TO LIVE OR DIE IN LA. In the HOT SEAT: ALDI of Lakewood

Ghost town and third world. Who did the demographic study?

My relationship with Aldi began three years back working in Memphis. Ya ever been to Memphis? You ever stay overnight in Memphis? Well, the facts? Memphis makes New Orleans East look like a Girl Scout cookie convention, run by Elvis's impersonators. It's crazy, July 4th is like, "What do we need fireworks for?" Yeah, you read right. Anybody honest, who lives on the edge, and who go where most wont; they know I ain't lyin'. The Aldi in Memphis, even in the worst part, was better than this.

Is this what you are Luling? What you believe about yourself, is who you are. Is this what they believe about us?

I'd intended to go to Walmart, but made a wrong turn and found that it'd be a great chance to try out the new Aldi's. Well... this is how it went.

When I entered the place, I felt like I'd been dropped off at a lonely town in the Dakotas, much less the most affluent Parish in Louisiana.

There were carts in the isles, open boxes, maybe four customers, and not a soul-to-help in site. As I began to look for the items I needed I quickly found they were either not there, or it was up to me to find.

I was shocked! Then I started to get offended, "Is this who they think we are?" Bread was easy, that was right as I went in. Immediately, I got the salvage-store vibes. Items still in their shipping boxes, and the most telling, the boxes of cereal were damaged and open as if it were, indeed, a salvage store.

There was no employees around at first. "We're talkin' ghost town. The damaged goods in their shipping boxes. I felt like I was in a backwoods salvage store." For the first time, I valued the greeter of Walmart.

After I had made the decision to get the bare minimal and escape, I remembered I needed tuna fish. There was literally NO ONE in sight, to ask. I asked a customer, they laughed and said, "Good luck." Not a good sign.

Ghosts, Crickets, and someone named Aldi?

I watched a young woman approach the register to pay for her groceries, the cashier - who was filling the role of freezer attendant - actually started walking toward the cash register. This young lady look right at the customer, and went into the office; maybe to put something away, or wash her hands. Again, shocked. I saw the customer wait over 45 seconds to pay for her groceries. You will say to me, "Shawn, 45 seconds is nothing." If you say that, I see why this grocery store thought that damaged / open products, having no help available to help a customer, and making the only person waiting to check out, wait even longer as if she were standing in line. This is like McDonalds handing you your drink WINTHOUT THE STRAW, while you wait for your meal. OMG don't get me started. All I want is a straw!

No line, no wait, right? Wrong. Nobody to check out... and NOBODY TO CHECK OUT.

In conclusion, I did infract make it to the checkout. And right there, the fuse was lit. Not only did I have to return my cart for a quarter I never had; unless I buy this bag - I'm gonna be luggin' this SH%@t individually in and out of my car - yeah, I'm a little aggravated, but more in a state of unbelief.

Question, is this what their demographic study revealed about you here in St. Charles Parish? It wasn't me. Or, is this what they intended and we must arrange ourselves to fit them?

A person would be hard-pressed to disagree with this fact; at the core of all failed relationships, there's someone who defined one party and got it completely wrong. I mean that one is easy. So, when the one holding the cards miss defines you, there is one truth that stands, no one can know the heart of a man, but that man. And therein lies the success we are looking for. Define your customer, and you'll never lose them. No one has ever tackled business development in St. Charles Parish. It's always been a throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks in good 'ol St. Charles Parish? I'm done living like that.

Anyway...

A few times I felt like I was cheating on Walmart. Only for a second. But then I soon realized, this visit to Aldi(s) pushed me back to Walmart.

When I was informed I'd have to buy a bag, only 'cause I asked... it was then, I made the conscious decision not to buy it. Why? Because I won't be needing it. Oh, you think I'm being too harsh? Okay, to make every body feel a glimmer of hope for the new kid on the block, I'll add a little bit of silver lining to it all.

I felt like I had transported out of Luling and into Stranger Things, and did not feel good about touching some things.

And for the sake of not coming off as smug - or as bombastic as my ex-wife might've convinced some in this town who are about as irrelevant as this Aldi's feels to me right now - in all honestly the only saving grace they have with me is this: on my way out, I'd made a comment to a gentlemen and his wife who were also exiting. I said, "I think whomever did the demographic may have surveyed the wrong area. I don't think they're gonna make it.."

"You don't think so?"

"No," I said, "this is not who we are."

We began to talk. The couple were from Thibodaux and said, on their way into the city, they'd drove out of their way to stop at this Aldi, because, as his wife said, in Cajun like fashion, "dey hav' a special dip I like."

The gentlemen said, that in about five weeks, this Aldi would be packed. So, in the spirit of humility, and a desire to be the best in Brand Development and the best at success and failure predictions, and most importantly we want to be correct here at IN THE HOT SEAT, of whether or not a local business will indeed live or die in LA, we will postpone our judgement from a thumbs down to a let's-wait-and-see. We will ignore Aldi, for at least five more weeks before making our predictions, and that's only because of Thibodaux.

All the indicators that this business will indeed DIE in LA are there. But, and this is a big but, the biggest impression left on me, as I placed each item individually in my car - !@#$% - Aldi the person - care's absolutely nothing about me, the customer.

To survive in a dying world, problem solving is the secret for growth and longevity in business. How we define others is most definitely born out of how we define ourselves. Aldi of Lakewood in Luling, Louisiana, will not survive if it's patrons are not met where they are at. Aldi is not a small company and purchases of this sort are not made unless the company believes it will survive. That is the element that offends me.

They believe we are their customers, and there store is awful.

Shawn Boutwell is lead Branding Specialist, and all-things business consultant and columnist for To Live Or Die In LA at StCharlesParishlife.com // For local business development, strategic growth management, and how we can guarantee your Business Lives and does NOT die, let have a conversation.