Germany Grocery Stores are NEXT LEVEL (American Reaction)

[@terezahlucha4613]

3:52 Funny, how different people percieve the same thing completely differently. You say “so many bread options :))) While I was thinking “clearly almost sold out, he probably went shopping 1-2 hours before the closing time”.

[@kekseze3990]

Damn

[@kieferngruen]

exactly what I thought :D

[@katjahaase3811]

My thoughts exactly. 🙂

[@katjathefranknfurter2374]

Did you know that a big part of all the bread sold goes to trash because people won't buy in a shop whose stuff is so good they already sold most of it? What is the use of fresh bread at the end of the day nobody wants to buy tomorrow?

[@anniehasting1133]

So funny, because I live in America and was like, “That’s a normal amount of bread options.. not even that many.” My grocery store in Maryland has more than that in the bakery area. Pretty similar to Germany. And of course if you go to a bakery that’s not in a grocery store, there are a lot more options. Dieser Typ kommt vielleicht aus einer Kleinstadt. Oder hat leider einfach einen schlechten Markt in der Nähe. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@JJKMagic]

"Do you have Heinz?" kind of made me laugh. Since the family of the founder of the Heinz company were originally from Germany^^

[@StefanInOz]

Not saying you're wrong, just want to elaborate on it. I think it was a valid question as Henry John Heinz, the founder of the Heinz Company was born and raised in the US. His father emigrated from Germany to the US 4 years before he was born. Henry visited Germany a few times when he was already maybe 50 years old(?), probably from the end of the 19th century until WWI. It is a true US product. However, the high quality of it comes from his German background.

[@aw3s0me12]

@@StefanInOz while i 100% agree... *Ketchup* ... is *not* a US product. Ketchup... the root of name is already from *China!* The *Brits,* brought it from there home. Switched _Fish_ with mushrooms & tomatoes. Heinz picked it up & made it big ;)

[@lesleyhawes6895]

Yet when I in Britain first came across the Heinz brand, (baked beans and tomato soup,) I was convinced it was American. Well, it was 70 years ago!

[@sisuguillam5109]

The Heinz family comes from the same village as the Trump family, Kallstadt.

[@charlesjohnson9249]

Heinz is great but once you went Hela (the one with the green top) you never go back to Heinz!

[@julianeschulz3186]

Kaufland is more like a Walmart or target in the US I think. Most grocery stores are smaller and don’t have a travel agency or a barber 😂 but most of them have a bakery and a butcher

[@tihomirrasperic]

A video would be much more interesting Kaufland vs Lidl vs Aldi

[@lealowenstern]

@@tihomirrasperic 😎👍

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Yeah, and considering that they have Aldi and Lidl in the US, would be interesting to see a comparison on the similarities and differences

[@annesels2028]

And the fresh fish and cheese counters.

[@haukenot3345]

This really looks more like a mini mall. The supermarket is obviously the main tenant, maybe the other store owners are even subletting from the supermarket. But the travel agency etc. are definitely seperate businesses the same way a lot of German supermarkets host a bakery or flower shop in their entry area that are separately owned and run.

[@blacksakura277]

The fact he said so many bread options even though the bakery was already mostly empty

[@Momolinlin]

as a german myself, this was very interesting to watch things that seem so normal in a grocery store are so special to others very interesting

[@alfianmelodic]

not from US but that travel agency really unexpected for me 😂

[@TrangDB9]

Because you have to buy the plastic coin, you would still lose money by leaving it there. The purpose of a plastic coin is that you don't spend it on anything, so you'll always have a coin for the cart ready in your wallet.

[@karionwhite2367]

You get them for free

[@1983simi]

@@karionwhite2367 sure, occasionally, but not all that readily. so if you just leave your plastic coin out of laziness to bring your cart back - saving you a precious 45secs of your life - you'll have to get out of your way to get a new one somewhere before the next time you go shopping again, or - more likely - you'll forget about it until the time you hit the supermarket again and will be scrambling to find a euro in your purse instead.

[@j.vdubois5074]

Yes. Or you are like me and have some spare change/plastic coins in a car exactly to get the shopping cart or maybe pay for parking etc.

[@TrangDB9]

@@karionwhite2367 maybe so, but to get yet another free plastic coin, you'll lose more time than bringing the cart back. Simple math.

[@Pidalin]

I am using foreign coins instead of "plastic coin." I have some polish zloty or euro coins which works too in Czech supermarkets. Euro works better, polish zloty is too thin, but it's still possible to use it. 50 cent euro coin works perfectly in our shops, it's the same size as our 10 CZK coin.

[@ninieh5336]

My thought when I saw the bakery : "they didn't have much choice and almost nothing was refilled" 😄

[@LA-st6dq]

Must been in the evening, they don't bake and refill anymore as bakeries usually close around 6-7pm and try to sell whatever is left after 4 or 5pm.

[@Ahi_Django]

@@LA-st6dq This exactly. Though depending on the bakery they are open until 8-9pm. Of course, that is not the case with every bakery. But most of the time we will just sell whatever we have left ^^

[@slyparis2447]

yeah, same for me. and, NO, these are not "French Baguette". mon dieu, quelle horreur.

[@frausurbier2173]

Thats not only "Kaufland"! It's a Mall with the Supermarket Kaufland as an anchor store!

[@horizoon]

there's NO WAY that full cart would add up to 500€, they just got groceries and household items, I'd estimate it was around 120 to 150€ max. If you're money savvy you could get a full cart of groceries for 80 to 100 €

[@hey_there3552]

As a German Girl i Just can sadly say its true , before this whole situation it was already much but Like a 500€ would Like be enough for some weeks depends what you bought, but now with this whole situation with the prices in the Stores went Up Like crazy so that this whole stuff costed 500€ and it maybe ist enough for a week, its so sad :(

[@ThomasKossatz]

@@hey_there3552 Well, 100 Euro plus 8 % Inflation is 108 Euro, not 500.

[@horizoon]

@@ThomasKossatz 8% is the overall inflation but unfortunately the traditionally "cheap" foods got more expensive. The cheapest pasta used to be 0,39€ almost everywhere. Now it's at least 0,79€. Same with a lot of basic food items

[@ThomasKossatz]

@@horizoon Octopus, even if you double my correct number, you reach 116 Euro, not 500. It is still nonsense.

