Where I live, the TJ’s and the Whole Foods are practically right next to each other. Up until a year ago, I was all about the TJ’s. But then one day I finally decided to check out the Whole Food’s and I decided I liked it better.
Of course, I could go to both. But I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to draw out the shopping experience. It’s tiring going to multiple stores in the same day.
I had a question about what cheeses the local TJ’s stocked. The guy sent me their “cheese expert”.
I asked the question, and god as my witness, the “cheese expert” answered, “I’m not sure, I’m a vegan.”
facepalm
That said, the local TJ’s has some stuff I like, and I go there maybe once a month.
Whole Foods’ produce section is like food porn to me, and I always buy too much.
There’s actually not much I buy at TJ’s. I seem to stop in there fairly regularly, but end up walking out with nothing but some beer or cheap wine. Oh, and sunflower oil. It doesn’t really fit my shopping needs, but it’s a nice store and I can see where it fits for others.
I like them for beer, wine, anything pre-packaged, and cheeses. Their produce is pretty bad, and their meat always smells a bit off for me.
If there wasn’t one really close to my office, I probably would never go. On the plus side, the employees there are really cheerful and their lines move very fast.
For basic items, I think TJ’s prices are pretty competitive. Bread, Pasta, Peanut Butter, Jelly, Sauces, frozen items, Dairy. Whole foods, I find blatantly uncompetitive price wise.
I tend to shop at 3 stores, Costco for large quantities on the cheap, TJs to fill in things I don’t want to buy in large amounts, and Pathmark (yuck) for things TJs doesn’t carry, like Hellmans, Oscar Mayer Bologna and Tetley Tea.
I like them a lot, though I tend to think of them as a novelty shop, usually reserved for situations where I need fancy cheeses or cheap, but good quality cuts of meat. They also have some decent pre-prepped foods and meats that are handy to have around if I’m in the pinch and don’t want to start giving the kids chicken burgers (because giving them chicken burgers makes me feel like a bad parent).
I’m not a fan of their coffee and while I like their produce, there’s not a ton to choose from.
I do pretty much all my food shopping there, except for fresh meats. They are the only grocery store I’ve ever been in where the employees actually seem happy to work there, and everyone is really friendly and helpful. I love their sample counter, I have ended up buying many things I normally wouldn’t have because I tried a sample and it was really good! And they have a great return policy - try something and if you don’t like it, bring it back and get a refund!
Although their produce usually looks nice, I find it suspicious that they charge by the piece and don’t have any scales, so I can’t compare price-per-pound with other stores, which is how all other stores sell their produce.
I love them, and if I hadn’t moved I’d still be shopping there. Cheerful atmosphere, interesting foods, many cheap and delicious items, and lots of selections for a single person who doesn’t want to buy something that feeds eight.
I regularly bought their frozen salmon, ginger cookies, Pad Thai, four-cheese blend, sunflower bread, store-brand chocolate, flatbread pizza, sweet potato fries, Romaine lettuce and flowers, to name a bunch off the top of my head.
If you look closely at the packaging, it usually tells you how much each package weighs. Sometimes you have to do a little math to get the price-per-pound, but it is there.
I live in Manhattan, the Land of Overpriced Everything. I don’t buy much pre-made or packaged food at all, but for regular grocery items, Trader Joe’s is usually priced better than my other options. I find the vegetables to usually be pretty good quality, and things I buy there seem to last a while before going bad. I don’t buy much fruit, so I can’t comment on that. I especially like their bagged salad greens. They have a big selection that is significantly cheaper than the other grocery stores I go to.