With a tough economy in mind, a new supermarket on East Gun Hill Road promises to only cut prices, not quality.
For the last three years, North East Bronx Community Association president Vincent Prezioso and local elected officials pushed for a new supermarket to open in the Gun Hill Shopping Center.
Finally, ALDI Supermarket, which offers high-quality exclusive brands, officially opened its doors to hundreds of local residents on Thursday, December 1, with a grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony.
Just like any supermarket, ALDI has a large variety of groceries and more, but their promise, unlike many name-brand markets, is to keep prices as low as 50 percent off. ALDI South Windsor division vice president Bruce Persohn said it’s one thing to keep prices low during a tough economy, but to be able to provide high quality products for customers is just as important to ALDI.
“We were excited when we learned about this opportunity to open our first ever location in the Bronx,” Persohn said. “There are over 1,000 ALDI locations throughout the country, but now we are really beginning to make our presence known in New York. We have a whole new population here in the Bronx that we look forward to serving, and we promise that they will not be disappointed in what we have to offer for them.”
The Gun Hill Road location is the second to open in New York City. Another location opened in Queens less than a year ago.
Earlier this year, Prezioso, along with Councilman Jimmy Vacca and Community Board 11 district manager Jeremy Warneke, visited the location in Queens to get an idea of what it would be like to have an ALDI in the Bronx.
“I knew someone who was familiar with ALDI, at a location up near Albany. They said it was the best supermarket they had ever been to,” Prezioso said. “I knew that bringing a supermarket back into this shopping center would be very successful because it is convenient for a lot of local residents. I am very excited that ALDI is here because their products are extremely affordable and worth every penny.”
The 18,000-square-foot supermarket sells over 1,400 of the most frequently purchased grocery items and according to Persohn, the supermarket will be selling other items such as toys during the holidays, coolers and beach chairs during the summer, and candy and decorations during Halloween.
Those who shopped at ALDI during the grand opening had a chance to grab some free samples of ALDI exclusive brand food and were able to compare them to similar items packaged by national brands.
“There was an ALDI supermarket where I used to live and I knew it would fit well in this area,” said Warneke, who lived in Illinois. “The food that they offer speaks for itself.”
Reach Vito Signorile via e-mail at vsignorile@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 742-3383.