[@kleeblume3012]

An other thing: germans hate it, if you don't say the exactly correct information. Exaggeration is a big reason for a dispute between people. But we do it though. Its sooo german. 🙄 We germans love exactness. The comments are an example how true germans act. We call it : you are such an "Allman"! 😂😜

[@emmrootv6299]

“Haribo is rly big here in America” was the moment when every German thought “wenn er nur wüsste”

[@DGARedRaven]

Translating to English: "If only he knew"

[@picturenut]

I used to visit Germany, Düsseldorf to be exact a lot. I didn’t bring back souvenirs of Germany. I brought back chocolates. There is nothing like German chocolates. My hairdresser would beg me to bring her back a certain chocolate and my daughter loved chocolate covered cherries but the German chocolate covered cherries were freshly made . I was there in the fall, and they were just made my suitcase was loaded.

[@stevenvanhulle7242]

Nothing like German chocolates?? Not sure what the Swiss and (my fellow) Belgians would say to this.

[@HolgerJakobs]

As a German I must say that chocolate from Belgium and Switzerland is best.

[@Selgald]

Only 2 minutes in, and I am quite speechless already, “what is the incentive to get your xy token back”? Because that is the correct thing to do? As a German I don't know what to say here, the first thing most would say “well it's because in the US no one cares about anything except for themselves”. The thing is I would rather not be mean here, I am honestly baffled why Ryan has to think about it at all, because here no one would think about it this way.

[@CazuhLynn]

Right? I would *never* leave my shopping cart just anywhere. I even tend to get annoyed when people don't push them back properly. It's just the right thing to do.

[@SaridenChan]

@@CazuhLynn and everytime to the shortest line, so its not just one long line over the whole parking lot 😁

[@CazuhLynn]

@@SaridenChan Yes, exactly!!

[@Slinky0205]

the plastic thing is also pretty usefull when you have no coins on you.

[@redzora80]

becaue in germany we like it clean and everthing in its own place

[@MrFlo5787]

Yes, the taxes are always included in the price on the sign. Most of the Bigger grocery stores do have some spaces which they rent out to bakeries and so on. We usually dont consider that a mall.

[@jogie63]

Also: Fluid has to be written in Liter (Milliliter, Deciliter). Food hast to be signed in Kilogramm (Gramm). The diffrence is always 1-10-100-1000. The price hat to be also written one Kilogramm and one Liter on the label small. So it is easy to compare prices.

[@dovos8572]

there are places that don't have the tax included in the price tag because they are mostly for companies like electricians. in specialized shops like that you have to calculate a bit more than everywhere else. it is that way because the tax get's written off the purchase and paid when the company is reselling the object to the customer so that the object isn't taxed twice.

[@fzoid3534]

Well the price isn't always the same. For some glass bottles and most platic bottles as well as for beverages in cans you have to pay a deposit (which you get back if you bring the empty bottle or can back). The price tag usually doesn't include that deposit.

[@glennjanot8128]

Working in such a store myself (actually, working for Kaufland, the grocery chain), just something for clarification. The hair salon, the bakery he showed, the flower shop or travel agency aren't part of the grocery store. They're just in the same building and are known as concessionaires, meaning they are stores that rent space in the building. Either Kaufland owns the building or someone else does. In the Kaufland building I work in, there's the grocery store itself, but also a hair salon, an optical store (where they sell glasses), a bakery, a butcher shop, a travel agency, a tobacco shop, a small shop that sells Spreewald specialties, a clothing store, a shoe store and an electronics store. Outside are several food vendors, Chinese, Kebab, Bratwust/chicken, on Wednesdays a Hot Dog vendor, and on Thursdays, a Fish food vendor as well as a field kitchen In the video, the guy seems to be shopping pretty late in the day because the bakery already has a lot of empty trays Also, a market like this isn't actually a grocery store, it's rather a hypermarket, because they don't just sell food stuff and other household stuff but also shoes, clothes, electronics etc

[@zero.Identity]

no its a supermarket. thats actually the term for markets that sell general needs + a bit of extra general stuff. still general cuz, as example, everyone needs shoes.

[@dirtyhenri5005]

As a german it's funny to me that you have Trader Joe's in the US. My brother who moved to North Dakota told me it's quite an expensive brand over there. In Germany you get it at Aldi and it usually is the cheapest option for any given item.

[@bscorax]

Trader Joe's is Aldis own brand. So the Trader Joe's Stores in the US are just different Aldi Stores. ;)

[@st.quaker2327]

Trader Joes is Aldi Nord in America

[@angelamerkelalsLuftballon]

@@st.quaker2327 And dont forget Aldi Süd!

[@hele_1004]

15:13 in german "dick" means fat or big so he said something like: "man, these are fat"

[@DonDadda45]

1:50 many people kind of get attached to their own personal plastic chips, in my experience. Also it's less about the "getting it back" imo but more about general order and cleanliness, which germans love.

[@cayreet5992]

It's also the fact that those chips usually cost about 99 cents to replace, so you'd only save one cent on putting a euro coin into the slit. The main difference between the chips and the coin is that you won't use the chip to buy something and therefore you will always have it in your pocket or attached to your keychain when you need it.

[@Pelasmo]

idk which part of germany u guys live in that the carts get brought back but over here a lot of them get left out around like either the friggin coin slot part is just busted open like literally half the handle bar being gone or someone just somehow got the coin out with a damn lockpick or somethin like that.

[@familybusiness1224]

That's true. I did got attached to my plastic coin and I get angry if my husband takes it 😂😂😂 But only because I'm 100% sure he will never give it back to me.

[@familybusiness1224]

@@Pelasmo you should move to another town dude 😁😁😁

[@bright-vision8766]

@@Pelasmo sounds like you are from Frankfurt man

[@LunaBianca1805]

That bakery selection actually isn't that big by German standards. You usually got like 10 different types of bread rolls, even on Sundays, and that doesn't even included the different bread types. I'm pretty sure most Asians would assure you that our "Asian" food doesn't taste anything like what they'd actually serve. Asparagus is a staple in German spring cuisine, but I'd really recommend buying fresh one from one of those little huts (usually the same farmers that have the strawberries also got asparagus plants in their fields :3) Of course you can get Heinz ketchup here as well ^^' - That Hela Gewürzketchup is a bit more like a mix of regular ketchup with something like a barbecue sauce. There's a lot of different spices added to that tomato+sugar+vinegar base and it's usually a bit sweeter :) BTW, just read on another vid, that the American Aldi got frozen Pretzels to bake at home that tastes like real German ones. Oh, and there is 0,1% skimmed milk, you can get that at Kaufland and Edeka both ^^.

