Trader Joe’s
No membership cards.
No coupons.
No sales.
Ever.
Trader Joe’s
Just about the most
ridiculously expensive store
I’ve ever shopped in.
Ever.
Good heaven’s, I hope you’re not saying it would be better if all stores became like Trader Joe’s.
Too damn far away for regular weekly shopping.
The closest one’s an hour away.
If they’d put one in my town like they’ve been promising for a year now, I’d shop there more often.
E.
Did you really censor ‘good’? If not, then what is ‘god beef tenderloin’?
Why are you, Farmer Jack? What?
I don’t mean to nitpick, but what the heck is going on here? I really haven’t the foggiest. At least I could figure out fsck meant fuck, and that pobe was probably some variant of prole.
What about HEB in Mission? Or the Whole Foods in Austin? Those are both good grocery stores in Texas that I’ve been to. 
I work at a supermarket that’s owned by the same parent company as Farmer Jack. I’ll have to see if there are any pobes around the next time I go. There are a lot of idiots, though. I think I’m going to call them “pobes” from now on. Nobody will understand what I’m saying if I mutter “pobe” under my breath after I get a stupid question. “Anything with BC next to it comes off with Bonus Card…[sub]pobe.[/sub]”
Very interesting. I find Trader Joe’s to be so low-priced, I almost feel like they’re too good to be true. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say Trader Joe’s is expensive, let alone ridiculously expensive. Huh, it’s all about perspective, I guess.
Hm. Maybe it’s just where I live. Trader Joe’s is in Pacific Grove, which tends towards the expensive. I think of it as the Banana Republic or the Pier One Imports of grocery stores. That is, it started out with lots of great deals, became trendy and now it’s all over-priced shit.
balthisar seagulled this thread - dropped his poopies and took a flyer. He did, however, give us pobes and fsck, so I can cut him a teeny bit of slack.
(Now, who is it that’s getting cabbage rolls at the bakery? What the heck kind of cabbage rolls are you eating?)
I don’t mean to speak for the OP, but I think ‘g-d’ means 'goddamn."
I always buy my groceries at Woodman’s.
Their overall prices are significantly lower than Jewel, Dominicks, and even Meijer. (Though, admittedly, Meijer still has the best specials, but I rarely shop there anymore.) Woodman’s doesn’t have a club card, they just have naturally low prices.
How do they do this? They are a privately held company that is largely employee owned. They also don’t accept credit-cards, so they don’t have to make up for the overhead that credit cards add.
On a side note, they also have the best beer selection of any supermarket I’ve been to.
I’ve heard wonderful things about Woodman’s from a number of people - it’s unfortunate because Huntley is way too far for me to go for groceries - I’m around Palatine. There aren’t enough around - hopefully they’ll be expanding.
I concur. Slams against Trader Joe’s are nothing but posturing by someone who wants to be too cool for school.
It all depends on what you’re buying. It’s absolutley the wrong place to buy staples. However, their prices on what would be luxury items at other stores are quite good.
This is what I find. Their cheapest stuff is more expensive than a place like Wallmart’s cheapest stuff (because Trader joe’s just doesn’t carry the cheap crap). On the same items, though, Trader Joe’s has always had the lower price, even when you factor in the other stores’ value cards and coupons and such. And this is their every day price that you need do nothing extra to get.
This thread has been my first experience witnessing the birth of a new Dope-ism, pobe. I’ve already run into the word in a couple of other threads. I’ve read the death-ray and Marianas trench threads, but it’s different being there in real-time. I feel a little more like a member now. Thanks, Balthisar.
And maybe I’ve witnessed another coinage. featherlou, is seagulled your invention? I like it. It’s a bit of a pet peave of mine, particularly in the pit. Rant and disappear seems like bad form to me.
Well, fuck you, too. I love Trader Joe’s food, but around here (Boston) they’re more expensive than the chain grocery stores, Whole Foods excepted. In fact, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are on par with each other. I love to shop there when I want really good food and can spend extra, but there’s no way I could shop there regularly.
I’m confused by the OP as well. My Farmer Jack’s experiences have always been along the lines of “only go in there if you absolutely have to” lines - the stores have been filthy, poorly lit, more expensive than Kroger’s or Wal-Mart (and sometimes, even more expensive than the local “convenience” stores), and very little selection. None of the Premium Extra-Super-Spiffericous items that the OP is talking about.
And the meat was always naaaaasty. I go to a butcher shop for my meat.
Maybe it’s a regional thing, but I was ecstatic when the FJ closest to my house finally closed and was replaced by some other grocery store. Don’t remember what - I moved shortly thereafter.
I’ve already used it with friends. They didn’t even blink. I think it sounds about half-way between ‘plebes’ and ‘proles’ so that its meaning is just obvious. Look for it in the OED in five years.
When did Trader Joe’s expand out of Southern California?
Also, DrDeth is right about it not being the right place for stapes. In fact, it never occurred to me to even look for staples there. Or any other office supplies.
Please allow me to be the first Doper to accost you with the absolutely obligatory Monty Python quote “Go away or I shall taunt you a second time!” Sorry, it had to be done. What I really mean to say is, welcome, stick around, join.