Fake Aldi shut down after lengthy five-year battle
The no-love-lost war for shopper’s dollars has seen another casualty, as an imitation Aldi in Canada finally announced it would be shutting its doors after a five-year battle.
Mike Hallett, the owner of the store which has developed a cult following for selling Aldi-owned products, finally admitted defeat in his battle with the German retailer.
He said, “It’s been a long time coming. The prospect of going to trial against a major corporation when you’re one guy — you get lots of opinions from lawyers telling you: ‘Run.’”
Hallett’s store, Pirate Joe’s, opened in Vancouver in 2012, and quickly gathered a fan base for selling Aldi-owned products which weren’t available in the region.
Aldi wasn’t happy, but as Hallett told the BBC last year, “This is completely legal. No doubt (Aldi’s efforts to shut me down) is a question of brand control.”
Just a year after Hallett set up shop Aldi called demanding he shut down and while Hallett won some of the preliminary legal battles he eventually found the stress of an $80 billion retail giant breathing down his neck too much to bear.
Hallett told The Guardian, “Business hates uncertainty. When you’re sued by your supplier that’s like weaponised uncertainty. Basically, your supplier hates your guts. Then people would come up to me and thank me for doing it. That was the curse; we had so many people who loved what we do but it was devilishly hard to do.”
While Hallett might have shut up shop, numerous Canadians who channelled their rage towards Aldi on social media including one former shopper who wrote, “Hey Trader Joe’s, aka Aldi. As is customary, after you shut down the competition, you’re supposed to announce you are building stores in every major city in Canada... Hello?!”
What’s your take? Should Hallett have had to shut up shop?