Are you east or west of Indianapolis (or north, south, etc)? I wouldn’t go that far out of my way for a Trader Joe’s, but I would go that far to Jungle Jim’s, which is just north of Cincinnati.
There’s a new thread every quarter on Chowhound where people weigh in on their TJ’s favorites. It’s worth reviewing before you make your expedition.
I’m an hour south of Indy. Very occasionally I get up there for some other reason, but I’m not averse to making a daytrip for a nifty shopping experience. I’m sure I could find some thrift stores to check out while I’m in the area.
A year ago I moved far far away from TJ and would give a lot to be within a two-hour drive. Rumor has it a TJ’s is coming to San Antonio which is a little more than 2 hours round trip but I will be on the road for sure if it happens. Coffee (more delicious and cheaper). Almonds 1/2 the price and fresher. And if you want to treat yourself, Carrot Cake Muffins. Great cheese selection. Amazing cherry jam. Really cheap cereals that are better than supermarket (less sugar). Oh, I have to stop thinking and dreaming…
I do not know if this is an anomaly, but the produce at the Trader Joe’s here is much better and more reasonably priced that the same items at any of our local supermarkets.
We had the frozen lasagne for dinner tonight, and it was very tasty. They have a nice wine selection.
I am a happy customer.
My local Trader Joe’s stores (there are 3 convenient to my house or on my commute) definitely do not do a great job with produce, but neither do some of the local supermarkets. It is possible my standards are unreasonably high after shopping regularly at Whole Foods and Wilson Farms. 
I’m a huge fan, and I used to to go Minneapolis to hit TJs every 6 months or so. That’s 2+ hours away. Now, I’d always make a trip of it – it wasn’t just for that one purpose – but until we got a TJs in town, more or less all of my weekend trips were to cities that happened to have one. Not a coincidence.
Lest you think me crazy, I had several buddies in on this and we’d solicit lists from each other. Between my purchases, my friends’, and my family’s, I routinely would fill 2-3 carts full of stuff and spend hundreds of dollars. I was filling my car. One cart or more was usually wine. This was nearly all shelf-stable stuff, too – a ton of sauces, their almond butter, cereals and bread, snackies, chocolate, nuts, dried fruits, jams, baked goods… very few weren’t good. Most were awesome. I came back one time with 1 jar of pumpkin butter, shared it around – the next time I bought them out. Most people I tried things with also made it a habit to stop in when they’d be in Minneapolis or Chicago or what have you.
Now that it’s here, I shop there a lot. I don’t do all my grocery shopping there, but they get most of my food shopping dollar. Less wine and chocolate, more produce and frozen food – but in general I find the quality and value to be quite excellent. I like the produce a lot; I couldn’t often get things like arugula or fennel routinely, and when I could, it was expensive. $4 for a single bulb of fennel was the only price I could get; now I can get two bulbs for something like $2.50. Their prices on fresh herbs and nice cheese make me happy, too. I can honestly say it’s been a powerful positive force in my quality of life because I can afford to eat a different caliber of food.
The biggest frustration was never that they had bad things but that they do discontinue things rather frequently. They also have a lot of seasonal items. This makes it hard to shop based on a list, so after awhile, we sort of made mutual pacts to allow the person to buy replacement items of their choice based on each others’ tastes. In general I there were only a few things I just plain disliked – one of the ready-made sushi things (admittedly, I’ve never had one of these that was good), perhaps a random sauce or two. In general though, I loves me some Trader Joe’s.
My experience is the opposite; TJ had better produce for a lot less money than Whole foods. Wilson I don’t know.
Less money for sure! 
Sounds like there must be a good deal of variation in both WF and TJ produce management.
You know I love TJ’s.
But I tried their potato salad, and I’m not going to get it again. Roomie tried it before I did, and she spit it out.
OTOH, I’ve been happy with virtually everything else. Their avocados seem to be better than what you get at the supermarket, and the snacks are great.
Since my ‘local’ TJ’s is about 35 minutes away, and before parenthood I used to make that trip about every other weekend, I’d say it’s definitely worth a 2-hour round trip even if you’re not doing anything else.
It’s like Whole Foods at Food Lion prices.
