To mark 25 years of Aldi in Ireland, the retailer is celebrating by releasing 25 fun facts about its legacy since 1999.
Twenty-Five Fun Facts
- Aldi opened its first Irish stores in 1999 – one on Parnell Street, in Dublin, and another at Westside Retail Park, Co. Cork.
- The day that Aldi opened its first two Irish stores, Westlife’s ‘Flying without Wings’ was number one on the Irish singles chart.
- There is an Aldi store in every county in the Republic of Ireland.
- In 2005, Aldi launched its Specially Selected range with supplier ABP Cahir, bringing 100% Irish Bord Bia quality-assured beef to shoppers.
- Since Aldi first opened in Ireland, the country has had six Taoisigh: Bertie Ahern, Brian Cowen, Enda Kenny, Leo Varadkar, Micheál Martin and Simon Harris.
- The retailer employs over 4,650 people across Ireland.
- Aldi first sold avocados in 2012.
- Since 1999, the retailer has given back over €25 million to more than 1,000 charities and local organisations.
- Aldi opened its 100th store in 2013, in Callan, Co. Kilkenny.
- Five of the eight top-selling products in Kilkenny’s stores are milk or butter products – a testament to dairy production in the Marble City and wider county.
- In 2014, Aldi partnered with FoodCloud, a not-for-profit social enterprise that aims to reduce the environmental and social impacts of food waste. Since then, Aldi has donated 2.5 million meals to those in need and helped save 3.3 million kilos of CO2 emissions.
- In 2016, Kevin the Carrot made his first appearance in a Christmas advert.
- Aldi is the largest retailer of Fairtrade tea in Ireland.
- Since 2018, the company has operated Grow with Aldi, a supplier development programme. To date, it has invested more than €10 million into the programme and supported more than 220 Irish suppliers.
- Cork is home to the most Aldi stores in Ireland, at 27, followed by Dublin (26), Galway (12), Kildare (9) and Tipperary (8).
- Aldi has partnered with Barnardos since 2020, working to raise more than €1 million for vulnerable children and their families.
- In 2021, Aldi launched a parenting podcast called Mamia & Me. Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan appeared on the podcast, as well as rugby star Paul O’Connell and actor Chris O’Dowd.
- In 2023, Donegal was the only county in Ireland where pancakes were in the 20 top-selling products in Aldi.
- Aldi sold its first carton of oat milk in 2021.
- In 2022, Aldi became the Official Supermarket Partner to Electric Picnic.
- Aldi’s 150th Irish store – in Cahirciveen, Co. Kerry – is the retailer’s westernmost store in Europe.
- In 2023, data showed that mini banana packs, bananas and fresh milk are the three top-selling products in Aldi nationwide, appearing in the top five in every county.
- Aldi was the first Irish supermarket to partner with Too Good To Go, the food surplus app.
- To make shopping even more convenient for customers, Aldi prints multiple bar codes on products, for maximum efficiency at the tills.
- Last but not least, Aldi is celebrating 25 years in Ireland with an overall spend of €10 billion with Irish suppliers since 1999.
‘Only Getting Started’
Speaking about the milestone, the communications director at Aldi, Padraig Barry, said, “Since we first opened in 1999, Aldi has become a beloved fixture in Ireland’s supermarket retail landscape.
“From starting out with two stores in Dublin and Cork to now operating 161 stores nationwide, it has been quite the journey – and we’re only getting started!
“We would like to thank our colleagues for their incredible dedication and hard work, our customers for their loyalty, as well as our incredible suppliers for their continued partnership, without which none of our successes to date would have been possible.”
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