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
Dia (supermarket chain) 2000 to 2011, Dia was part of the Carrefour Group but following its spin-off it became independent and debuted in Madrid's IBEX 35 stock market on 2 January 2012. The Dia Group purchased the operation of Schlecker (including its 1,127 stores in Spain and 41 stores in Portugal, and four distribution centers) for 70.5 million Euros. In 2014, Dia sold the whole of its business in France to Carrefour for 600 million euros. Although the shops retain the Dia name and logo, Carrefour own-brand products are increasingly replacing Dia's. Dia (supermarket chain) Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación, S.A. (DIA) is a