Bring along a large cooler with blue ice. Especially if you’ve got a decent-sized freezer at home.
My TJ’s staples:
- The natural peanut butter. Not sure I could live without this stuff anymore.
- Coffee. My favorite is the breakfast blend, but there are lots of choices!
- The frozen cheese tamales. They’ve become my official comfort food.
- The frozen chile lime chickenburgers. Thaw, grill, serve on a toasted bun with lettuce, tomato, and guacamole. Yummm!
- My favorite goodie there is the chocolate raspberry sticks.
- Their frozen fish, of various kinds, is almost always quite good.
After that, it’s whatever looks good and captures my fancy on any given day. You’ll feel like a kid in a candy store, trust me.
Not an anomaly, the fresh produce is the main reason I shop there. MUCH better than your standard supermarket chain produce.
The only thing that really aggravates me about TJs is that a substantial percentage of their fresh produce is pre-packaged and you can’t buy it any other way. I live alone and cook for one person. I can’t buy one or two roma tomatoes, I have to buy six… in a plastic clamshell. I don’t need six, and if I even get through all of them fast enough, the last ones will have seen better days. Add to that the wasteful packaging. Why do I need a plastic clamshell with my tomatoes?
Aside from that, they’ve become my regular grocery store now, and I rarely visit the Dominick’s and Jewels anymore. I love that their cheese is labeled so you know if the rennet is animal, vegetable, or microbial. Their flour is dirt cheap – 3 bucks for 5 pounds. Good pasta and sauces. I have gravitated away from pre-packaged foods, but as I recall most of them are made without preservatives and other weird chemicals.
I actually don’t like their peanut butter, though. Way too salty, and the consistency too liquid. I get natural peanut butter from Whole Foods (practically the only thing I get there, anymore).
They do have some very weird gaps in what they stock. No lemon juice, even though they have every other kind of fruit juice under the sun. I recently discovered that baking powder is a “seasonal” item. Say what?
Not worth an hour’s drive. Olive oil is good and cheap, but nothing special, if you have an “ethnic” small market near you. Cheeses are good and cheap, but ditto to above caveat. I guess their frozen things are OK, from what I hear. I got some frozen leeks that were unusual to me – never seen that before – and that was kind of neat, I guess. Their bread can be OK, but not worth the shlep, IMO.
I go there pretty often if I get a ride to the burbs with my nephew and sister, just to tag along.
their wine is good too. The two buck chuck (now $2.99) isn’t really worth it IMHO. That said, I never really felt ripped off with their wine. I mean a $8 bottle at TJ is a good $8 bottle, whereas at Safeway it’s really hit and miss. Ditto with a $13 bottle or a $20 bottle.
We moved from China into temporary housing in Redmond WA. I hadn’t slept the entire trip, 3 excited/happy/unhappy bambinas, and exhausted wife, and the last mile before reaching our temporary housing was a TJ. Oh happy day…
Agree the “three buck chuck” ain’t all that – for a bit more, you could get a fifth of Night Train, after all. Anyway, whatever kind is white seemed drinkable to me – and the red the same. Just table wine, is what I’d say.
Your comments re their other offerings are duly noted – I only spend 12.00 USD for 5L, though, so clearly I’m not a wine “guy.”
Trader Joe’s is at last moving into Texas. [URL=“http://www.chron.com/business/article/Trader-Joe-s-wants-store-in-historic-Alabama-2178759.php”] In Houston, they’re looking at the old Alabama Theater location; upgraded by The Bookstop & abandoned by Barnes & Noble, the old building go through some changes. But we’re hoping that enough of the old stuff will stay–& it’s in a good cause.
This location will not be a long trip for me. But, from my memory of TJ’s in LA, I’d think a trip might be worthwhile for somebody who can make an excursion of it & maybe visit a couple of other shops & get a bite to eat. (Never shop hungry!)
Maybe not your preferred side of town coming from Bloomington, but the Castleton (NE side) TJ’s is in the same strip mall as a Penzey’s Spice store and a 5 Guy’s Burgers. Kill three birds with one stone.
The OP should check out some of our old threads on Trader Joe
Ah, yes. Good ol’ Red Oval lager. Not any better than a Bud or Coors, but the price is right!
