People have onlyt recently learned where Aldi’s name actually come frm. Aldi is a German supermarket that has been in the UK for more than 30 years and it is ingrained in the lives of many British people who shop there weekly. In fact, there are over 1,000 Aldi stores across the UK so it’s no surprise that it is a go-to supermarket in many UK towns and cities. However, not many people stop to think about where the name Aldi came from.
It turns out it actually stands for something and not many people were aware of it. And the story behind the name for Aldi is actually quite a rich one and we have to go back over 100 years. Aldi opened its first store in Essen, Germany in 1913. It started as a small supermarket and was owned and operated by Anna Albrecht. You might be starting to put the pieces together as this is where half of the name of the popular supermarket comes from.
Anna’s two sons went off to fight in World War II and upon returning, they took over the store from their mother. The two brothers managed to expand it to more than 100 stores across Germany by 1955.
They had a unique strategy and managed to keep prices low because they did not spend anything on advertising. This was beneficial in the post-war economy.
By the year 1962, there were more than 600 Aldi stores, an impressive growth in a relatively short time period.
The name Aldi comes from Albrect-Diskont, which in English means Albrecht’s Discount. The two brothers introduced this name in 1961 after there had been hundreds of stores in operation.
This was eventually shortened when they simply took the first two letters of each word and combined them. The reason for this remains unknown to this day.
A statement confirmed: “It was founded by Anna Albrecht and her sons Karl and Theo, who expanded a small store into a chain of self-service, great-value stores where people could pay for goods on account.
“As their business expanded across Germany, they settled on the name Aldi – short for Albrecht and Discount. The first UK Aldi store opened in 1990. Today, you’ll find our grocery stores all over the world.”
People on social media shared their reactions to this discovery. One person wrote in a post on X: “ALbrecht DIscount = ALDI who’d of known.”
Another said: “Probably the most useful thing I’ve learnt in German this year is that Aldi is short for Albrecht-Discount.”
A third posted: “Aldi is actually short for Albrecht Discount. Well you learn something new everyday.”