Delawareans Who Shop Warehouse Clubs for Savings May Pay More Per Unit Than at ALDI, Checkbook’s November 2025 Survey Found

If you shop a warehouse club, you may assume the biggest package in your cart is the cheapest per ounce.

Checkbook, a consumer group whose Delaware Valley coverage area includes New Castle County, ran the per-unit math.

ALDI’s per-unit prices came in lower.

So, Delawareans who shop warehouse clubs for savings may pay more per unit than at ALDI.

What Checkbook Compared

Checkbook’s researchers shopped area stores with a 150-item list of common items.

Its Delaware Valley ratings cover 27 grocery stores and delivery services.

Across all the stores, they compared prices by unit, such as price per ounce.

ALDI, Lidl and Trader Joe’s mainly sell store brands, so Checkbook built a special survey for those three.

That survey kept the same fresh produce, meats and dairy as the standard one.

Checkbook swapped in the cheapest comparable store brands from conventional supermarkets.

When Checkbook lined up the results, ALDI’s per-unit prices were lower than those at BJ’s, Costco and Sam’s Club.

Checkbook’s coverage area lists New Castle County as the only Delaware county in the Delaware Valley region.

So it isn’t statewide.

Checkbook last updated the survey in November 2025, so prices on your shelf today may differ.

Package Sizes at Clubs

Checkbook’s earlier study priced BJ’s, Costco and Sam’s Club against Walmart, Target and traditional supermarkets, and was last updated in November 2022.

The club sizes it priced were almost always larger than the sizes priced at the other stores.

The clubs sold few if any of the market basket’s items in the usual sizes.

Unit prices let Checkbook calculate what the clubs would charge for the amounts in that basket, though it said the match wasn’t perfect.

Costco’s annual report says many consumable products are offered for sale only in case, carton or multiple-pack quantities.

You buy more at once.

Costco also says it believes its Kirkland Signature products are generally priced lower than national brands.

Brand and Size Choice at ALDI

Checkbook says shoppers at conventional supermarkets such as Acme and ShopRite expect to find their favorite brands in a variety of sizes.

At ALDI, Checkbook says, you’ll find some national names such as Coke, Heinz ketchup and Hellmann’s mayo, but probably in only one size.

Shoppers at stores like ALDI and Lidl don’t expect wide choices of brands or sizes, the survey says, since they’re offered comparable products in exchange for big savings.

Checkbook credits ALDI’s smaller-format stores, which have much lower overhead costs than conventional supermarkets, for part of its low prices.

If you stock up at a club, check the unit price against ALDI’s before you assume the bigger package wins.

ALDI’s Delaware Stores

ALDI had roughly 10 locations across Delaware as of October 2025, according to Delaware Public Media.

The report said ALDI opened a store on Route 202 in North Wilmington the previous December.

It also said each ALDI store averages about 20,000 square feet, roughly half the size of a traditional supermarket.

The report also said ALDI planned a 1.1-million-square-foot distribution center south of New Castle.

About 90 percent of ALDI’s products are private-label brands, Delaware Public Media added.

With so many store brands, you may be comparing ALDI’s labels with a club’s, not matching national brands.

Comparing the Clubs

AARP priced 28 items at a BJ’s, a Costco and a Sam’s Club in Monmouth County, New Jersey, in August 2026.

Its September 2026 write-up put Sam’s Club first, BJ’s second and Costco third.

Checkbook’s 2022 study, by contrast, found BJ’s saved shoppers less than Costco and Sam’s Club did.

They don’t rank BJ’s alike.

AARP’s totals used nonsale prices, without coupons, loyalty discounts or taxes.

The write-up said an exact match was hard to find, since not all clubs sold the same type of rice.

AARP also notes that club apps can offer digital coupons and limited-time deals.

It also said the more time you spend in a club, the more chances you’ll have to buy on impulse.

AARP says to pick the club already on your normal route, since a membership only pays off when the trip is convenient.

Ounce-by-Ounce Math

Unit pricing is a value comparison tool, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

In NIST’s example, a 32-ounce bottle of ketchup selling for $4.99, or $0.16 an ounce, is a better deal than a 14-ounce bottle selling for $3.19, or $0.23 an ounce.

There, the bigger bottle wins.

Unit prices also help with shrinkflation, a practice in which the package content is reduced without changing the price.

In July 2024, NIST re-established a working group to update its unit pricing guide for e-commerce and electronic shelf labels.

Unit prices, NIST adds, let you select the best quantity-price ratio.

To compare a club’s package with an ALDI package, divide each price by its ounces.

State Unit Pricing Laws

Unit pricing laws vary by state, and NIST keeps a state-by-state table of retail pricing laws.

If you shop in Delaware, Delaware’s row has no entry for unit pricing, and Pennsylvania’s lists only a scanner-accuracy rule.

NIST’s model regulation, the Uniform Unit Pricing Regulation, applies only when stores voluntarily provide unit pricing information.

NIST lists Maryland and New Jersey among the jurisdictions where unit pricing is mandatory.