I’ve never seen a TJs with vendors in it – I’m curious, Eve, any idea how this will work? The thing that was always unique about TJs is that they sell their own selection of stuff, often relabeled (there was a black bean dip that was an Austin speciality that got relabeled by TJs that I could then get when I lived in California, as an example), but I’ve shopped in TJs in several states now and have yet to see one where anyone other than TJs is selling stuff in their store.
Do enlighten us, please, because if this is a new business model and TJs will start having fresh produce vendors, it would certainly be a change from their past practice.
There are two things I miss from Trader Joe’s. Back in the 1980s they had these really great lamb sausages that were loaded with cayenne pepper. Some sort of Greek-style sausages, IIRC. Ooh, they were good!
They also had frozen esgargots in the shell. Just bake (or microwave) and eat. They were very, very tasty! I’ve tried the snails they currently sell, the ones with the puff-pasty on top, but they aren’t as good as the snails in the shell.
I’ve just finished the box of Trader Joe’s brand vanilla-flavoured soy milk. I usually get unflavoured soy milk when I buy soy milk, and there’s another brand (whose name I don’t remember) that I usually get. That vanilla stuff is some good drinkage! Very tasty. I have the unflavoured left, and I’m sure I will enjoy it just as much. But the vanilla is on my shopping list from now on.
(Oh, and BTW: I do know how to spell “escargots”.)
TJs used to have a really great frozen marionberry pie, which honestly was better than my own. Wish they’d get them back again.
I’ll pass on the snails, though. I like all kinds of weird stuff, but c’mon now, escargots are really slugs in shells - even with the butter and garlic!
I don’t know how much money TJ’s has, but they’ve got about 160 stores. And the ones I’ve been in are small stores - more like the size of a neighborhood bookstore than a supermarket. (It’s one of the pleasant aspects of the store, IMHO - it isn’t a quarter-mile from one end to the other, like it seems at the Giant or the Safeway.) They don’t exactly overwhelm a neighborhood when they move in.
That’s just plain silly, IMHO. I would expect a TJ’s and a farmers’ market, located next to each other, to both benefit from the proximity. If there were a farmers’ market next to my TJ’s, I’d be shopping there all the time.
Anyway, this morning was my run-errands-in-Annapolis morning, and I had four items on my TJ’s list. I walked out of there with three bags of groceries. A sampler:
Lobster ravioli
vodka marinara
organic marinara (basically a fancy tomato sauce)
pizza dough
mozzarella cheese
sausage
various bags of frozen stir-fry vegetables
OJ
apple cider
peanut butter (all natural, crunchy, unsalty - hi angelabaca!)
‘unburied treasure’ cheesy poofs
snapea crisps
assorted frozen burritos
bags of pre-cooked shrimp
low-fat cilantro salad dressing (yum!)
etc.
Then I got home and made pizzas for lunch, using the pizza dough, the mozzarella, the organic marinara, the sausage, and part of a bag of frozen green, yellow, and red peppers.
Then they got bad advice or don’t know what they are talking about, they are making a huge mistake, and are woefully uninformed about both TJs and their customers. I would thank the goddess if a farmers market opened up near my TJs, and vice-versa.
Anyhoo, I forgot to mention their great apple cider. The good, cloudy stuff. We heat it up and serve it warm at Xmas time, with some cinnamon sticks. Sheer bliss.
I almost bought a gallon jug of that, last time I was there. Then it occured to me that I might not want to ride the motorcycle 43 miles home from work with it on my back. Are the openings wide enough for putting tea bags in? (Nothing like a gallon jug for making sun tea!)
I used to live 15 minutes drive from a TJ’s. My wife and I would always go in and come out with more than we expected. It was a great way to put an end to my wife’s all-day errand ordeals. “Oops, I guess we bought some frozen gyoza, I guess we’ll have to go home to put them in the freezer.”
I ate lots of gyoza from there. Gyoza are, of course, pathetic imitations of real and proper pot stickers, but TJ’s are okay for what they are. I loved steaming them in a frying pan till they’re crispy on the bottom. Mmmm.
My other favorites were the meringues (pure sugar, yum!) and the chocolate-chocolate mochi ice cream. Blueberry Springs is one of my favorite beverages, so much that it was served at my wedding.
And I practically lived on the sausage stromboli. It’s really hard to find foods that are all carbs and meat, without random nasty vegetables thrown in. And they stromboli were really quick to cook in the microwave.
I consider TJ’s a gourmet store. It’s got good prices and selection as such. However, I still went to my local Safeway for all the basics.
Oh I forgot to mention the selection of tofu products, which is very good. I personally don’t like tofu, but one night after dinner at my mom’s house, she served ice cream sandwiches for dessert. They were great, and I hadn’t had one in years!
Imagine my shock when she showed me the box and they were 100% tofu! No ice cream, no chocolate cookie-things, nada.
Wow. Made a believer out of me, at least in the fake ice cream department.
Another TJs fan here. And I totally don’t buy the whole farmer’s market shut-down theory.
For the last five years it has been my habit to get up every Sunday morning and drive down to my local Farmer’s Market and get what I can there, and then go to TJ’s to get everything else. I do buy produce there, but only if the stuff at the farmer’s market is lacking.
TJ’s is really good for good prices on funky prepared foods and booze, but produce is not their strong point, and is where they usually are more expensive than the farmer’s market.
I do most of my shopping between those two venues. I go to Safeway once every other week now, and maybe spend $10 on stuff I can’t get elsewhere.
Happiness in tiny disk form.