Theo Albrecht the United States. Aldi and Trader Joe's, while owned by the brothers, have separate and distinct ownership and operations. Theo Albrecht and his brother Karl revolutionized the German grocery market with a low-cost business model. They had developed the supermarket as an outgrowth of their mother's small grocery store, which she had opened in 1913, in Essen, after Theo’s father had developed emphysema as a miner. Theodor learned the grocery business from his mother, in order to escape the fate of his father in the mines. He and his brother Karl developed Albrecht Diskont, one of Europe’s largest chains of
Theo Albrecht Theodor was conscripted into the Wehrmacht where Theodor served with Rommel’s Afrika Korps in an army division. During World War II (1943?) Theodor was captured by the Americans in Tunisia as a prisoner of war, but in 1946 he returned to Germany. It was said that his humble and harsh childhood formed Theodor’s early appreciation for the value of money. Theodor’s kidnapping in 1971 partially explains his and the family’s hermit-like manner of existence. The kidnapping caused him to drive to work using a different route every day in an armored automobile. Little is known about Theodor Albrecht and the