New Aldi Blanchardstown Shopping Centre

Wilbury Twist

Does anyone know the opening date for the New Aldi in the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, last I heard it was to open this month, November 2020. It looks like a large store from passing on the outside road, will it be a super store size?

Will there be self service kiosks or will it be queueing behind full trolley customers if you just want to pop in for a couple of items, someone mentioned that new bicycle racks have been installed close by to the new Aldi so if you're on a bike it's a basket full rather than a trolley full you're buying so self service kiosks would be handy for basket customers. In fairness the checkout system at Aldi and indeed Lidl for that matter is a lot more efficient and quick than Dunnes in our experience.

I wonder if the new Aldi competition will impact the sales of grocery in Dunnes, Lidl and M&S at the Blanchardstown Centre.

We prefer using self scan tills especially since Covid 19 started so are hoping for self scan at the new Aldi in the Blanchardstown Centre.

daymobrew

You'll probably have to contact Aldi directly to ask about the opening date and whether they'll have self service checkouts.

As for basket/trolley when you have a bike - if you have good pannier bags you can carry quite a lot - https://twitter.com/DaymoBrew/status/1325061886837133313

Caranica

Do any Aldis have self service check outs? Have never seen them

raheny red

There's the area for locking your bike. Badly needed in the centre and should be in every car park. How many car spaces would it take up......?

jeffk

raheny red wrote: »

There's the area for locking your bike. Badly needed in the centre and should be in every car park. How many car spaces would it take up......?

I wouldn't lock my bike in confidence to these, id love to cycle the centre and do stuff knowing ill be cycling home

You want like a locker thing, like the ones on dragons den

https://www.bikeaway.com/into-the-dragons-den/

daymobrew

jeffk wrote: »

I wouldn't lock my bike in confidence to these, id love to cycle the centre and do stuff knowing ill be cycling home

I've never had a problem at the centre, even having gone to a movie.

Two big locks (each wheel to frame and to bike stand) can help.

jeffk

daymobrew wrote: »

I've never had a problem at the centre, even having gone to a movie.

Two big locks (each wheel to frame and to bike stand) can help.

I've a E900 mountain bike, be like a light to a magpie

Now if I had the room at home for some second-hand banger, I'd lock that up OK

daymobrew

jeffk wrote: »

I've a E900 mountain bike, be like a light to a magpie

My 750 euro, 12 year old hybrid is probably no longer attractive but certainly very valuable to me.

The is a lack of bike parking in the centre so I generally use a lamppost near the shop I'm going to.

jeffk

daymobrew wrote: »

My 750 euro, 12 year old hybrid is probably no longer attractive but certainly very valuable to me.

The is a lack of bike parking in the centre so I generally use a lamppost near the shop I'm going to.

I probably could do it , if I paid GOOD for a lock.

But the old if they really want it , they'll take it spring too mind

Hate to say collect my dole and come out and find say 3 weeks wages robbed and left to walk home

donaghs

Where exactly will the Aldi be located? The problem with some shops, e.g. lidl and dunness, is that they are in the midst of the place, rather than the edge, so you have to plan your trip based on traffic and parking considerations, etc.

daymobrew

donaghs wrote: »

Where exactly will the Aldi be located? The problem with some shops, e.g. lidl and dunness, is that they are in the midst of the place, rather than the edge, so you have to plan your trip based on traffic and parking considerations, etc.

It is beside the M&S entrance - which is on the left of raheny ray's photo.

I don't know if they will have an external entrance but that car park can be busy but it often has spaces if you go towards the Libery Insurance end. The overflow car park is just across the road (adjacent to Westend car park).

ongarboy

donaghs wrote: »

Where exactly will the Aldi be located? The problem with some shops, e.g. lidl and dunness, is that they are in the midst of the place, rather than the edge, so you have to plan your trip based on traffic and parking considerations, etc.