[@petebeatminister]

Looks like the video was made in the afternoon, when many bakery goods are sold out or only a few are left.

[@teotik8071]

Trader Joe's is the US branch of Aldi-Nord (located in the northern half of Germany). The US Aldi is a branch of Aldi-Süd (located in the southern half of Germany). Both German Aldis look very similar to US Aldi and not like Trader Joe's.

[@aw3s0me12]

Yes. Aldi is *rank 3* in the US. LIDL is rushing as well to the top. For last 4 years in most expanding comps in the US.

[@brittches]

TJ is just owned by Aldi Nord, but a completely different store. I wish it existed in Germany.

[@hape3862]

@@Jaeger-LeKilltre Trader Joe was founded 1958 by Joe Coulombe. In 1979 he sold it to Aldi Nord.

[@kirschdiebin]

@@brittches Aldi north sells some Trader Joe’s products.

[@aw3s0me12]

@@brittches yes. Similar to Fanta from Germany, which coke did buy. But Fanta (created 1940) in Germany still has 6% fruit juice in while the US version does *not!* ;)

[@germaninvenice]

Thank you very much for reviewing my video. I appreciate it. Funny to see.

[@djambush360]

4:55 When you drive out of the city a few miles you can get asparagus wich was harvested the same day in the morning. Literally in every village. And mostly you get it a little pre-peeled. Or you also can get 'broken' pieces for a much lower price.

[@kirschdiebin]

Kaufland is very different from other supermarkets. It’s more like a Walmart. Normal supermarkets don’t have travel agency’s, food corners or nail salons in it.

[@tobyk.4911]

Yes,.maybe we should differentiate 3 classes of German Grocery stores: 1. "Discounter" like Aldi, Lidl, Penny, Netto, Norma 2. "Vollsortimenter" with a much larger choice of articles - and usually a bakery shop / cafe near its entrance/exit ... for example Rewe and Edeka 3. Even larger stores with much more non-food articles than Rewe and Edeka, and with more small external shops in their periphery, e.g. Kaufland, Real, Globus

[@LythaWausW]

@@tobyk.4911 When will any type of grocery store have an in-store pharmacy? *sigh*

[@roerd]

@@tobyk.4911 The chains for very large stores I see the most here in Hamburg are Rewe Center (obviously owned by Rewe - they used to be called Toom) and Marktkauf (owned by Edeka).

[@mweskamppp]

@@LythaWausW Never. It needs a pharmacist who can explain to you the possible side effects and counter indication with taking different medicines. So if a pharmacist opens his shop in a grocery store than yes. Wont happen in a discounter. But usually you have a group of shops at one location. Aldi and Lidl plus a rossmann a general beaverage&liquor shop, at bigger locations probably a pharmacist, doctors clinics and maybe a salon, a hardware store, a fuel station and a bank or at least an ATM. In my 3500 peoples village 5km from a 50000 peoples city there is a discounter, bank, salon, pharmacist, doctor, shoe shop, flower shop at one spot. some more shops at some other locations. When it is a small business it is allowed in a suburb in germany. Like a private house with small shop for electrics or such as a home point of the local plumber or electrician.

[@LythaWausW]

@@mweskamppp I didn't get your "Never" cuz after that word you explained the circumstances in which it would be possible, what I was referring to. I'm thinking there were Americans in 1940 who would never believe in such a thing as an in-store pharmacy.

[@Rivetlicker]

The ketchup bottles he has... it's not really tomato ketchup, but it's more of spicy curry type sauce. But it's a popular condiment in Germany (and the Netherlands)

[@LythaWausW]

I've never bought "normal" ketchup in Germany, cuz curry ketchup is superior. Heinz is on shelves so apparently some people buy it.

[@Nils.Minimalist]

I am addicted to curry ketchup!

[@Rivetlicker]

@@Nils.Minimalist Curry ketchup is amazing! But only the Hela brand, the others don't compare And I'm sometimes amazed how people don't know this outside of Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium

[@Rivetlicker]

@@LythaWausW To be fair.. I think both serve a different purpose. But Curry ketchup just goes with so many things and makes it taste even better

[@cptgordo]

Im in love with Hela curry ketchup. For me its the best ketchup in the world :D

[@McGhinch]

In Germany by law the final price must be obvious for the consumer -- all prices for goods and services targeting the "ordinary" consumer. For professional purposes, like B2B (business to business) the VAT (value added tax = MWSt, Mehrwertsteuer in German) may be omitted. It is also mandatory for most products to reference the price information to "proper" sizes like liter, kilogram (or sometimes 100 grams). You must be able to compare prizes of the 185 gram glass of a product, i.e. peanut butter, to the 205 g glass of peanut butter of a different or even the same producer. Generally, it is "what you see, is what you pay".

[@tarelsun4025]

@Hellequin Maskharat Wrong. Legally you cant "force" the lower price. Its all about "declaration of intent" or in German "Willenserklärung". The Shop wants 2,99 but you want to buy it for 2,79 because the sign said so. Then your "Willenserklärung" differs and no "Purchase contract" or in german "Kaufvertrag" is happening.

[@tarelsun4025]

@Hellequin Maskharat The shop cant get sued due to a wrong label. Try it, it wont work. I work in retail. Most retailers give you the lower price because of goodwill. But they are not legally bound to do that. Shops can only be warned due to violation of competition law. But a customer can not force the lower price.

[@tarelsun4025]

@Hellequin Maskharat No it cant... as i said, try it. I dont know why that matters but: Fachverkäufer/-berater/in - Bau-/Heimwerkerbedarf

[@marcodoe4690]

@Hellequin Maskharat That is incorrect. The price in the cash register is the one that counts, but you can reject the price and leave the item in the store.

