Now in the USA!
East Coast – from Philly to Atlanta
You may be wondering what the heck a LIDL store is. Well, it is generally new in the States and we’ve only seen them in the Raleigh to Atlanta corridor so far (I double-checked though and it looks like they go all the way up to Philadelphia generally following I-95). We are familiar with them because we find them in lots of areas in Europe – mostly in The Netherlands, Germany and Austria. They are basically an ALDI-style grocery; a competitor, you might say.
Being in that genre of grocery store, it takes a certain kind of mind-set to shop there. You won’t find everything you need or everything you think you might be looking for, and you won’t always find the same stuff. You will also find bins filled with different household goods, garage and yard tidbits. Much of it seems like something you could maybe use and some of it you might not be so sure. What you will definitely find are deals. Just go in with an open mind and without hell-bent thoughts on specific brands or sizes or even items that might be on your list. You should probably actually just leave the list at home (or in the car).
WE went in just to get a breath of European air and see if we might be able to find any of our favorite European goodies there. We had high hopes as we walked through the parking lot towards the façade – which looks exactly the same as in Europe! Unfortunately, we didn’t find any of what we had hoped for. Just the same kinds of deals, but on US-specific goods – generic Cheez-its, ketchup and the like. We tried some of their LIDL sparkling water and grabbed a bag of German egg noodles. They did have some delicious looking pastries (which Europe is definitely known for) – but seeing as it was late in the evening they were pretty picked over.
Oh, well. It ALMOST took us back across the pond. Almost. Now we know!
punkTREKS 