The German discount supermarket chain that operates under the two brands Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd is Aldi.
Aldi began with brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht, who took over their mother’s grocery store in Essen after World War II. The name Aldi is a contraction of “Albrecht Diskont,” combining the family name with the German word for discount.
The business divided into separate Nord and Süd groups in 1960, and the two became legally and financially independent in Germany later in the 1960s. Their territories are traditionally divided by the so-called Aldi-Äquator, or “Aldi equator.”
A common mix-up is assuming Nord and Süd are unrelated chains. They share the Aldi heritage and discount model but have different logos, management, product ranges and international markets. Aldi Süd also operates under the Hofer name in Austria and Slovenia, while Aldi Nord owns Trader Joe’s in the United States as a separate brand.