Seafood boils, the aisle of shame, and 'self-care': Scenes from an Aldi grand opening

It’s 7:30 a.m. and Barney Robinson of Bath Beach, Brooklyn, has been sitting on a foldable stool outside the brand-new Aldi store in Staten Island’s New Dorp neighborhood for more than three hours. He got here at 4 a.m., he tells Yahoo, which allowed him to snag the very first spot in line for the June 26 grand opening of the discount grocer’s latest location.

“I thought there’d be a huge crowd, and I love Aldi,” Robinson says. He’s armed with a plaid reusable tote and wearing a striped Aldi bucket hat (there’s more branded clothing at home, he notes) that complements his orange Sex Pistols shirt.

“My usual location is Green Acres Mall out on Long Island, simply because I don't have to pay a toll to go there and it's quite close to me,” says Robinson. The grand opening was worth the toll charge across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, however. “I want to see a brand-new store.”

While Robinson stands out as the Aldi superfan among the 100 or so people who are queued up before the store’s doors open, other shoppers seem just as dedicated to making an experience out of this shopping trip. We came along for the ride.

'Aldi is like a cultural thing'

Thomas Ciotola and his wife, Chau Hang, are locals in New Dorp but still made sure to show up by 6 a.m. They’re expecting a big crowd: After all, it’s a grocer with a uniquely loyal consumer base.

Aldi originated as a small family-owned grocery store in Germany in 1913 before being established as a chain in 1948. In 1976, the first U.S. location was opened in Iowa, leading to an expansion of 300 stores across America over the next two decades. Now Aldi operates over 2,400 stores nationwide, drawing a devoted fanbase who swear by its low prices, dye-free food offerings and unpredictable assortment of goods.

“When my wife and I were still dating and living over in Tampa, she introduced me to Aldi near [the University of South Florida],” Ciotola says. “I was a little bit skeptical because I didn’t know what it was like, but it ended up becoming our main grocery store when we were going to school over there.” It's something the couple have missed since their move to New York City; Aldi's other locations in the area are too far-flung for them.

It’s 8:30 and the doors open. The first 100 customers receive Aldi gift cards. Ciotola scores one worth $100; Hang gets only $10 to spend, but she isn’t upset about it. “What’s mine is yours,” Ciotola says as they begin browsing the shelves. He’s on the lookout for his favorite feta cheese and is keeping an eye out for bacon bites that he used to get in Tampa.

Fellow shoppers Kellen Zeng and Sandra Liu are headed straight for the frozen section. “The seafood boil, specifically,” Liu tells Yahoo. “People like to come to Aldi to buy the seafood boil with Alaskan king crab and mussels.” She’s never actually shopped at an Aldi before, nor has she tried the items she’s looking to grab, but she’s seen the hype on TikTok. She also took the day off work to experience it for herself.

“Aldi is like a cultural thing,” adds Zeng. “Even though we’ve never been here before, we know about the quarters and the coin pouch. [She’s referring to the chain’s shopping carts, which require a quarter to unlock. Customers can retrieve their quarter once the cart is returned.] I mean, you just know about it. So when it’s opening in your neighborhood, you might as well stop by and see what’s up.”

The pair arrived at 7 a.m., had the seafood boil in hand by 8:40 and continued to browse until 9:20. When asked if it was worth the wait, they happily nodded their heads and pointed at their cart.

The 'aisle of shame'

For a lot of shoppers, the big draw is the Aldi Finds aisle. The rotating selection of limited-edition products, ranging from food to household items, can be found in the store’s weekly ad online, although some shoppers like to keep it a surprise until they get to the store.

“I always like to look at the AOS [aka the “aisle of shame,” which is what some fans call the Aldi Finds section] first because you never know what you're going to find,” says Robinson, who belongs to the 3.7-million-member-strong “aisle of shame” community on Facebook.

Getting a look at the weekly ad is what Cassian Feliciano looks forward to the most. “Go early, beat the crowd, bring a quarter and check the deals of the week” are his biggest tips for Aldi shopping.

Wumi Afuye knows that Wednesdays are the best days to hit the store because that’s when weekly Aldi Finds are stocked. She’s only been inside an Aldi once before, but the experience was enough to turn her into a dedicated online delivery shopper. She's thrilled to now have a brick-and-mortar store nearby. Her plan for the morning is to get her favorite Aldi-brand protein pancakes and protein shakes. “I'm going to pass [the fandom] on to my kids, as long as the prices stay Aldi prices,” she tells Yahoo.

The cost of Aldi’s private label items is what landed the supermarket chain a mention in the Time 100 Most Influential Companies list for 2025. Robert (who didn’t share his last name) says affordability is the primary reason he favors Aldi over other stores. “I like that they're very transparent about how you save. You don't have to have cards or fill out forms and save coupons and all. You just come here and you save money, I like that better than some of the other places where you have to, like, play all these games to get 25 cents off something or whatever,” he tells Yahoo. “They're just fair.”

Multiple people mentioned the pricing of eggs and milk at Aldi as one of the reasons to love the chain. "I use a special kind of milk — Fairlife milk, because I’m lactose-intolerant," says New Dorp resident Anne. “It’s almost $2 cheaper here than the other supermarkets in this neighborhood."

Buying milk, eggs and bread at Aldi alone will save her $25 on her grocery bill a week, she estimates. Like Liu, she called out of work to come here. “Sometimes self-care is very important and you have to take care of yourself,” says Anne. “The beginning of my self-care day is going to Aldi’s.”