ALDI Presents New Grocery Option for Community

Continued from page 1

Route 58] down to ALDI. That doesn’t get one to Walmart or any of the other businesses,” Baumann said. “Not all of the project area is in the City limits. Some of it’s in New Russia Township, and some of it’s in Pittsfield Township. So there are jurisdictional issues to address. There are also potentially drainage issues to address and the relationship of any kind of sidewalk or path to the existing utilities. … We don’t want to build something that’s right next to the road because the road might need to expand. And generally speaking, pedestrians and cyclists don’t feel as safe if they’re walking right by the road. So there are a lot of administrative, procedural, and technical issues to consider.”

While Haar feels positive about the new development, some residents are worried about its potential impacts on local businesses and traffic. In 2021, City resident Mark Chesler and Oberlin Citizens for Responsible Development filed suit against the City of Oberlin in the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas over the risk of increased traffic on State Route 58. The case is ongoing as of now, and there have been no updates since Aug. 22, 2022.

Walmart and IGA have served the Oberlin community for years, but with a third option to consider, the Review decided to conduct a price comparison between the three grocers. We selected several household goods including fruits, vegetables, meat, grains, and dairy products, and compared prices by the pound or per unit using the cheapest or store-brand products from each vendor. By building a mock shopping cart of one pound or unit of every item, we found ALDI is overall the cheapest of the three at $40.85, followed by Walmart at $44.90, then IGA at $55.84.

An important consideration is that several ALDI fruits and vegetables were only available in pre-packaged bags of two or more pounds, and were adjusted for a per-pound cost in this calculation, whereas Walmart and IGA generally had more items for sale by the pound. ALDI and IGA offer more variety in dairy-alternative products and organic goods, while Walmart has the largest selection of third-party brands.

Fig.1 represents the items and costs used in this calculation. Residents looking for locallyowned and -operated businesses can also purchase produce from the Oberlin Food Hub and City Fresh in addition to local farms.

Building the ALDI was phase one of the Oberlin Crossing shopping center development and Carnegie Management and Development hopes to commence phase two in 2024. With regard to the next phase, Carnegie Vice President Rustom R. Khouri III explained that the company is considering a variety of uses for the remainder of the site to accommodate several economic developments that have occurred over the last couple of years. Still, he is looking forward to potentially opening a bank branch or quick-service restaurant and moving forward with the plan to create more retail space.

Khouri also spoke about the

1 firm’s hopes and ideologies in developing the property. He explained that Carnegie has a decades-long commitment to the properties they develop, and believes they have a responsibility to create an environmentallyconscious space that serves the long-term needs of the Oberlin community. He further explained that the company employs inhouse individuals dedicated to the management and upkeep of the property.

Oberlin residents can expect more information on the Oberlin Crossing shopping center in the coming months.

February 3, 2023

Volume 152, Number 12 (ISSN 297–256)

Editors-in-Chief

Kushagra Kar

Emma Benardete

Managing Editor

Nikki Keating

News Editors

Alexa Stevens

Cal Ransom

Opinions Editors

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Hanna Alwine

Arts & Culture Editors

Dlisah Lapidus

Juliana Gaspar

Sports Editors

John Elrod

Kayla Kim

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Delaney Fox

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Celia Perks

Gracie McFalls

Maeve Woltring

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Will Young

Correction: The Oberlin Review published an article titled “Title IX Legislation Has Protected Student Access to Education for 50 Years” in its issue on, Dec. 9, 2022 (Vol. 152 No. 11). The article included a quote from a document published by the Athletics Department implying that before 1972, the practice times for the Oberlin women’s basketball team were cut short; this was not the case. The Review regrets this error.

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