On Glebe - I live in Ballston.
Mmm…I do enjoy their sushi. I really like the variety they have in their produce, too. I’ve never needed anything that I couldn’t find there. Except sliced Ortega canned chilies. I can’t seem to find them anywhere.
Awwww yeah. A wine I can afford to buy by the case! (and I do, too!)
Wait a minute! A wine… a Shiraz, which is usually a GOOD wine… for $2 per bottle? How big are these bottles, like school-lunch size? Pop your little straw in? What’s that you say, FULL-SIZE? And it’s GOOD? For TWO DOLLARS?
Dammit, I wish we had a Trader Joe’s! I think I could finally start my hobby of affordable heavy drinking if I had access to that stuff!
Hmm…it’s $2.99 here. But, yeah, the “Two-Buck Chuck” is an amazingly drinkable wine at that price range. There’s NO reason there shouldn’t be more decent domestic wines for under $5. Throughout Europe – in France, Italy, Spain, Hungary, etc – you could find very good wines at this price. Why there aren’t any but this one in the US, I couldn’t tell you.
Trader Joe’s rocks. I don’t think it’s at all expensive (unlike Whole Foods, which is a rip-off.) Their cheese selection alone is reason enough to shop there. In fact, I would say that most of their products are cheaper than what’s on offer at Jewel or Dominicks (the local supermarkets.)
We have a Whole Foods here in Toronto, but no Trader Joe’s. From what I’ve heard, I would far prefer a TJ’s. Whole Foods makes me feel scruffy and impoverished.
I’ve seen people buy TBC by the box, and yes, they really and truly are full size bottles.
“Two Buck Chuck” is $1.99 in California, $2.99 elsewhere. I’ve had the merlot and the sauvignon.
Yup. I’ve got three or four cases that I brought up from California.
sobtwo buck chucksob
Our local TJ’s is alcohol-free. Just so’s you know.
Anyway, I shop there quite frequently. I don’t think of it as a replacement for a co-op or other such food store. My closest co-op is a 45-minute drive each way. I go there for things like bulk spices. I go to TJ’s for day-old bread (yum), tomatoes, and TJ brand items like frozen vegan pad thai ($1.99!), organic three-cheese pizza (cheaper than non-organic in my regular grocery), natural peanut butter (also amazingly cheap), and Portuguese sweet muffins. Mmmmmm…sweet muffins.
Trader Joe’s might have impressed me more if the one nearest to us wasn’t just down the street from a fairly large Whole Foods Market. Nothing particularly jumped out at me at Trader Joe’s that was not also available at Whole Foods. But one thing did jump out at me that was at Whole Foods but not at Trader Joe’s - good produce. I eat a lot of fruit and veggies (though you wouldn’t think it to look at me), and I have historically been willing to make trips to completely separate stores to get the good stuff. The lack of a passable produce section absolutely killed the Trader Joe’s experience for me.
If there’s some speciality ingredient that I can’t find at Whole Foods or at an ethnic specialty store (e.g. if I need ingredients for Indian dishes), I might check Trader Joe’s out, but there’s nothing there to draw me to it on a regular or even semi-regular basis.
Plus, there’s the whole plastic bag issue. You’d think we asked them to give up babies for us to eat.
Which them is them? Just wondering as I’ve never gotten my goodies in anything but a nice stout paper sack with handles at TJ’s, and nothing but a nice stout (better than the typical offering at the supermarket) plastic back at Whole Food. Guess that pegs WF as upscale, but not necessarily eco-conscious.
I just wish TJ’s was closer to my office so I could go there at lunchtime. 
Hmmm… Now that I think of it, my co-workers haven’t even seen me at all today, so what’s another half hour? 
Trader Joe’s seemed genuinely surprised at our preference for plastic. It’s kind of inefficient to pick up dog poop with paper bags - they don’t fit over your hand nearly as well.
I’m not actually sure which is more eco-conscious - paper or recyclable plastic. I mean, trees die to make paper. And which takes more energy to recycle?
Gosh. I start feeling all high-and-mighty when we get a Banana Republic store, and then a thread like this smacks me upside the head. I live in the BOOOOO-NIIIIEEEES! The nearest Trader Joe’s is 90 miles away and I’ve never even heard of the other stores discussed in this thread. The best we do here is Kroger and darn, weren’t we excited when they started selling sushi.
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flowers–if you get them the day they hit the store they LAST! I had astrolomeria (sp?) which lasted 9 days.
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TJ basic marinara–$1.99 quart here-very tasting without pounds of salt
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frozen dumplings and shu mai–which my kids would live on
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cute cookies–animal gingersnaps, choc dipped everything.
yum
One of my favorite Trader Joe’s snacks:
A slice of sourdough wheat, toasted, spread with sun dried tomato pesto and topped with a slice or two of 55% reduced fat Celtic cheddar. Num num!
Harris Teeter is a grocery chain that ranges from Florida to Viriginia with a couple of locations in Tennessee.
I’ve never seen a Harris Teeter here in Florida (not that I doubt they’re out there somewhere.) I had never even heard of them until passing one in Charleston, South Carolina back in April.
How did I forget to mention the free samples of food and drink? That’s just about my favorite part of shopping there. 
I always get to the sample counter even when I’m not hungry. It’s FREE, after all. 
Cheese on mini-toasts, fruit/cereal combos, St. Louis ribs, cookies, juice, tea…Those are just a few that I’ve had on my last few forays.
I’m so excited - I’ve heard friends RAVE about their TJ’s, and how nice it is, and I’ve never lived near one. However, I discovered one about 45 minutes from here (in Woodmere, Ohio, near Cleveland - I live in Canton), and since my SO and I are both off work tomorrow, we’re going to drive up and try it out - yay! I just hope it doesn’t disappoint me:).
I hope to come home with goodies:).
Ava
avabeth: Be sure to try the Cocoa Almonds!
In my life, I’ve found that reality rarely lives up to the hype. I love Trader Joe’s! I recommend it. As I said, they have wonderful things you can’t get anywhere else. But don’t expect the clouds to part and a heavenly choir to start singing when you walk in. (That only happens with some of us.) One thing I don’t like from TJ’s is their mayonaise. I’ve tried it three times over the years, and I’m still a Best Foods (Hellman’s, back east) kind of guy. They don’t sell Best Foods.
Oh, yeah: I really like their sliced, pre-packaged roast beef.
LilyoftheValley: Samples vary depending on the store. The closest one to me had so-so samples. I never tried the samples at the 2nd-closest or 3rd-closest. (There were three Trader Joe’s within about two miles of where I used to live. The nearest one now is 50 miles away. ) The one at the Orange Mall (in Orange, obviously) tended to have really good samples. You could also get on an e-mail list set up by one of the staff there, who would send out recipes once a month. While my neighbourhood TJ’s had sort of an ad-hoc table set up for samples, the one in Orange had an actual booth. They made some great stuff there, and it prompted me to try some of the products they demonstrated.