Theo and Karl Albrecht took their mother’s thrifty corner store, still standing in Essen, Germany, after World War II, and turned it into a low-cost supermarket chain that today spans over a dozen countries across Europe and the US.
Aldi, short for Albrecht discount, has become such a stakeholder in Europe that other chains like it, including Walmart, have never been able to get a foothold. Throughout the decades, Aldi became one of the most profitable retail chains, with over 10,000 stores across Europe and the US.
In 1979, a family trust bought Trader Joe’s, the low-cost grocery store native to the US.
The Albrecht brothers’ heirs are feuding after one of the founder’s wives tried to cut her grandchildren and daughter-in-law out of the family business because of their “lavish spending,”
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