Aldi is scheduled to open its first eight stores in Southern California late next month — all in areas east of Los Angeles — but Stater Bros. Markets, which dominates those areas, doubts the new competitor will have much impact.  
“One of the great things about American supermarkets is, customers decide who the winners are by checking out new competition and then determining what they are promised and what they get,” said Jack Brown, executive chairman of the 168-store chain.
He told SN he believes customers will ultimately decide to stick with Stater “because we are doing what we’ve done for 80 years — working to be the best full-service supermarket in the area." 
Aldi said Tuesday it will open its first eight Southern California stores in late March, with 19 more due to open there by the summer and another 18 by the end of 2016. The first stores will be located near the company’s distribution center and regional headquarters in Moreno Valley, Calif.
The expansion to California is part of a five-year strategic plan by Aldi to open 650 new U.S. stores over the next couple of years, the company said last year.
The German-based company operates approximately 2,000 U.S. stores, with volume estimated at $11 billion. Its U.S. headquarters are in Batavia, Ill.
According to Brown, six of the first eight Aldis will compete directly with a Stater Bros. store. “But the Aldis will each be 10,000 square feet — the size of a 7-Eleven — while our stores are 50,000 square feet, which means the six Aldis going up against us will be the equivalent of one supermarket.”
The Aldis will carry only about 1,500 items, he added, “and they won’t be the same 1,500 items each week, so it will be like a safari to find familiar items — though there are certainly people who will like that.

“Further, 90% of those items will be Aldi private brands. That reminds me of what A&P did when it came to the West Coast in the 1960s and tried to sell its own brands. Customers didn’t like it because they wanted a choice,” Brown said.
In addition, Aldi will reportedly employ 19 people at each store, Brown noted — “about what we have in the produce and meat sections alone. Plus, it isn’t going to take credit cards or offer bags, so customers will have to bring their own bags and bag their own orders. We’ve seen others come into the market with those strategies — like Tesco, with Fresh & Easy — and customers decided they didn’t like it.”
Most of the Aldi stores will be located in recycled buildings that formerly housed other businesses, with some of the space leased to other companies, Brown pointed out, “and I don’t see them really affecting us any more than a 7-Eleven or some other convenience store.”