Opinion: We’re Not Fans of Aldi’s Decision to Discontinue Feminine Hygiene Products

EDITOR’S NOTE: Like all posts on Aldi Reviewer, this piece is the opinion of its respective authors. Also like all posts, comments are welcome, although we ask users to be mindful of our Community Guidelines.

Joshua also contributed to this post.

Aldi feminine hygiene products are no more.

That’s the official word we got from Aldi itself, which confirmed to us what we’d been seeing with our own eyes in recent months. In the summer of 2024, we’d noticed that certain period products — tampons, liners, and pads — were in increasingly short supply at all of our local stores. Up to that point, Aldi had regularly sold liners and pads under its Blossom house brand. In addition, the grocer previously sold Tampax tampons, which it had shifted to a couple of years ago in place of Blossom tampons.

By August all of them had had vanished, and little or nothing was appearing in their place, not even a name brand.

When I reached out to Aldi on Facebook, here’s what I got back:

Aldi said: “Looks like they have been discontinued and there are no plans for them to return at the moment. 💔”

Our staff is heartbroken, too. Many of us regularly used Blossom products and liked them, both for their cost and because of how well they worked compared to more expensive national brands.

Writing about the liners back in 2022, I said: “Blossom liners are my go-to liners that I keep in the bathroom closet. They’re comfortable to wear, reasonably absorbent, and are okay about staying in place. They’re also competitively priced.”

While some readers — and even some of my family members — said their liners could sometimes fall apart, that was not my experience.

Likewise, when I talked about Aldi pads in 2021, I said: “In my experience, Aldi pads work as well as their name-brand counterparts, and for a fraction of the cost. In terms of absorbency, leak protection, comfort, and avoiding skin irritation, they’re pretty similar. Many of our readers ask if Aldi pads are unscented, and I don’t see anything on the current packaging to indicate one way or another.”

And on Aldi tampons, also in 2021, I had this to say: “All of the women who use tampons in my household agree that there doesn’t seem to be much difference between the Aldi Blossom tampons and name-brand Tampax tampons. They’re equally easy to use and equally absorbent in our opinion, and you can’t beat the price.”

So why did Aldi do this?

We don’t know, and Aldi — not surprisingly — isn’t saying. It could be a few things.

Possibility 1: It was a simple business decision. Aldi is well-known for being an efficient company, sometimes ruthlessly so. The grocer has repeatedly shown it’s all about keeping things cheap, from its predominantly private label lineup to its widespread deployment of self-checkout. The grocer may have determined that, for one of many reasons, this was the most profitable course for them. Maybe the store wasn’t selling enough (although I find that hard to believe), or making enough of a profit, or couldn’t find a supplier with a favorable enough margin. It’s not entirely alone: Aldi’s distant cousin, Trader Joe’s, also does not sell feminine hygiene products.

Possibility 2: It was an environmental sustainability decision. Aldi has leaned in to environmental sustainability initiatives in recent years. While this isn’t at the top of our guesses, it is certainly possible that the high impact of these products, especially in terms of landfill waste, might have led Aldi to discontinue selling them. If this is the case, we would hope to see Aldi sell reusable/washable pads, period cups, absorbent period underwear, and other more sustainable products in the future, even as limited-time Aldi Finds.

Possibility 3: It was a reaction to concerns over what was in the products. Earlier this summer, a study published in a scientific journal found evidence of toxic metals — including arsenic in lead — in 24 different tampons across 16 different brands. The study did not name which brands it tested, but did note that it found at least some toxins of concern in every tested tampon. (It’s not clear yet to what degree those metals are absorbed into the body.) While the study didn’t include pads or liners, it’s conceivable Aldi decided to get out of the feminine hygiene market entirely over either health concerns or legal ones. Again, we don’t know.

Regardless of the Reason, We’re Not Fans

Our concerns here are multifold.

One, it removes a necessity from the shelves. It’s no small deal to discontinue something that 50% of the population needs. It makes the grocer less of a one-stop-shop for its customers.

Two, it removes a value priced item. Feminine hygiene products cost money, and our writers appreciated having a competitively priced house brand. For people on limited incomes, being able to find affordable period products is a big deal.

Three, it’s especially egregious not to even replace it with a name brand. We can’t say that we’d be thrilled with having pricier Always on the shelves instead of budget-friendly Blossom, but in a pinch our writers would appreciate knowing an option was there.

Four, this represents another blow to an already shaky section of the store. Aldi has not exactly bowled us over with its personal care section. The deodorant selection is mediocre (I’m looking at you, Old Spice). The soap, shampoo, and toothpaste are all equally limited, with inconsistent house brand presence. And don’t get me started on dental floss.

Closing Thoughts:

We have no doubt that Aldi had reasons for discontinuing feminine care products, maybe even good reasons. But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re disappointed. We like the fact that we can get most of the basics in a single Aldi run, but now that’s no longer the case. If we need feminine products, we have to go somewhere else, and we probably have to pay more at that. It doesn’t help that the personal care section at Aldi was weak to begin with.

Aldi’s message to us doesn’t leave us with any promise that maybe something will come back. We can only hope so.