I like them both, but since I live very close to a Whole Foods Market that is where I shop mostly. I have noticed that at Whole Foods, I very rarely, if ever, have to wait in line, in other words, checking out is very fast, which is great. On the other hand, at Trader Joe’s the wait can be extensive. In addition, I live in the east, and the Whole Foods here opens at 8:00 A.M., but on a recent trip to the L.A. area I noticed most of the Whole Foods in that area open at 7:00 A.M., which is great. It would be great if they would open earlier on the east coast. Do you folks prefer Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s? Any comments about either store? I like them both, and I go to other grocery stores as well.
I really like them both, but they call it “Whole Paycheck” for a reason.
This. Though WF offers bulk spices, from what I’ve read, TJ’s treats their workers better, so they win. I wouldn’t want to do all of my grocery shopping at either one due to price (WF) and limited selection (TJ).
I like Trader Jo’s. Not only are the lines not too bad here, they treat their workers well enough that everyone is all smiles and happiness EVERY SINGLE DAY. And it doesn’t look like the resigned sort of smiles, they really look happy to help you. And the prices are better. And it’s got cool stuff! V
Here in NYC there’s no real difference between the two in terms of lines. Both have on average, 20+ cashiers plus a line organizer (WF uses a computer monitor to direct the line; TJ uses a person).
TJs has a smaller, and different, selection but where the products overlap, TJ is about 30% cheaper. The owner of WF has some politics I do not agree with (conservative/libertarian) Which is consideration for me but not necessarily for you (and that’s fine). TJ seems to be a better employer overall. In terms of shopping experience I find WF to be quite pretentious, but TJs can somtimes be quite cramped.
TLDR: Advantage TJ.
I prefer TJs, the prices seem a lot better than our WF. My local WF is very cramped, so the lines, while relatively short, seem more inconvenient. The TJs has a wildly friendly and effective staff, shopping there is pain free.
Overall, I’d have to go with TJ’s–I go there at least once a week. There’s a Whole Foods about three blocks away, so I can hit both in the same trip. Whole Foods has much better produce, and a really nice selection of COLD beer.
I shop at both. They have different products (and, of course, TJ’s carries virtually only their own label), and I like them both.
When TJ first came to town, I knew nothing about them or their products, and found this site very helpful.
Trader Joes all the way. Olive oil, jalepeno stuffed olives, potato chips, sliced smoked gouda cheese, peanut butter pretzels, bottled water…all the best in town at the best price.
I live in NY so lines at both are awful, so they’re tied in that respect.
Trader Joes has great prices on some items (cheap energy bars, somewhat drinkable beer, etc.) but they don’t have everything you need to prepare meals from scratch if you make a variety of foods. They offer lots of healthier options but also sell tons of prepared foods with long ingredient lists and way more salt than most people need. Their produce tends to be bad, IMHO.
Whole Foods is generally my choice, because I don’t like to buy many prepared foods. They do have some affordable items, such as a reasonable bulk section and their house brand (which is generally pretty good). Some of their expensive items cost the same anywhere else (craft beers, various macro/vegan/gluten-free/etc etc options). It’s their produce that tends to be a bit insane.
The best solution for me is to get some basics from the “regular” grocery store or TJ’s–stuff like condiments, baking stuff, and so forth. Then, get bulk and more speciality organic/“artisan” items like good bread and health food-y stuff at WF. I think BOTH options are poor for produce (TJ poor quality and WF insane prices), so get a farm share and shop at the farmer’s market for produce if these resources are available to you.
WF treats their workers pretty well, relative to other grocery chains, even if they’re not quite up to TJ’s standards.
I wouldn’t compare WF and TJ’s though- they emphasize very different things- WF is more about organic/natural stuff, with a foodie bent, while TJ’s is more about prepackaged and/or foodie stuff, with an organic bent. There’s a lot of overlap, but ultimately if I wanted organic produce, I’d go to WF, and if I wanted premarinated steak or precut organic bell peppers, I’d go to TJ’s.
All that said, I prefer a local/regional competitor to both (HEB Central Market)- they’re like a WF, except with 200% the foodie stuff, and 25% of the woo and organic nonsense.
