Staff Reporter
MARBELLA is notorious for its weighty price tags.
But cash-strapped families in the town can actually shop for cheaper than anywhere else in Europe, as it turns out.
A price comparison of Aldi supermarkets across the UK, Spain, France and Germany revealed that the Spanish one in Marbella is the cheapest – and Brits are paying nearly double.
Groceries representing a small weekly shop – including grapes, milk, chicken and wine – came to just €28.84 in Spain.
In Berlin the basket cost €29.16, in Paris it came to €33.23, but in a London store it came to €56.03 (£44.92).
European shoppers also get considerably better deals on alcohol than their British counterparts, including wines, beers and spirits.
While Spanish shoppers pay just €1.48 (£1.19) pounds for six bottles of 330ml beer, in England the same product will set you back €4.98 (£3.99).
Tony Baines, joint managing director of corporate buying at Aldi, said: “The difference in grocery prices is not specific to Aldi.
“We offer our customers the best quality product at the most competitive price. Shoppers know we offer the best value in the UK and won’t be beaten.”
The Olive Press did its very own consumer feature on price comparisons of food and vegetables.
We discovered there are a number of extremely popular everyday goods on which discerning expats can save themselves more than a few bob.
Fans of fruit will be thrilled to find it is much cheaper to reach the ‘five a day’ here in Spain.
A kilo of red grapes, for example, costs €2.80 here, while exactly the same amount costs €5.40 in the UK.
In fact, almost all fruit and veg worked out cheaper in Spain, apart from, oddly, carrots, which cost €1.25 per kilo compared to just 85c in a UK grocer.
The Olive Press also found that – when converted to euros – cost €1.64 in the UK compared to just 95c in Spain.
Ronda artist Gabriella Chidgey, who runs a household of four, said: “Fruit and vegetables are definitely cheaper here and they are of a higher quality.
“However, I have found it much more difficult to get hold of free range chickens here.”
I tried the new Aldi in Velez recently and was distinctly unimpressed in the quality. Perhaps it will improve over time. The first Lidl’s in the area started out as almost a hanger full of food, but later revamps and improvements made them much more up-to-date. I get free-range chickens and eggs directly from farmers. Doesn’t Ronda have farmers? Best to support local businesses first; fruit and veg is massively cheaper if bought direct.
Of course standard groceries are cheaper in Spain than the UK. Most people in Spain know this, although there are always those who seek out imported brand names who beg to differ.
If Aldi are cheaper than Dia supermarkets, they must be really cheap. Still prefer Carrefour or Supercor though. Best one back home must be Waitrose? (although pricey)
The fact that my two nearest Aldi stores have constantly near empty car parks whereas my local Lidl stores have car parks that are almost always full to overflowing, suggests to me that Aldi in Spain might do better by following their UK counterparts because there the situation is quite the opposite. I have on some occasions visited an Aldo store to find that I’m about the only customer there & on occasions, I’ve even thought I was the only person in the whole place.
Aldi and Lidl always used to have massive problems at the till/never enough staff on duty even when not very busy
Mercadona is ok but very limited choice mostly own brand
Clothing still cheaper and better quality from the UK
depends where you live and who is nearby/not worth driving hundreds of miles to save a few pence
Ishop in both Aldi and Lidl , as I talk to all the managers I found out that Aldi use the same suppliers of fruit and veg as the very expensive Sanchez Romero supermarkets but at a tenth of the price. They are both good but in different ways. Lidlis better on wines and Aldi on fresh fruit and veg and their Gutbio range is excellent
I moved from Germany to Turre, Almeria last year. I bought
juice oranges in the local market for 50c, 60c, 70c a kilo.
The local Consum charged at least €1.50 a kilo!
I live in Benidorm and on my way to Albert I see a sign for Aldi supermarket
But I cannot find it can you help. Rose
Aldi in USA, as opposed to Europe, is very, very low quality. A German friend explained that two brothers operate Aldi, but one does cheap goods outside Germany, the other high quality within Germany. Maybe this effects the marketing model in Spain, where some are upscale, others down scale depending on location.