Aldi to hire 13,000 holiday workers, raising minimum wages up to $23 an hour
FILE - An exterior view of an Aldi discount grocery store in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 10, 2024 (Photo by Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Aldi is hiring thousands of workers for the upcoming holiday season and for the opening of new stores across the U.S., while also increasing its minimum wages to $18 and $23 an hour.
The no-frills grocery chain, known for its cost-saving measures like self-bagging and loaning carts to customers for a quarter, announced that it plans to hire more than 13,000 store and warehouse employees nationwide.
The new national average starting wages for Aldi store positions will be $18 an hour, and
$23 an hour for warehouse jobs, the company said. Both wages are based on market and position.
Aldi, which already employs over 49,000 workers, noted that those who work more than 30 hours a week also receive benefits like health care insurance and paid time off.
Those interested in applying for a job at Aldi can visit the grocer’s careers page.
Where Aldi plans to open new stores
Meanwhile, Aldi is eyeing a big expansion in the U.S. as inflation squeezes Americans’ household budgets on groceries and other goods.
The company announced in March that it plans to add 800 stores nationwide by the end of 2028, through a combination of new openings and store conversions.
Aldi said it’s looking to add almost 330 stores across the Northeast and Midwest regions by the end of 2028. The company will also add more stores in Southern California and Phoenix – and enter new cities like Las Vegas.
On its website, Aldi shares many of its grand openings by state.
Some existing grocery stores to convert to Aldi
In March, Aldi closed on its acquisition of Southeastern Grocers – the parent company of Harveys and Winn-Dixie grocery chains. As a result, the grocery said it plans to convert "a significant number" of Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket locations to its format over the next several years.
These chains are primarily located in states like Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.
"Starting mid-summer, ALDI will begin a phased approach to the store conversion process," the company said in March. "ALDI anticipates that approximately 50 stores will begin the conversion process during the latter half of 2024, with the majority of these stores reopening as ALDI in 2025."
Who owns Aldi stores, and what's the connection to Trader Joe's?
Aldi is based in Germany with a U.S. headquarters in Batavia, Illinois, just west of Chicago.
But the brand name Aldi is really that of two companies. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, and the business later split into two separate groups: Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd.
In addition to thousands of stores across Germany, Aldi Nord operates in Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Spain. Aldi Nord also owns Trader Joe's grocery chain in the U.S. – which operates separately from the group.
Meanwhile, Aldi Süd operates in the U.S. and was the group that purchased the 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys supermarkets in the Southeast. It also operates in Australia, Austria, China, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.