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Trader Joe's Products (2017–)

Kerry Beal

By Kerry Beal
in Kitchen Consumer

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Ddanno said:

I did warn you in my intro post about stoopid questions.

 

What is Trader Joe's exactly? Searching online just pegs it to any other supermarket, but you folk seem to be pretty enthusiastic about it - hence this entire thread - so there must be something I am (once again) missing. 

 

What's different about it from err.. I dunno, Safeway?( that's still a US supermarket right?)


My 2 cents is that TJ's is more of a niche market rather than a supermarket.  They don’t carry everything one might want in their weekly shopping, though they keep getting closer. They never carried any fresh produce at all (maybe bananas and apples?) until a big grocery union strike here in SoCal (Oct 2003) shut down the chain supermarkets and TJ's picked up the slack. Costco, Target and other retailers also jumped into the fray but TJ's was the most nimble and it was a big turning point for them. Still no name brands. Lots of their own private label stuff. There are similarities to Aldi, though I find them quite different. Most of Aldi's private label stuff is packaged to be almost indistinguishable from the big name brands while TJ's tends to go for more trendy items than copycats though both sell at lower price points than their competitors. 
 

Edited by blue_dolphin (log)
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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted

Service and a stong motivation to have happy and satisfied customers.

 

In no particular order, you can return anyhing at any time, no questions asked.

 

Tangentially, I was at the dairy case one day looking at something and unsure if I wanted it. One of the staff saw me, said that I should go ahead and try it, and if I didnt like it, it would be no problem. I didn't even have to pay for the item first.

 

I was told thatTJ's wants people to try new-to-them items.

 

They have some unique items, things you'll not see anywhere else. And their prices are lower than nearby markets, like Safeway. I can sometimes buy at Costco prices without having to buy Costco quantities.

 

The staff is always happy to help and offer suggestions. I've never encountered a grumpy staff member.

 

TJ's is a pleasant place to shop.

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 ... Shel


 

Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Ddanno said:

I did warn you in my intro post about stoopid questions.

 

What is Trader Joe's exactly? Searching online just pegs it to any other supermarket, but you folk seem to be pretty enthusiastic about it - hence this entire thread - so there must be something I am (once again) missing. 

 

What's different about it from err.. I dunno, Safeway?( that's still a US supermarket right?)

 

Then there's this book.

 

55918690.jpg

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Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged.  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

No amount of belief makes something a fact.  -James Randi, magician and skeptic

blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, Shel_B said:

I was told thatTJ's wants people to try new-to-them items.

Very much so!  You can always purchase just one can or bottle from a six-pack or any multi-pack of drinks (alcoholic or non) and, as you said, return anything without question. 

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted

And let's not forget their tasting kiosks, and the Fearless Flyer newsletter ... informative, funny, and a worthwhile read.

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 ... Shel


 

Ddanno

Ddanno

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thank you all, it makes more sense now. 

 

Is it a nationwide chain? It seems to be mostly around California and the South/South-west from what I can tell (my phone hates their website, I promise I'm not being lazy)

Edited by Ddanno (log)
Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

Posted
Posted

TJ's does have plenty of stuff that's not often found other places and decent prices. And, at least for me, it has six or seven items that I am hooked on, so I keep coming back. I am a coffee ice cream person. I admit that O'Connell's coffee ice cream is very very good. But TJ's is delicious and it literally cost 4 times less. I am pretty much not interested in the rest of the stuff they sell, and my positive record taking recommendations here has run has not been stellar. But I do appreciate very much the ones that have been great. I realize that many agers do not live close to a TJ's. I have no idea how much those six or seven things are worth to me if determined by driving distance. I'm five minutes by car. And 15 minutes from another. And 20 minutes from a third one. The Bay Area is lousy with them. The NYT recently had an article on the TJ's carry all bag. Apparently you can make good money if you take a load of them to the UK and sell them on the street for a ridiculous sum. Aren't there enough promotional cloth bags that you acquire free?

 

Best recommendation recently: that triple cream Delices de Bourgogne. Worst: Kringles, or whatever they are called. Chacon a son gout, as my father would say in an impeccably bad accent. It's almost midnight here in CA. Why am I writing about TJ's for gods sake. Because I'm on what appears to be a fairly strong steroid. 

 

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted (edited)
8 hours ago, Ddanno said:

What's different about it from err.. I dunno, Safeway?( that's still a US supermarket right?)

 

Restrooms!

 

I'm not much of a Safeway shopper, but I've lived in the area for more than fifty years, and during that time I've visited all of the local Safeways and have used their bathrooms several times. There has not been a single time that I can recall that a Safeway bathroom has been clean and pleasant to use.

 

The TJ's rest rooms have always been clean and acceptable to use. There are any nmber of older women who, while not actually shopping in the store, come in to use the bathroom. Sweetie had done that when she was in the area of the store, although she was a TJ's regular, and several of her friends and others that I know have done likewise.

 

Trader Joe's has cleaner and better maintained restrooms than Safeway.

Edited by Shel_B (log)
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 ... Shel


 

Ddanno

Ddanno

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

It's almost midnight here in CA. Why am I writing about TJ's for gods sake. Because I'm on what appears to be a fairly strong steroid. 

 

 

It's appreciated! And I hope the steroid works :)

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