[@PatrickMettchen]

@Hellequin Maskharat actually they are correct. It is called invitatio ad offerendum. The invitation for a purchase. In general the price of the register is the correct one. The shop have to react and change the label imidiately otherwise they can be sued due to misleading advertising. But they don't have to sell anything to anyone. Both, the costumer and the company, have to agree the purchase. If the company refuse to sell a product underpriced and react to the wrong label, there is no chance for the costumer to force it because the labels are typically offers without engagement.

[@robfriedrich2822]

9:31 Paprika flavor is pretty popular in Germany. They show a red bell pepper on the package, because we use the word paprika for bell peppers

[@rediflow]

1:45 easy answer you will bring your cart back to get your plastic token back, so that you will have your plastic token available, the next time you need one to get a shopping cart

[@jarls5890]

The reason you want your "plastic thing" back from the shopping cart is that the next time you go shopping - you can bet that you forgot to bring a new one from home. I.e. you always have your plastic thing (some are made so you can fasten them on your keychain) or a euro coin in your pocket for this very reason. (and in my experience those plastic things are not that common - so it is not like you have dozens of them laying about at home)

[@MichaelJohnson-vi6eh]

I go to ALDI here in the US a lot and I always forget my quarter because I empty all of my change in to a box on my nightstand every night - it becomes mad money. When it gets to be $200 worth of change I cash it in

[@meisterwu8922]

Yeah they are not that common but also not that rare. I mean i'm german and don't even know where to get one of these things.

[@KookyPan42]

Most keys with a coin-shaped handle work perfectly fine. And you always want to have your key returned unless you use a key of a discarded lock - like myself.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

The intersting thing is that he went to Kaufland. The local Kaufland here actually sells metal versions of the chips for 50 cents, which is obviously cheaper than a euro coin

[@twinmama42]

This haul wasn't 500 Dollars, my guess: it was less than 200 Euros. This is Kaufland = the Vollsortiment (whole assortment with mainly brand goods) of Lidl (discounter). But most people have no clue. Trader Joe belongs to Aldi Nord.

[@fgregerfeaxcwfeffece]

Yeah, 500 seems insane, the cart definitely did not include stuff this pricey even after the recent increases.

[@madventure4695]

I say it's 80€, maybe 100, but not more

[@victoriabill9257]

Just to clear things up...I actually used to shop in this exact place a few years ago...it's actually more of a mall type of set-up than just the super market. The actual supermarket starts at the entry sign of "Kaufland" inside the building. The other shops are renting space from the supermarket, as it owns the "Kaufhaus" which is a type of shopping mall. The idea is to attract more customers to each other, as they may enter because they need to get something from the grocery store and might stop by the bakery, or the other way around, they have an appointment to get their hair cut and decide to get their groceries while they're at it, instead of driving to a separate location to do so. - However, it is important to mention, that these stores called "Kaufland" only exist in a few locations in the West of germany, you'll find supermarkets like, "Penny", "Rewe", "Edeka", "Lidl", "Aldi", and "Netto" across Germany in more locations than "Kaufland".

[@throughcolouredglasses9300]

We got Kaufland in East Germany too! I've lived in (east) Berlin and Brandenburg and we have several locations. Among students It's recommended as the best paying job even :)

[@AnonD38]

Kaufland as well as these „mini shopping malls“ are not uncommon within „East Germany“

[@jonathanthomsen3111]

Yes Netto from Denmark 🇩🇰😎😊👍🏻

[@awwastor]

Yeah Kaufland (German) and Auchaun (French) as well as carrefour (French) usually have this sort of “mall but that’s the main store setup”

[@sihilius]

It's kind of unique to Kaufland though. I've never seen a Kaufland without those small stores at the entrance and i don't remember seeing another supermarket that has those small stores, except for small bakeries of course.

[@SieggurtzuSpeyer]

I remember the time, when Aldi (or so I think) introduced this "deposit" for the shopping carts. They claimed at that time, shopping carts often were stolen. Homeless pepople were called to be the culprit (that never was confirmed though). Because these things cost a fortune they thought of this solution. The result was, that the number of stolen carts dropped like a stone an is now well below the 1% mark (from around 25 to 30 %)

[@pferdeklauerin]

As a Student end of 80th I had a cart as a wardrobe. there was punky cool Times ...

[@MGerdtell]

That thing where taxes are not included in the price you see was quite the culture shock for me when I traveled to Canada. I was so used to the "german way" of what you see is what you pay, it never occured to me that there were other ways to do it. I'm not sure how Tesla is going to fare; Walmart failed miserably and now ALDI (german company) has a good foothold in the US. But it seems like Elon makes some of the mistakes Walmart made, especially when it comes to bargaining with german labour unions.

[@corinnaschmidt9735]

In Germany (and in my opinion in the whole EU) the prices shown always include the relevant taxes. You pay what the sign says. Exception: special wholesale chains such as METRO, which only sell to traders. VAT is added to the stated price. Heinz ketchup is also available in Germany. However, many Germans love Hela's spice ketchup (curry ketchup). The European chocolate tastes completely different than your American chocolate from Hershey. You should check out "Why Europeans Hate the Taste of American Chocolate - Cheddar Explains".

[@T0MT0Mmmmy]

I think it's an EU directive to show customers the end-price with all taxes included.

[@trirain146]

@@T0MT0Mmmmy you are right, customer has right to know the final price before purchase otherwise is illegal for end - customer type of stores

[@Archphoenix1]

The reason why your american Pretzels look different is that german ones are dipped in salt lye before they get into the oven, which makes the skin crunchy and the whole thing slightly saltier

[@TangerineCreamsickle]

That's interesting because in america they are dipped in sodium bicarbonate.

[@marcodoe4690]

@@TangerineCreamsickle Idk what he means with salt lye, but it's actually sodium hydroxide. The story I know behind that is that a baker some long time ago dropped pretzels into his cleaning detergent by accidant and decided to still bake and sell them.

[@patrickkeller2193]

@@marcodoe4690 salt lye is just a more traditional name for sodium hydroxide. (as opposed to pot lye for example, which is potassium hydroxide)

[@ald00I]

even if kaufland is fairly "expensive" they probably did not spend 500 euros on that cart of food. i doubt it went over 150 or 200

[@andreasforster3614]

Probably closer to 150 than 200 I would guess.

