Auburn welcomes ALDI, Smalls Sliders to town
BY ANITA STIEFEL | EDITOR
@OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM
AUBURN — BYO bags, and don’t forget to bring a quarter.
Grocery chain ALDI celebrated the grand opening of its new store in Auburn with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Jan. 9. The store is located at 1617 South College St., the former site of Winn-Dixie.
ALDI carries fresh produce, dairy and eggs, organic meats, sustainable seafood, deli and bakery products, frozen foods, snacks, beverages, pantry essentials, household items, baby supplies, pet products, on-trend items and more — but don’t expect to recognize the brand names on your first visit.
“Our priority focus is saving people money on the food and products they want most, and we do this by offering shoppers a curated selection of ALDI-exclusive brands, according to ALDI’s website. “More than 90% of our store consists of ALDI-exclusive products, and one in three ALDI-exclusive products is award-winning.
“ALDI-exclusive brands allow us to provide the same high-quality product without passing on all of the hidden costs associated with the national brands, such as marketing and advertising,” states the website. “Recently, we have added a limited selection of national brands in addition to our ALDI brands. We made this decision in response to feedback from our customers, who have strong brand preferences, yet would like to complete more of their grocery shopping at ALDI. We also may carry a national brand if we are not able to procure an exclusive brand product that meets or exceeds the quality and taste of the national brand.”
ALDI brands are backed by a Double Guarantee — if a customer is not 100% satisfied, ALDI will replace the product AND refund its cost.
Some of ALDI’s brands include:
Simply Nature includes nearly 200 USDA certified organic and non-GMO items — everything from pantry staples like cereal, honey, fruit bars and pasta sauce to fresh items such as bread, milk, kale, salad mixes and yogurt.
liveGfree is ALDI’s exclusive line of gluten-free foods including bread, pasta, pretzels, cookies, brownie mix and granola.
Earth Grown is a completely plant-based line of products made with vegetables and hearty grains. Earth Grown products such as kale, quinoa crunch burgers, chicken-less patties and tenders are certified vegetarian or vegan.
Never Any!, ALDI’s line of meat products, has no antibiotics, added hormones or animal by-products. They also may be free of added nitrites or nitrates, preservatives, gluten, casein or fillers.
Specially Selected is ALDI’s line of specialty and gourmet products.
California Heritage and Winking Owl Wine are two of ALDI’s signature wine brands. Stores offer red, white, rosé and sparkling wines as well as a range of house-branded beer, ale, stouts, hard cider, hard seltzers and more.
According to the website, ALDI brands contain no MSG (monosodium glutamate, a preservative) and no added trans-fat, and rather than synthetic colors ALDI brands use plant-based color ingredients, such as beet juice, paprika and turmeric. To avoid BPA (Bisphenol-A, a chemical often found in food packaging), you can confidently shop the Simply Nature and Little Journey brands.
True to its philosophy of keeping things simple, ALDI offers no-frills store layout for quick-and-easy shopping. Shelves display items in their original shipping boxes to save on restocking, and ALDI only carries the most popular grocery items so customers can get in, get out and get home.
Upon entering the store, you will need a quarter to obtain a shopping cart. When the cart is returned, so is the quarter. When checking out, cashiers will not ask, “Paper or plastic?” as customers are expected to bring their own reusable tote bags (or purchase one at the register) and pack items themselves — another way ALDI keeps its prices lower than many other grocery chains.
“At ALDI, we stick to groceries and ALDI Finds. We avoid non-essential services like banking, pharmacies and check cashing to bring more savings to you,” the website states.
Every Wednesday, nearly 100 unique ALDI Finds are offered for a limited time, ranging from premium food, small kitchen appliances, seasonal decor, outdoor furniture, gardening tools and more.
ALDI demonstrates its commitment to being responsible stewards of the environment and is dedicated to incorporating sustainable business practices, according to the company’s CEO, Jason Hart.
“We set ambitious, science-based sustainability goals to help us accelerate the positive impact we’re already making on our planet’s resources and the people who depend on them,” Hart said. “We take a lot of pride in the progress we’ve made toward these goals, while also maintaining the affordability of our products so you can be more sustainable too.”
In 1961, the Albrecht Family founded the world’s first discount grocery store in Germany. Sixteen years later in 1976, they opened the first ALDI store in the U.S., in Iowa. Today, with headquarters in Batavia, Illinois, ALDI has grown to more than 2,000 stores across 36 states with over 25,000 employees.
Smalls Sliders
CONTRIBUTED TO THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — Smalls Sliders, the cheeseburger slider brand that is painting the restaurant industry Smorange™, began serving delicious sliders during the soft opening at the first Alabama location — in Auburn — on Dec. 27, 2024. A grand opening event celebration is planned for Saturday, Jan. 11.
Smalls Sliders specializes in fresh, cooked-to-order cheeseburger sliders that are “small in size, BIG in taste.” The store — called The Can — stands out with a streamlined slide-thru, walk-up window and a unique modular setup built from Smorange shipping containers.
“You may be wondering, what’s all the excitement for Smalls Sliders about? Well, the wait is over because our iconic Smorange Can is now open in Auburn,” said local franchisee Mark Weeks. “We are excited to become a place where the community gathers and enjoys delicious sliders, shakes and fries.”
As a thank you to the community of Auburn, named a local “Smalls Town Hero”: Churmell Mitchell, who currently serves and represents the Alabama Parent Advisory Council for District 3 with the Child Trust Fund as well as his own nonprofit, A Father’s Voice Matters, to champion early childhood education and guide fathers in diverse circumstances through legal, educational and emotional resources.
ABOUT SMALLS SLIDERS
Smalls Sliders is one of the fastest-growing brands in the restaurant industry, specializing exclusively in fresh, cooked-to-order cheeseburger sliders that are small in size but big in taste. Equipped with a streamlined drive-thru, walk-up window, and unique modular buildout, the Atlanta-based brand is headed towards nationwide growth with locations opening across the Southeast, Southwest, Midwest, and West Coast. These expansion plans are spearheaded by Smalls Sliders’ stacked leadership team, each bringing numerous decades of restaurant experience to the table. Smalls Sliders is the brainchild of restaurateur visionary Brandon Landry and is backed by industry veterans, 10 Point Capital, and former NFL star Drew Brees, as investors. For more information on how Smalls Sliders is the biggest thing to happen to burgers since buns, visit www.smallsliders.com.
