Aldi is set to begin opening the first of its 13 Orlando-area no-frills stores this month, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The format -- which has shoppers bagging their own purchases and carts requiring a 25-cent deposit that you get back when the cart is returned -- allows the company to offer prices lower than rival discounters and up to 50 percent less than traditional supermarkets.

"It is all about saving money for our customers," said David Behm, vice president of Aldi Inc., during a tour Monday of a store on West Colonial Drive in Orlando.

Aldi aims to win over price-sensitive customers pinched by high gas costs and worried about an unsteady economy. The grocer, founded in Germany with 900 U.S. locations, will compete with the likes of limited-assortment discount grocer Save-A-Lot and supercenters such as Wal-Mart.

Other cost-saving methods at Aldi include selling a limited selection of primarily private-label brands while operating stores about the fourth of the size of a traditional grocery store with small staffs of 10 to 12 employees.

Behm said fewer workers are needed because stores don't have a full-service deli or bakery (sliced meats and bread are packaged off-site). They also don't have to retrieve carts since customers bring them back. Checkout lines move quickly, he said, because items are covered with bar codes and can be quickly scanned by cashiers.

Aldi's move into Central Florida comes at a time when the grocery business is undergoing big changes.

Publix Super Markets, the region's largest grocery chain, recently bought seven Albertsons stores in Central Florida as part of a $500 million purchase of 49 Albertsons across the state. Lakeland-based Publix plans to open a store in downtown Orlando on Saturday, the first big grocery chain to operate downtown in more than 25 years.

Albertsons, which closed the stores sold to Publix on Saturday, now has 16 locations here. Winn-Dixie Stores has been upgrading its stores, and expanding its private-label lines and fresh produce offerings.

Mark Hamstra, retail editor for Supermarket News, said traditional grocers have expanded and marketed private-label brands, which tend to cost less, as a way to keep their cost-conscious customers.

"There has [been] a lot of price competition out there, and with Aldi, there will be more," Hamstra said.

"It has been tough for supermarkets to communicate to customers that their prices are [attractive] because the supermarkets themselves are facing so many price pressures," Hamstra said. "They have no choice but to pass it on to the consumer eventually . . . because their profit margins are so slim." Targeting higher-end shoppers and people willing to pay more for gourmet and organic offerings is another competitive strategy, Hamstra said.

Along those lines, Publix plans to convert an Albertsons at 7524 Dr. Phillips Blvd. in Orlando into a GreenWise Market store, which will sell the company's organic, natural and eco-friendly products. That location is a short distance from a 52,000-square-foot gourmet Whole Foods store that opened in June on Sand Lake Road.

Publix said it will also convert a store at 741 S. Orlando Ave. in Winter Park into a GreenWise Market. It will be within a short drive from Whole Foods' original Orlando-area location -- on Aloma Avenue in Winter Park.

As organic and natural foods become more popular, Publix has expanded its selection of GreenWise products in certain existing stores. The company operates two GreenWise stores in South Florida with a third planned to open in Tampa.

"Organic makes up a very small percentage of the overall grocery market, but it is growing quickly," Hamstra said.