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
Tops Supermarket Royal Ahold Co., Ltd., a Netherlands-based supermarket operator. In December 1996 and 1998, Robinson sold all of its invested shares to Royal Ahold Co., Ltd. Tops bought all former Food Lion locations in 2004, after the American grocery chain pulled out of Thailand. Tops Supermarket Tops is a grocery chain in Thailand. Formerly part of the US-based Tops Markets LLC, the chain is operated under the name Tops Supermarket in Thailand by the Central Food Retail (CFR), a subsidiary of Central Retail Corporation. In addition to Tops Supermarket, some branches are called Tops Super, Tops Market, Tops Daily and Central