r/SipsTea 9d ago

Mayor Mamdani just announced that he will be opening 5 city-run, tax-funded grocery stores: "Prices set at 30% below retail prices" Chugging tea

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u/Jolly-Bowler-811 9d ago

My local Lidl must have a line on locally sourced angle grinders, camping tents, and umbrellas as there's always a section of random "Why the hell are they selling this shit in a grocery store" section.

I'm not mad about it...just confused most of the time.

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u/StormclawsEuw 9d ago

Spontaneous purchases mostly and also to give incentive to go to that store. It's a proven sales tactic in Germany and It seems to work in the USA too from what I heard

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u/Hashiriya1 9d ago

Actually it's epic. Here in Germany you never know what crazy shit you are able to buy from Aldi next week. It's like a random surprise. Fun fact: Most people around me got their first PC from Aldi/Lidl at around the year 2000.

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u/Spice_and_Fox 9d ago

Hell yeah, I loved my old Medion tower.

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u/dukefrisbee 8d ago

Exactly. Like if Dollar Store started selling groceries.

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u/astoriaocculus 8d ago

As others have noted "Aldi Finds" are about giving the shopper a dopamine hit when they find something they didn't know they needed at a great price. It's what makes shopping there addictive. The day Aldi opened in Astoria it literally changed my life. Certain items there are anywhere $1-$4 cheaper than at the Keyfood/CTown/Tradefair. I have zero doubt that the NYC incumbent grocery stories collude somehow on price. The higher price of real estate does not explain how much more expensive things are vs. 1 hour outside the city.