Karl Albrecht of , a suburb of Essen. Theo completed an apprenticeship in his mother's store, while Karl worked in a delicatessen shop. Karl served in the Wehrmacht during World War II and was wounded on the Eastern Front. After the war, the brothers jointly took over their mother's business and founded Albrecht KG. They separated that company in 1961 into Aldi Nord, covering the part of Germany north of the Ruhr under Theo Albrecht, and Aldi Süd under Karl. The first Aldi (short for Albrecht Discount) was opened in 1962. In 1994, Karl Albrecht removed himself from the daily operations of
Southern California supermarket strike of 2003–04 Southern California supermarket strike of 2003–04 The Southern California supermarket strike of 2003–2004 was a labor strike by the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) against four supermarket chains in Southern California. Management and the unions arrived at a contract after twenty weeks, with both sides claiming victory. On the labor side, the primary party was the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW), although deli workers were represented by UNITE HERE and also struck. On the management side, it involved the supermarket chain companies Albertsons (then an independent company), Ralphs (owned by Kroger) and Vons (owned by Safeway).