Aldi is marking its 35th UK birthday by highlighting how it has changed, including moving from handwritten signs to the electronic shelf edge labels it uses today.
The discounter opened its first UK store in April 1990 in Stechford, Birmingham, selling about 600 basic grocery lines and calling out savings in leaflets printed in black and white.
There was no non-food, with the middle aisle Specialbuys for which Aldi is now famous first arriving more than 10 years later.
Staff updated price signs by rewriting them by hand on bright yellow cards, with the ESLs now used across Aldi’s estate still about 33 years off.
They also had to memorise all the prices until 2001, when the number of products stocked reached 750 and Aldi finally introduced scanning at checkouts.
Store managers dressed in white coats with name badges stitched on to the pocket. The store uniform has since evolved into navy blue polo shirts with removable Velcro name badges.
Shoppers still had a quarter of a century of Kevin the Carrot-free Christmases to look forward to, with the character not arriving in Aldi’s festive ad until 2016.
Aldi now has more than 1,050 UK stores, and has set its sights on growing the number to 1,500.
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