[@thomasrois7330]

@@andreasforster3614 yea, definitely not more than 150.

[@meisterwu8922]

If Kaufland is expensive what about Famila?

[@ald00I]

@@meisterwu8922 i assume its even more expensive. i dont know, ive never been. kaufland is fairly expensive when compared to like aldi for instance though

[@foodvixxen3292]

I love how he goes from German then english to French lol. He's obviously fond of America and his mother. I like him thanks i always find new people to watch and I love your videos

[@de4dvo1ce]

Sometimes, the building "belongs" to the main store, like Kaufland in this case. All the other "shops", like restaurant, nail shop, bakery are their own shops. It's like a mini mall.

[@mathildewesendonck7225]

4.51 it is Asparagus!! You can buy it only for about two months, between April and June. It’s very very popular in Germany, also quite expensive. We eat it boiled with butter, sauce hollandaise, potatoes and ham. During „Spargel time“ every restaurant has its own creation

[@redshirt49]

You can buy it all year. The really good stuff is what's only available in late spring - early summer.

[@BirteK1975]

I think asparagus is the most digusting thing ever.

[@kratzikatz1]

Schnitzel!!! Not Ham!😉😉🤭🤭🤭

[@kratzikatz1]

@@BirteK1975 no! Couscous is.😉

[@redshirt49]

@@kratzikatz1 Only if it's dry. Couscous is great when it's drenched in a tasty sauce. Probably not the way it's meant to be eaten but yeah, it's pretty gross when it's dry.

[@theodorakelders93]

Loved this reaction. I am dutch, but we go shopping once a month in Germany at Kaufland. Next time I will do it smiling remembering this video.

[@whattheflyingfuck...]

There are two ALDIs in Germany because the family business separated into two: ALDI NORD bought Trader Joe's. ALDI SÜD opened (plain) ALDI in the US.

[@roerd]

Within Aldi Nord stores in Germany, they'e using Trader Joe's as their brand for "American style" products.

[@erraldstyler]

You wanted to say that the 2 brothers had beef...kinda öike Adidas and Puma

[@whattheflyingfuck...]

@@erraldstyler ***ironyON*** of course all four had beef, the Aldi's in the fridges and freezers and both Pumas and Adidas are made from beef hides 🖕 ***ironyOFF***

[@d-docnemesis7925]

Little fun fact about our local supermarket: we have little maps of the super market on the handle of our shopping carts to help finding what you need. It's like a plan of the building and will give you directions like "frozen stuff" or "electronics".

[@ivanamicimici]

I HAVE TO ADD,THAT CART OF GROCERIES WAS PROBABLY NOT MORE THAN 150 EUROS.

[@fraeuleinsommer75]

The incentive is the simple fact that you will need that little plastic thingy again next time you're going grocery shopping. I can tell you, it's really annoying to browse your stuff for a euro coin or the plastic thing before entering the store. Therefore, most germans carry one with them in a certain spot and that way make sure that they're always equipped.

[@kiwisen]

Yeah IT IS so Logic. Why do they dont understand

[@HolgerJakobs]

Recently the coins get more or off fashion. Many carts don't have any, the little chain is just dangling. There is a little item which can relate release a cart and can be pulled out afterwards, unlike a coin.

[@FARBerserker]

also, something most americans do not realize: OVER HERE, OUR CASHIERS SIT WHILE DOING THEIR JOB!

[@RustyITNerd]

Check out Black Forest Family's comparison of US and German grocery stores as well if you are interested in full comparisons. :)

[@autistandcat6804]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpDaiIqHeseKm8k

[@Ekitchi0]

Taxes are included in all displayed prices everywhere in the EU. Most also include the price per weight to make different packaging comparable. The prices without taxes and the taxe rates are detailed on the receipt.

[@summersun6536]

The grocery chain "Kaufland" is usually located in shopping centers or malls, it's a big building where several stores are located as well, like shoe stores, flower stores, travel agencies, drugstores, a pharmacy, hairdresser, takeaways, and least one traditional bakery (except for ALDI there is nearly always a traditional bakery in the same building, if there is a supermarket/discounter). Discounters like ALDI, LIDL, PENNY, NETTO, and so on usually build their grocery stores in separate buildings. Tax is always included in prices in B2C. In B2B prices are net prices, you have to add the VAT. Vests are popular amongst only elderly people. Most times it is actually a jacket with sleeves you can zip off. But they HAVE to be beige. Indeed retired/older people almost only wear beige. There is a saying as soon as you cross a certain age limit your start to become beige yourself. 😀

[@ElaMongrella]

The incentive to get the plastic thingy back is to be able to use it again. I have a metal one, that I always keep in my vest pocket (edit: not the vest mentioned in the video, lol). That way, I'm never caught without a fitting coin (be it fake or real), when shopping. Plus there's also that innate sense of politeness, and you just don't want to be "that guy" who leaves the cart out on the parking lot, and get stared at.

[@crispix120]

I like watching youtube reactions of Americans to things here in Germany and Europe in general. I never realized you didn't have shopping cart areas for plastic tokens or 1-Euro coins to unlock in front of supermarkets. Sometimes they are located inside near the entrance, which is so handy during the cold winter time or rainfall. As far as the incentive is concerned to bring them back... most people actually put real coins inside the unlocking mechanism, so you want your money back again after you finished shopping and packed all your products in your bag or inside the trunk of your car.

[@indrajukame]

1:40 In Latvian supermarkets you usually don't have to put anything to get a shopping cart but most of the people bring it back anyway. I see it as a good gesture of keeping the surroundings nice and clean, even if it's a supermarket. A contribution to the common good.

[@themrnoname2945]

Its becoming more and more common here in Germany aswell to not have to put anything into the cart. But we still bring it back. I've basically never seen an abandoned shopping cart.

[@333Hedgehogs]

Exactly

[@sihilius]

@@themrnoname2945 I've seen one today.......in a river bed. That's not the first time I've seen that. I'd say we should keep the coin requirement for shopping carts. There's to many fools who don't know how to behave.

[@tschichpich]

yes. The plastic chips we want returned to not have to get them again and again and also just because. From time to time I see carts that are just opened and still return them properly. And the main reason to return them is that we are not animals

[@westelaudio943]

Germany is a low trust society though.

