ALDI - these four letters have had a major impact on the consumer behavior and food culture of Germans, both positively and negatively. The rise of the brothers Karl and Theo is therefore also about our country.

In the Essen suburb of Schonnebeck at Mittelstrasse 87, journeyman baker Karl Albrecht Sr. opened a small but fine store in 1913, selling not only bread but also coffee, tea, jam, butter and cookies. Supermarkets were still a distant dream of the future and every customer was served personally, people chatted and knew each other. But with the wars, the procurement of food became an ever greater challenge. When the sons Karl junior and Theo finally return from the front, they make a virtue out of necessity:
With low prices and an extremely narrow assortment limited to the essentials, they lure customers into the store during the years of shortages. In this way, the Albrechts not only democratized food, they also created the discount concept.