Wait, Aldi Sells Trader Joe's Products? (Yes, But Not In The US)

Recently some Reddit threads have gained traction for showing something that looks impossible at first glance: Trader Joe's–branded products sitting on Aldi shelves in parts of Europe. At first, it sounds a bit like grocery-store folklore that is just waiting to be debunked, but in this case, it turns out to be a myth about Aldi that is true. And for any European readers, this is actually incredibly exciting.

What's happening, though, has nothing to do with the Aldi stores you get in America, nor does it mean that Trader Joe's is expanding overseas — there are no Trader Joe's locations outside the United States, and the products pictured are not actually the same private-label items American shoppers recognize. Instead, it can all be explained by understanding Aldi's rather unusual structure: it's actually two different companies. Back in the 1960s, Aldi was split by its founders, the Albrecht brothers, becoming Aldi Nord (North) which operates in Germany, Belgium, France, and Spain, and Aldi Süd (South) which operates in the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and in America. So while the U.S. Aldi is an Aldi Süd entity, the family that runs Aldi Nord actually fully owns Trader Joe's. Who knew? As a result, across Germany, Belgium, France, and Spain (the Aldi Nord countries), shoppers have occasionally reported seeing products that use the Trader Joe's name as part of the branding — even though there's no official company policy publicly explaining it.

For American shoppers, the distinction between Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd matters because it explains why this crossover never appears at home. Trader Joe's is constantly releasing new and exciting products that fuel excitement, but there's no chance of finding any of them at an Aldi store any time soon, America. And actually based on shopper accounts, the Trader Joe's–labeled items found in Europe aren't imports from U.S. stores, not matching anything sold in U.S. Trader Joe's locations. Instead, they appear to be Aldi Nord products using the Trader Joe's name, perhaps to signal an "American-style" offering, which can be appealing for European shoppers. That corporate divide is also why this quirk stops at Europe's borders. Aldi Süd, which runs all American Aldi stores, has no rights to the Trader Joe's brand and therefore cannot use the name on any packaging. The overlap is simply a byproduct of ownership history rather than shared inventory or strategy.

So while there are some reasons people may avoid shopping at Aldi, if you're a European reader, the inability to find Trader Joe's affiliated products there won't be one of them. And for U.S. shoppers, while Aldi and Trader Joe's may share a family origin, their stores remain firmly separate, so you'll still need to do two different trips.