[@marcoftheninja6278]

Every price tag in Germany shows exactly what you are paying for that item. Taxes are already included. For beverages, deposits may be added to bottles later at the register, but get these back when returning empties.

[@a5cent]

Trader Joe's is a German company. It is owned by Albrecht Discounts, the same company that owns Aldi in Germany.

[@Nico6th]

Plastic tokens for shopping carts: you need one every time you go shopping. So either get it back when you are done or somehow get and bring a new one every time - or use a 1€ next time and then you will bring the cart back to get your 1€^^ Sometimes you can get the plastic tokens for free as a promo or something, but that's not a daily thing. Otherwise, you can buy them. And they usually are a euro each at least.

[@griffinhatchling]

About the milk sizes, if you open a gallone pack of milk, you have a whole gallone of milk open that's exposed to air and starts to spoil and can get sour. If you have 4x 1liter packs you use 1 and still have 3 liter fresh.

[@JH-lo9ut]

High pasteurized milk lasts a long time, so it makes sence to sell it by the gallon. Low pasteurized milk on the other hand, only lasts for about a week, and it can't sit out of the fridge for too long before going bad. Because of this, it is better to sell it in litre containers. Why even buy low- pasteurized milk if it doesn't last? Because the pasteurization process destroys a lot of the natural nutrients in the milk.

[@etienne8110]

​@@JH-lo9utplus american milk is just more watery than ours... Not the same amount of fat and proteins in it... Not even mentionning the quality of fats and proteins.

[@aw3s0me12]

Toast-Bread is no bread! Toast-Bread does not still hunger by it self! *Bread's* function is to *still hunger* as *mainfood* which _Toast-Bread_ can not fullfill. Invalid as bread. On top, Toast-Bread has no own crust. Crust delivers most of a breads taste, which is why Toast-Bread tastes bland, but a bit sweet. Sweet, bc Toast-Bread root is from *Milchbrot/ Milkbread.* Which is a *yeast pastry.* Toast-Bread is in true form a yeast pastry. No Bread. >> It only can _fake_ to be kind of a bread, by _toasting it,_ to create a fake crust, which *then* adds taste to it. Again, bread is a mainfood like rice, potatoe, nudle,.. *Function is to still hunger as main food, by it self.* ~> Toast-Bread can't be bread therefor with missing function for it. >> Which is why "Toast" needs to be added infront of "bread" bc it is no bread, but "bread-like" in connection of toasting it.

[@HolgerJakobs]

That guy is a German living in the US, but currently visiting Germany. We don't have Trader Joe here, but he knows it from the US. Kaufland has large supermarkets with some smaller shops in the entrance area. It's actually more like a Wal-Mart than an ordinary supermarket, since they sell a lot of non-food items. The owner of Kaufland is the Schwarz group, which also owns the discount supermarket chain LIDL. Shopping at Kaufland always takes some time because the shop is so large and you have to walk a long way to the most needed products. They like you to walk by all the other stuff, because you might see something and buy spontaneously.

[@eosbeneder977]

That actually WAS a mall, you can see at the strt of the video that he's standing outside "Siemes Schuh (Shopping)Center". So, all those little stores (the flower shop, travel agency, hair dresser, bakery and nail salon) actually aren't part of the Kaufland supermarket, they're just between the mall entrance and the store entrance

[@Chrischi3TutorialLPs]

I just wanna say, this is rather atypical for a german supermarket. Usually, supermarkets will just be grocery stores with a section for kitchen material, some toys, and a few other things like fans. Most supermarkets will also have a small section that's rented out to some bakery chain so you can get your Weizenbrötchen there. For a supermarket to have small rooms with travel offices, a printer repair shop, nail studios, hairdressers, etc. is, at least where i live, highly unusual.

[@vurmitza]

It was funny for me to find out that TJ is more a "posh" brand (store chain) in the US while here in Germany, Aldi exclusively sells Trader Joe's products (since they own them since the late 1970s) and their - say - roasted peanuts in a can are the cheapest you can find. They're pretty good though, and I looked it up: All Aldi peanuts sold in Germany are from the US (Georgia, if I recall that correctly).

[@fabianbianchi9159]

Don't worry about when he said "dick". That's just our German word for "fat" (fat like the size, not that stuff in our bodies). Another hard word for English speaking people coming to Germany is "Fahrt", just pronounced like the English "fart" but with another meaning: "drive". Some language students (especially the younger ones) have a difficult time, when they learn some traffic related vocabulary.

[@magnustool]

The shops shown here have nothing to do with Kaufland. It's just a marketing strategy: "All you have to do is shop here. And you'll get everything you need!" The small shops are independent and pay rent to the owner of the building. Kaufland is also only a tenant.

[@doro.scientist.artist]

1:49 we bring the cart back because we are well-behaved and tidy. It looks untidy when these carts are standing around and they can make scratches on cars (german people / men LOVE their cars!!!)!

[@miriamschroer9598]

I guess the price of the items was around 120-170 Euro (for What i have Seen). Far away From 500 bucks. Kaufland (Name of the Store) is a discount grocery with pretty good prices. You can buy food for a family of 4 for a whole week under 100 Euros. Fresh fruits, vegetables and their favourit snacks included. 🙂

[@fusselgurr]

I consider Kaufland as quite pricey, like Edeka :D but you have a wiiide selection of everything which is cool if you need something special. I prefer stores like Netto for weekly grocery shopping / general stuff because I spend less money there👍

[@MariusLapugean]

Yes, in Europe, not only in Germany, the prices on the shelf include all taxes. For all products. In the case of services, things are the same. The agreed price is the final price and includes all taxes.

[@LythaWausW]

I wish pfand was included on the posted price.

[@dayko.]

9:30 yes a euro is worth more but currently not by much. It used to be 1€=$1.2 last year but this year they actually reached parity at one point and right now 1€ is just $1.01-1.03 so bascially 1 to 1.

