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
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).