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
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