[@Trauerdurst_TD3D]

when i was younger, like around 25yrs ago, we used to call our shopping carts "1€ grill" b/c you can use the bottom platform to make your fire and the basket above it will hold the meats and other stuff you're grilling :D

[@AHVENAN]

We have the same system for chopping carts in most stores in Finland and the incentive to bring back the cart when using those platic tokens is so that you will have it available to use again the next time, I have one of those on my keychain cause I barely ever have any coins on me so without one of those tokens, I'd not be able to get a cart

[@TheDoctorIWho]

About German beer you are right. When I was in the army we had a field exercise with an US company. We had competetive training and we lost. Massively. After that we had BBQ together and we brought German beer. We learnt, one bottle took the US boys out. (Most effective way to win against the US ;) army.) We tried the field exercise (without guns) again and we Germans won big. Mighty beer!

[@DoNotBlink.]

Regarding the Asian food: I live in Düsseldorf and we have a really big Asian community and a lot of very good an authentic Restaurants. So if you ever travel to Germany stop in Düsseldorf, it‘s a beautiful example of different cultures meeting. Because very close to the japanease part of the town is a big arab&turkish community. So you get a lot of amazing food. I really enjoy you content, it gives a new perspective on the mondaine aspects of daily life, so thank you ❤️

[@gotenks6602]

Nothing beats german bakery. I can't live without it

[@tobiasf991]

5:14 No, we don't actually have “Trader Joe's”, but it is owned by Aldi, which we have.

[@tobiasf991]

0:57 “Kaufland is a brand new supermarket”? Here in Dresden, we have that chain since 1996. Since then, it grew to nine locations in our city, the last one opened in 2018. But Kaufland was not present in parts of Northern and Western Germany until 2021/2022, when it took over 95 “real” stores, like that in Krefeld as shown in the video.

[@NotEmilio]

I'm from the west wtf are you talking about we had Kaufland for years

[@JohnHazelwood58]

Asia food is mostly very authentic in Germany. The restaurants are mostly run by asian people who import their goods directly from asia. So its less a made up look a like style, but real. Well half-true! The restaurants buy their stuff at an asian grocery store in Germany. Those stores import their stuff directly from asia. But I guess it kind of counts. Anyway! As you asked for the bill for the whole purchase ... I am pretty sure it was far less than 100 bucks! ;-)

[@franhunne8929]

Asian restaurants have different kinds of levels - European Asian - or Original Asian. Particularly in Thai you will find the difference in heat. They have medium hot, hot, extra hot - and original Thai hot ... which burns a hole in a German esophagus *just kidding

[@mweskamppp]

@@franhunne8929 I know. I had a Thai neighbor in my students home. Once i started cooking in the community kitchen for the floor when he came in and put some white - green sausage in the pan. As soon as it got warm, my eyes started to tear. So i left and came back 15minutes later. He was sitting at the table, eating his sausage. Sweat on his face, it was dripping from his nose...

[@theresabu3000]

I started to cook Asian foods as a student - in cities you can find little asian food markets that sell you specialities - like glass noodles, soy sauce, sambal olek (chili paste), peanut paste for cooking, bamboo shoots,... There are restaurants that have Chinese, Thai, and Indian food. But you also have the option cook it yourself. We have not that much immigrants from Asia (around 2%, but mostly in big cities) - there are more Turkish immigrants, but weirdly not that much stores for their food.

[@IndianaWalross]

Lol wo bitte bei 12% Inflation? Geh zum Edeka oder was auch immer. Gerademal 1/5tel Wagen gefüllt: 60€ weg.

[@meisterwu8922]

14:57 he didn't describe what they look like, he quoted an ad for a candy called 'Dickmann'. On tv it always said "Mann, sind die Dickmann." which roughly translates into "Man, are those huge-man." So it was just a nice little german reference when we comment on something overly large. Not that common nowadays but i think everyone still knows that slogan. :) Also at 16:32 you say that 'Schönheit' seems like a long word for beauty. While our word for beautiful is just 'schön'. :D

[@IndianaWalross]

"Mann sind DIE dick Mann, super Dickmanns aus der Frischebox" 😂🎉

[@TheAxel65]

5:25 Yes, he's talking about America - he usually lives in Venice, CA but visited his Mom and old friends in Germany for a couple of weeks

[@jensdroessler3575]

We bring the carts back because we're conditioned to do so. Most people put in a Euro, not a plastic chip. And there are several shops where you don't need a chip or a Euro, and people still bring back the cart. It's just... us. Yes, that's a mini mall. Regular super markets usually only have a bakery outlet in addition to the market itself. Yes, when he says Trader Joe's he means the USA. We don't have Trader Joe's here, only its parent company ALDI (which funnily enough has a store brand that's called Trader Joe's). All prices presented to the customer have to prices including taxes. It's the law. I guess HE is the son who lives overseas and is on visit at home in Germany. Yes, we have Heinz. Those magazines are bought by older women (Except Bravo, which I'm suprised to see is still in print). Many of them don't want to take an iPad or something along. A lot of people got jobs at Musk's factory... and quit after a short while They expected to be treated like German workers, but... well, they were treated like Musk treats his workers, no matter what the law says. No, Pinatas are uncommoon here. Ralph's is a west coast thing, maybe even lower west coast only. Never seen "The Big Lebowski"? Further questions?

[@gauklerkonig9783]

I know I am almost a year late for this, but incase anyone is wondering: everything before 4:10 are seperate shops next to the "Kaufland" store. They have nothing to do with the actual reviewed store. you could say this store has a little "front yard mall"

[@combatduckie]

kaufland actually is not a regular "grocery store", it s more like a German Walmart, as you said.Foreigners always mix them up in these videos, e.g. they often call "Aldi" and "Lidl" falsely "super markets", which they arent, Aldi and Lidl are DISCOUNTERS. Regular German supermarkets would be "Rewe" and "Edeka" and "Hit".....

[@carlosdumbratzen6332]

In Germany a Pinata is quite uncommon. Much more often you would have a Schnitzeljagd or Schatzsuche. A treasure hunt. Something that is quite similar to a pinata is Topfschlagen (pot hitting), where you would hide candy under a pot and put on a blindfold. You would hide the pot with the candy in the room, then spin around the kid and give them a big spoon. The kid is supposed to probe for the pot with the spoon and try to find it by feeling around. It is called Topfschlagen, because you would bang on the pot when you found it. Normally the other kids would scream hot or cold depending on if you are going in the right direction or not.

[@schlupauge5883]

15:50 This milk in the refrigerator, is only pasteurization. No additives to make it durable, which should be used up quickly once opened. It spoils quickly

[@shenmomthegamermom1302]

I just love your reactions to our (German) way of living and seeing your thought process during watching those clips. Perfect.

