available despite being a German owned supermarket. You can get most of the stock there. Fish is lacking in variety though. You're better off heading to the "Big Four" supermarkets for this.
6. Fresh produce with long sell-by dates - Yes! All the goods I bought have long sell-by dates for the week. There are no use by dates for fruit and vegetables but it's obvious that they're fresh as it's restocked every day.
7. Opening Hours - Impressive for a no frills supermarket. 8am to 10pm Mondays to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday.
8. Speed of till-processing - three out of five manned tills in service so there was a bit of waiting time at the tills. Saying that service is quick and there was only a five minute wait.
9. Self-service tills available - No, not at a no frills supermarket.
10. Parking facilities -The lack of parking spaces meant that there was a queue of around six cars. I had to wait for around five minutes for a parking spot. Parking restrictions are okay, allowing you to shop for one and a half hours. You do need to be careful there though as you need to enter your car registration number after doing your shopping, otherwise you will face a hefty fine.
11. Value for money - As a no frills supermarket, a lot of stock is cheaper than the "Big Four" supermarkets. They are the leading price cutter whilst maintaining good stock quality.
12. Organic produce - available if you want them.
13. Cash machine or cash back - No, you will need to head along the Northfield High Street to get cash out. However, you can pay your goods by debit and credit card now which is impressive. Though you cannot use your American Express card.
14. Pedestrian access - yes and step free.
15. Space ultilisation - requires improvement. The store needs to enlarge slightly so that the goods are not cluttered around. Saying that, this will reduce parking spaces which would lower business takings. Also, it needs to increase the number of trolleys available as none were available when I entered in. A BIG minus point there!

Overall, Ian and I came to the judgement that the supermarket is good but has lots of areas it can improve on.

Photo courtesy of The Local Data Company

Rating: 6 out of 10 (-1 for lack of parking space, -1 for non availability of 4 pint milk bottles, -1 for lack of trolleys, and -1 for space utlisation and aisle widths)