1 day Ago By [email protected] (Levi Winchester)
An Aldi insider has revealed five changes shoppers will notice at the budget supermarket this Christmas . The festive season is the busiest time of the year for all retailers - and Aldi has already introduced a host of changes in stores for Christmas. Julie Ashfield, Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK, reveals the new seasonal products that shoppers will already spot in store, as well as changes to opening times.
Aldi has over 1,000 stores in the UK. Hundreds of new products Aldi has introduced more than 400 new products as part of its Christmas range - with a lot of these items already available to buy now. Julie said: "Shoppers will notice an even bigger and better selection of our premium Specially Selected range, with more Specially Selected products available than ever before.
This year, we’re also launching our biggest ever range of festive cheeses and party food, as well as our largest festive vegan and veggie range, providing great quality options for every shopper." New store layouts More shelving has been added in stores, in order to accommodate the extra Christmas products - so your store layout may look slightly different. Julie said: "For the first time, we’ve introduced a dedicated Specially Selected shopping location in our stores, giving shoppers a dedicated area to browse our premium festive offering.
In some of our stores, we’re also trialling additional shelving in our chillers so we can offer an even bigger and better range of festive chilled foods." Extra staff on shop floors Aldi has hired 3,500 extra workers to help with the busy Christmas period - including customer service assistants, managerial positions and cleaners. Julie said: "The week before Christmas, all of Aldi’s 1,020 stores across the UK will have one or two colleagues dedicated to a specific area where stock tends to be bought more frequently at this time of year, all to make sure customers can get everything they need ahead of the big day.
" Extended opening times Aldi stores will be open for longer in the run-up to Christmas. Its shops will open from 7am until 10pm on Saturday, December 21st and Monday, December 23rd, while on the Sunday, December 22nd, shoppers can visit between 9.30am and 4pm.
On Christmas Eve, stores will be open from 7am until 6pm. They'll be shut as normal on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Then on on New Year’s Eve, stores will be open until 6pm, before they close again on New Year’s Day.
Julie said: "The run-up to Christmas is a busy time for everyone, which is why we open our stores for slightly longer than usual to help our shoppers pick up all the festive essentials they need." Too Good To Go expansion Aldi charity partners will be able to collect more fresh and chilled food products nearing the end of their shelf life ahead of stores being closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Julie says this means no food will go to waste.
She added: "Our shoppers can benefit too, as we’ll be offering more opportunities for customers to reserve surplus food bags through our Too Good To Go partnership, extending the collection window to help customers save even more money while reducing food waste.".
