Meridian Residents react to Aldi's soft opening

The Aldi Grocery store, the first of its kind in The Queen City held its soft grand opening today. Customers lined up outside eager to get inside the store and explore the deals. In the midst of food shortages and inflation, many customers expressed nothing but excitement to have this new store in Meridian.

"I'm really excited. I like the. The isle of shame. I was telling them about the car. When you find a good deal, you have to yell out a car and people are supposed to answer. So that's just a little tip for all you, all the shoppers to get by," said Missy Burroughs, an experienced Aldi shopper.

"I am so excited that the store is finally here," stated Ellen Thomas.

With food shortages taking place all around the world and even some groceries stores lacking in produce, the Director of Operations says with Aldi, customers are sure to have fresh produce readily available and reasonably priced.

"As you walk into the store, you're going to notice an excellent fresh produce selection. We get produce every single day, so you can rest assured that you're going to get the highest quality product in the store every single day and everything we do is designed to keep prices low," said Phil Rhoads.

Many customers shared off camera that they were amazed by the price and layout of the store. One customer shares her views on the store compared to others in the area.

"I think their prices are great. I think they're better. Their selection looks good. Their prices are really good. They have a good amount of different products that we haven't been able to find easily here in Meridian and I'm ecstatic that they're here," said resident Cindy Egan.

For tomorrow's grand opening Rhoads says customers will be in for a treat and have an opportunity to get some giveaway bags and even gift cards for groceries.

"So what we're going to do is the first hundred customers are going to get a gift card from $10 to $100 just at random. So it depends on when they get in line and what they get for that day.

We're also giving away bags tomorrow morning. We're going to have a lot of fun with the customers tomorrow to kind of show them what Aldi is all about," said Rhoads.

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The stores hours of operation are from 9 am until 8 pm.