Which is why I would never do weekly grocery shopping in Blanch SC. It's too much of a destination centre for occasional shopping or treats(clothes/gifts/cinema/new phone etc) in my opinion. The thought of queuing for ages in back ups from Power City or the N3 just to get near the place and then spend 20 minutes finding parking/ wheeling a trolley the length of the malls etc before you've even picked up a bag of spuds is an absolute deterrent for mundane weekly food shopping.

The Aldis/ Lidls/Tesco/Supervalu/Dunnes in
Roselawn/Ongar/Blanch village/Clonee/Blakestown etc may not be glamorous but you can drive to, park almost next to the door, fetch trolley and start filling it in a matter of minutes and an equally quick getaway on finishing.

Judging by the sheer volumes of people who grocery shop in the Centre several times a week, they obviously don't mind the extra time it takes and congestion.

Larbre34

For balance, I would like the record to reflect that the Lidl in Castleknock isn't glamorous either.

jeffk

I think someone played a blinder (by mistake or design), when you look out lidl window BANG there's a Aldi sign

Caranica

Saw an ad on Instagram that it's opening 26 November.

Wilbury Twist

Visited the new Aldi in the Blanchardstown Centre today, opening day. The entrance to the Aldi is just inside the red mall main entrance of the shopping centre, the Aldi trolley bay is inside the shopping centre at the entrance point. The first impression is that this is a very big store with a lot of space to comfortably move around and the aisles are lovely and wide for easy movement and browsing.

This Aldi follows the same product location points as other Aldi's, so we knew exactly where what we wanted was located being regular Aldi customers in other locations.

There are a lot of tills and a lot of them were open when we were there, hopefully this will continue going forward on future visits, it wasn't particularly busy, but because the store is so big in comparison to other Aldi's it seemed there were less shoppers than there actually were.

There were a lot of staff around, more than usual in Aldi, maybe opening day was the reason for that. Staff were pleasant, although my other half did observe a couple of ''gossipy type'' Aldi floor staff in the mix that won't last too long working in a productive Aldi culture.

No self service scanners or self service checkouts which is a minus point for us.

Looking at the big picture, I wonder which supermarket brand will be the first to go with a no staff checkout till model where the customer places their basket on a calculating till and all item prices in the basket are automatically totalled up by the till software, the technology is there to do this, more efficient for the customer, keeps the staff on supply chain/shelf replenishment duties, reduced overheads for the business.

raheny red

Big fan of the wide aisles meself.

Caranica

Ventured in tonight, those aisles are amazing! No queue at the till, which was nice. All that aside, over the next few weeks unless it was after 9, as tonight, I'd still pop to mulhuddart for parking etc

atr2002

Hate self service. Looking thru pages of bread to enter it, then bang.. unexpected item in baggage area..

Poxy machines trying to make you out to be a thief. Blame your programmer, not me you little shít..


Give me a bit of chat with a human any day. Always friendly folk in Aldi.. long may it last.

Murt10

I was quite disappointed that there was no 1 euro coffee machine at the checkouts unlike the new Lidl's.

Caranica

Murt10 wrote: »

I was quite disappointed that there was no 1 euro coffee machine at the checkouts unlike the new Lidl's.

Aldi and Lidl are two different chains, I wouldn't expect what's in one to necessarily be in the other. Show me a Lidl with aisles as wide as this Aldi. I'll take a pleasant shopping experience over cheap machine coffee any time.

Bigmac1euro

Been in and out at least 5 times now and at all times of the day and evening. I haven’t queued once. I’m always the next person pretty much. They seem to be on the ball.
The wider aisles are brilliant.
Best Aldi I’ve been to probably. As far as shopping experiences go it’s the least stressful of the lot.

Chardee MacDennis

have to say it blows Lidl Castleknock out of the water, even worth the effort of getting up to the Centre...

Polar101

Bigmac1euro wrote: »

Been in and out at least 5 times now and at all times of the day and evening. I haven’t queued once. I’m always the next person pretty much. They seem to be on the ball.

That sounds amazing. I stopped going to the Aldi in Mulhuddart, because every time the shoppers in front of me in the queue seemed to be stocking up for a 6-month expedition. It took absolutely ages, even though the checkout staff were superb.