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
Billa (supermarket) Billa (supermarket) BILLA () is an Austrian supermarket chain that operates throughout Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The company, which was founded by Karl Wlaschek in 1953, is currently owned by Germany's REWE Group. The chain's name is derived from a contraction of "BILliger LAden", German for 'cheap shop' Billa operates stores in these 6 European countries: Billa also had locations in Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania but all of those had since been sold to other supermarket chains. In 2002, all 14 Billa stores in Hungary were sold to Spar. In 2009, all 14 Billa stores in Poland were