BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
STARKE — Talk of an Aldi grocery store locating in Starke appears to be true based on a recent job listing.
The posting is for an assistant manager for a new store, with the location listed as Starke, FL 32091.
When the Save A Lot grocery store located in the Deerfoot Village Shopping Center closed earlier this year — reportedly because electricity costs were too high — it was rumored that and Aldi store would be taking its place.
The job posting confirms this will be the location, and the assistant manager will train at another site until the new store is ready to open.
Aldi has two locations in Gainesville, one on 13th Street and the other on Clark Butler Boulevard. The store with German roots is known as “no frills.” Limiting variety to private labels and a few well-known brands of staple food and household items supports their discount pricing.
They are also known for requiring customers to rent shopping carts for a quarter and charging for paper and plastic bags. Carts are chained up, and customers must insert a quarter to unlock them, then deliver the cart back to the store to get their quarter back.
This and asking customers to bag their own groceries allows the company to be more efficient, hire fewer employees and pay those who do work there a higher average wage.
While customers may find it odd at first, the business world has taken note of Aldi’s aggressive growth in states like Florida.
The recently renovated Winn-Dixie and the Walmart Supercenter are currently Starke’s only two grocery stores.
