Islip Notebook: Township Home To Aldi's First LI Store

The grocery store choices for Islip Town residents expanded recently with the opening of Long Island’s first Aldi location in Bay Shore.

Located where an Office Depot once stood on Sunrise Highway just off of Brentwood Rd., the 18,000-square foot store is the German supermarket chain’s latest step into the New York Metropolitan area. Earlier this year, Aldi opened its first New York Metro-area store in Rego Park, Queens.

Shoppers taking their first trip to Aldi will see a grocery store that is slightly different than the numerous other supermarket chains that dot the township.

The retailer carries an assortment of about 1,400 frequently purchased grocery items sold under its own brands with products priced upwards of 50 percent less than comparable items found elsewhere, said Bruce Persohn, vice president of Aldi’s South Windsor Division.

“We work with many leading food suppliers in the United States to provide us products that we sell under our exclusive brands,” he said.

According to Aldi’s website, the company backs its private label products with what it says is an exclusive double guarantee. If a shopper is not satisfied with a product’s quality, Aldi will replace the item and refund the cost of the product.

Shoppers will also find better-known national brands as well, but that assortment continually changes. Persohn noted that Aldi offers “opportunity buys” in a section near the back of the store that are available to shoppers “while supplies last.”

In addition to carrying a selection of lower-priced, private label brands, Aldi also works to keep prices low in other ways. The retailer does not accept credit cards and it uses what is known as a cart-deposit system that requires shoppers to insert a quarter in order to obtain a cart.

While Persohn would not offer specifics on why Aldi selected Bay Shore for its first Long Island location, he did say, “we really are trying to answer the demand for our products and have been continuing to grow throughout the U.S.”

He also declined to say if Aldi is considering other locations in Islip Town.

But there is a possibility that more Aldi stores could open in Islip and other parts of Long Island in the months ahead.

According to a New York Times report earlier this year, Aldi over the past few years has opened more than 250 stores in the U.S., and has plans for as many as 160 new stores in 2011 and 2012.

And supermarket industry watchers said Aldi’s focus on offering low-priced groceries positions the company for growth as the nation’s economy struggles to recover from the recession.

“It’s the one format that seems to have increased the most, and has sustained a number of new stores,” Jonathan P. Feeney, a grocery analyst with Janney Capital Markets, told the Times. “As prices are going to go up, it’s going to be a growing opportunity.”