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
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