Whole Foods. I find their product selection much better. I do not like how many items at TJs are prepackaged. There is a strategy at TJs to not sell products by weight and therefore I know that many of their products were handled and portioned out. I’m not a fan of that. I find that the selection at TJs is not great either, their stores tend to be smaller. I view TJs as an overpriced Safeway with nothing really distinguishing them from any other grocery store.
Whole Foods has practices in place that focus on healthy food. You generally can’t find any product with high fructose corn syrup for example (though I wish they carried my favorite soda). They take steps to inspect all of their suppliers of meat and produce to make sure they conform to certain standards. If you are curious about any product in the store, you can ask an employee and they will let you sample anything. Anything. When I go shopping with the kids, they provide the kids healthy snacks to munch on while I’m going around the store helping keep them occupied.
About the workers and treatment, I find both sets of employees to be on the very high side of customer service so no significant difference there, but I know that the health benefits at Whole Foods are top notch.
I do wish WF was cheaper, and for some staples their prices are competitive. But I also think their products are better so the price is commensurate.
I prefer Trader Joe’s…Whole Foods has more of your basic grocery items, but WAY overpriced. I usually just go to TJ to get some cool stuff and split. They also have great fresh flowers, at a fair price, that don’t die in 2 hours after you buy them - at least at our local TJ’s.
BTW, a student at school works for TJ and said they treat employees like gold! New products are sampled by the employees - and their feedback is often used to decide if they carry the product or not. Also, at the end of the day, tons of food is given to the employees to take home…bread, fruit, meats, cheeses…he rarely, if ever, has to buy any food elsewhere. I had to laugh as I realized he had turned into quite the gourmet in short order, and was praising different foods that I am sure he never even had heard of before he started working there!
I agree that WF emphasizes that they promote healthy food. I just think many of the things they labeled as “unhealthy” have no basis in fact. Like, artificial sweeteners are not permitted in the store, not even at the coffee counter. It’s just silly. Meanwhile they sell bullshit homeopathy remedies. Basically it’s 50/50 legit practices / total woo.
The sort of person who thinks nutrasweet, fluoride, and the measles vaccine are the same as poison, definitely shops at whole foods. I do not necessarily think a grocery store has any obligation to its customers, but WF promotesitself as a store educating customers, when they promote ignorance in some areas, and profit from ignorance in others.
Until quite recently (april 2012) they sold many overfished fish species, which again, people become easily misled due to their marketing. (“well its here so it must be fine”) I know for a fact they sell swordfish, without a warning that women who may become pregnant, nursing mothers, and toung children should not eat swordfish because the entire stock is polluted with mercury per EPA advice on the topic. On their website you can see articles touting their sustainable swordfish program, yet nothing saying large categories of people should not eat this fish.
Since TJs doesn’t put any moral value on their products beyond “it’s yummy” I don’t really have this problem with them.
Wikipedia says the following about Trader Joe’s:
It cites to a letter but has no link. Can anyone supply any more information?
I couldn’t find a single thing with a pretty deep search. The only thing I found was a person on twitter writing the same info. I would imagine if this took place one would easily find a number of sources on the internet. Like when WF CEO made the Fascism remarks..
I don’t particularly care for WF. When I was in NY they were the closest to me walking distance though the prices are just over the top on many things. You can get some great things there but I was never in love with the service or the cult like feeling that we were the healthy bunch. Not when majority of the stuff in there is labeled with propaganda attempting to be healthy.
TJ does treat their workers much better and I prefer the prices over there.
So true about the flowers! They are incredibly cheap. A bouquet that would be $12.00 at the local gourment market or WFM is $4.00 -$6.00 at TJ’s.
In what way does TJs treat their employees better than WF?
My parents get groceries from both.
And on the flip side, Whole Foods have a huge bakery section full of high-calorie muffins, cookies, cakes, etc., and they stock rows of snack chips, crackers, cookies, and candy. Contrary to their cultivated image, they are not a health food store, nor does everything they sell qualify as “healthy.” Hey, y’all, potato chips made from organic potatoes and cold-pressed sunflower oil are still potato chips and still empty calories!