Meet the Melbourne woman ‘addicted’ to Aldi Special Buys

A Melbourne woman obsessed with the supermarket’s weekly deals has revealed the extreme measure she took to snag a popular item.

For more than a year now Wednesdays and Saturdays have taken on an extra importance for Anh Tran.

More often than not, the 33-year-old Melbourne woman has visited her local Aldi, scooping up one of the supermarket’s popular Special Buys items.

If it’s tipped to be a popular item Ms Tran will even get there before opening, bringing her foldable stool to sit on while she lines up for Aldi to open its doors.

The medical information specialist considers herself an Aldi Special Buys “addict” after buying “close to” a hundred of the German supermarkets middle aisle items since 2020.

Ms Tran has purchased everything from a flatscreen TV, an air fryer, cookware and a robot vacuum, turning her mum’s spare room into an Aldi “showroom” prior to moving out with her partner last month.

Anh Tran is no stranger to lining up before Aldi opens in order to get her hands on a Special Buys item. Picture: Supplied.

Ms Tran said she “slowly got hooked” during Melbourne’s extended lockdown last year when the Victorian government closed non-essential retail.

She was making plans to buy a home with her partner and wanted to stock up on budget-friendly appliances and homewares, with her mum advising her to check out Aldi.

“My mum she uses a lot of Aldi’s Special Buys, she’s the original pro,” Ms Tran told news.com.au.

Ms Tran began visiting Aldi on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, often popping in before she started work.

It soon became an addictive habit with Ms Tran planning her trips by joining Aldi Facebook groups and reading reviews of products online.

Despite in-demand Aldi Special Buys resulting in crazy scenes at some stores, Ms Tran said her local Melbourne store stays “quite civilised” even when the item is popular.

“At my particular store they’re very good at managing crowds, at the height of the pandemic they actually counted people in,” she said. “That’s why I lined up early, I wanted to be the first 10 people allowed in.”

Anh’s haul of Special Buys. Picture: Supplied.

During her time as an Aldi super-fan Ms Tran has only missed out on one sought-after Special Buys item.

“An item where I got really crazy obsessive about was when they had a ceramic kitchen pots and pans set,” she said.

“I got most of it but I couldn’t get the two small saucepans, my local Aldi didn’t have it and I messaged all my friends.”

After Ms Tran “messaged everybody” she knew in Melbourne she turned interstate, connecting with an Instagram friend in Adelaide.

“I was so crazy about wanting the complete set I messaged her, I was like, ‘this is a really weird request but do you mind checking if your Aldi has this saucepan?’” she said with a laugh.

“She was kind enough to check and she bought it for me and sent it over.”

Ms Tran said she had once sourced a saucepan from a friend interstate. Picture: Supplied.

Best way to score Aldi’s Special Buys

Before heading into store Ms Tran recommends doing your research on Facebook and by reading the catalogue.

“What I tend to do to work out if it’s something I should wake up early and line up for, or chance it and go after the rush I follow a lot of groups on Facebook,” she said.

“If I see something on these chat groups that’s talked about a lot, maybe people have used it in the past … you can kind of gauge, oh this is something to be popular.”

Being a regular Aldi shoppers means Ms Tran has also been able to predict what items are most popular at her store – she finds anything kitchen-related sells fast, while tools or hardware tend to be less in demand.
If an item looks like it will be popular Ms Tran plans accordingly, arriving at the store early so she can be one of the first inside.

“My local store opens at 8.30am, so I try and line up at about 7.30, so an hour before,” she said.

“What I’ve been doing is taking a little stool with me so I can sit there and wait and my legs don’t get tired.”

Ms Tran also shops light, meaning she can easily “manoeuvre myself” to get to the middle-aisle goodies.

“If the item I want isn’t that big or bulky I tend to not take a trolley,” she said. “It’s hard to manoeuvre a trolley opposed to running by yourself or walking quickly by yourself to grab whatever the thing is.”

“It also saves me a bit of money, because when I have a trolley I tend to grab more things than I need,” Ms Tran added with a laugh.

Originally published as Meet the Melbourne woman ‘addicted’ to Aldi Special Buys