Reddit Says These ALDI Trash Bags Smell “Like Hollister”—A Teenager Weighs In

According to a recent post on the Reddit subthread r/aldi, the Boulder Fresh Scent Flex Odor trash bags at ALDI might transport you to Hollister. Redditor u/Puzzleheaded_Ad_120 said, “Y’all I always get these trash bags, but this time they smelled like a straight Hollister in 2007.” 

As a teenager born in 2010, I can’t tell you much about what was going on in a Hollister circa 2007. I shop at Hollister presently, and as far as I know, the store hasn’t changed much―excluding some trends in fashion―and I wondered if the same could be said about its iconic smell. 

On a trip to our local mall last week, I decided to test the trash bag theory—does it really smell like Hollister? I know what it’s like to experience the excitement of encountering a familiar smell, especially one that conjures a pleasant memory. Hollister has a good vibe, as most kids my age would say. To the older generations, that vibe is a nostalgic one. I liked the idea of bringing some of those good vibes home in an unexpected way: scented trash bags.

But first, my mom went to ALDI and bought the Boulder Fresh Scent Flex Odor trash bags mentioned in the Reddit post. I smelled the box and was skeptical. I thought they smelled like cleaning products, far from Hollister’s classic citrusy smell.

I continued the experiment and went to Hollister, bringing a few friends with me. They laughed and made faces when I explained the real reason we were going. A garbage bag smell test is not what drives teens to go to Hollister.

We arrived at the Hollister at the mall and furtively took out one of the ALDI trash bags for another sniff. Though I could smell the slight resemblance, I definitely wouldn’t make the Hollister connection without prior knowledge of the Reddit thread. 

My friends said they sort of got it but shared my reservations. Then they looked at the clothes and frowned at the price tags while I wandered through the store, searching for a section that smelled more like the trash bags. 

Nothing struck me as especially similar to them. Maybe it was just a 2000s kid thing? 

Yet, as my friends and I joined up at the checkout area where the store displays the perfumes and colognes, I found that some resembled the fruity undertones of the trash bag. The overall scent of the store was a mix of all the different fragrances in the room. Almost all of the fragrances were fruity or floral, with touches of freshness.

That’s when I realized that the trash bags didn’t smell like a Hollister; they smelled like something that could be in a Hollister. If the trash bags were a little less cleaning product and a bit more flowery, there would be barely any difference from the other scents in the store. 

It’s not just that they could be any old perfume either, it’s that they smell Hollister-specific. These trash bags closely resemble the general vibe of Hollister’s fresh, distinct scents. Shelved between bottles of Laguna Beach and Hibiscus Sorbet, I would give the perfume form of these trash bags a charming name like Daisy Sunrise.

If u/Puzzleheaded_Ad_120 had owned a Hollister cologne or perfume back in 2007 it would be even easier to see where they found such a similarity. So, would you buy Daisy Sunrise? As another Redditor u/Emborgs replied to the thread, “Sold!”