[@TheNerd]

Funnily enough: HARIBO = Hans Riegel Bonn which is the name of the founder + the city the company was founded in.

[@floriangramsch9036]

7:50 Yeah ofc we got Heinz.Heinz kinda Sounds like a German name, doesnt it? Well Heinz only exists because of Germany, it’s kinda a German American Company of you leave out the fact that it’s founder was Born in America 😂. Well Henry John Heinz father was from Germany as well as his mother. They emmigrated to pensilvania and got a few children. Henry John Heinz then founded the Company Heinz in 1869 and Invented the Ketchup in 1876…

[@dirkschwartz1689]

Thanks for your reaction! I would consider this Kaufland (grocery) store huge. The average one would be considerably smaller, but most of them tend to let some space to a local bakery chain. Sometimes you also see a newsagent stand, a tailor's shop, a dry cleaner or a hairdresser. In small towns and villages, though, they can be really tiny. And in order to push your cart around tight corners, you need all four wheels to turn!

[@windi3798]

kaufland and real are more like wallmart where you can get all kinds of stuff not just grocerys. the typical grocery store in germany are much smaller where you can only buy food and daily products

[@hfhxshjc4045]

but kaufland has not a bad Reputation like Walmart

[@S4NSE]

his mom is so cute, hope they have a long happy life

[@Apophis1966]

He is a German who lives in America and is visiting his mother. By the way, Trader Joe is owned by Aldi Nord and AlDI was the Albrecht brothers from Essen Germany divided into Aldi Süd and Nord (south and north)

[@an-an]

BTW: ALDI isn't called ALDI's. And yes - all prices (everwhere and anywhere) on the tags are the price you pay - no extra tax rip off on top.

[@amaril-kb7131]

So funny what he did with the Shoppingcar, I didn’t know that the wheels are frozen in the USA. For a german person as myself it’s such a common thing and for you it’s so special. So funny 😂😂

[@CoronaZombie]

As crispix already explained in detail in the comments, in Germany you wouldn't buy cold pretzels from a discounter or bread in general that is packed and conserved in plastic by a factory and sitting on the shelves for days and weeks at some supermarket or mall. That's for people who cannot afford much or don't have time. Instead you would go to a local bakery and buy some fresh baked stuff, usually during the early morning hours. There are plenty of those at every street corner, each with their own brands. There is a big difference in both prices and quality. In some German bakeries you can even sit down and order a hot coffee with it and have some breakfast, just like in a restaurant or at McDonalds, Burger King or Starbuck's for comparison.

[@FoXXo42]

Today, Heinz Ketchup is the most successful ketchup brand in Europe. Until mid-2014, the ketchup was made in Seesen in the Harz Mountains. Food manufacturers from Düsseldorf are Heinz (sauces), Lea & Perrins (sauces) and HP Barbecue Sauce (barbecue sauce).

[@graymalkin7645]

The incentive with the plastic thingy is easy, if you think about it: You always need a shopping card. You don't always have a Euro on you because it's money and you tend to spend it. You can't spend the plastic token though, so it's always there in case you need a cart. If you leave it, you'll have to get a new one. Of course you could buy hundreds of tokens and just leave them every time but that's just silly.

[@silvertail7131]

The wheels thing surprised me. How do you cope with locked back wheels? If the shop is getting crowded, the ability to shimmy a little to the side to get past someone seems, vital

[@SandySF]

I'd love to send you some of our German sweets and snacks but then I googled how much the shipping costs would be for like 10 lbs and now I'm still in shock 😵‍💫

[@Talkshowhorse_Echna]

I know what you ment. Send a present with some snacks over to a firend in the US and payed about 130€ for shipping only.

[@augustusguap228]

@@Talkshowhorse_Echna holy shit. i'm about to send 2 20lbs packages over there. I'm just gonna surprise myself with whatever that's gonna cost

[@LythaWausW]

If you can keep the packages under 2KG it's only 7,40E. That's a pretty small box though: (

[@SandySF]

@@LythaWausW ohhh really? Oh cool …

[@SandySF]

Then, Ryan, if you‘d like to have some sweets, contact me ;)

[@Cornu341]

With a full cart like that, as long as they did not buy something very small and expensive, the price for all goods should not exceed 250-300 Euros. Usually full carts of store brands would be between 100 and 200 Euros.

[@thesillypig785]

With current prices, I'd say that cart is well over 200 euros.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

Yeah, just posted that. Looks more like 150 euros of grocaries to me.

[@Julian-AJCP]

I totally get his enthusiasm about the Hela ketchup. That stuff is just next level

[@markus.schiefer]

I like how happy he was about the Hela Gewürzketchup. It brings up the memories of so many fun barbecues during my youth. I haven't had it in years since I live abroad.

[@cacklebarnacle15]

The only items where you have to account for a (temporary) hidden cost is drink bottles and cans that you pay a deposit for. You get the money back, when you return the bottles and cans to any store. There is a little icon on the item, like the UNO reverse card arrows, that tells you that this is one of those items. It massively cuts down on littering. And even if you don't care on the up to 25 cents per bottle, someone else, who's in a bad spot, might still like to return it. So the custom is to put deposit items NEXT to trash cans, so people won't be forced to dig through all kinds of rubbish, just to collect enough for an extra meal.

[@stephaniepeters2590]

We take that cart back because the plastic chip costs more than a EURO 🤣 (In fact, I have a very pretty metal keychain one that's a memento of a trip I took 10 years ago. Definitely going back for that) Also, German Asian food is also its own thing and vastly different in taste from American Asian food. I imagine it's what our Asian hosts think Germans think Asian food is like. Whatever it is, I love it!

[@morris3477]

Those ink stores are a huge thing in germany. Since the ink cartrigdes are so expensiv, there are people who specialize in drilling small holes in the cartridges and filling them back up with ink for a small fee. Way cheaper than buying a new one!

[@uguburo-minecraft2668]

In germany they sell much organic food cuz there are many people including me who care about environmental friendly products :) btw 1$ is worth around 1.6€

[@voiceinthechaos]

7:45 Yes, they sell Heinz in Germany, but what Mike is holding up there is ssssso delish.