What's the big deal with Trader Joe's?

back when I lived in DC, I used to shop at a Trader Joe's. IMO, I thought the produce was pretty poor, it was never crisp or fresh and always a little tastless. Still, I shopped there because it was right next door and DC traffic would have made any other store a journey. Not sure if it's different anywhere else but I don't go out of my way to go to Trader Joe's NYC.

Well, the Y2K Census shows Portland, Maine to be 91.3% white, so the "white" part is there but looking at salaries, not so much yuppie.

Yeah, the hype with Trader Joe's, in my mind, is unfounded.

The vegetables are prepackaged, which is a deal breaker. Otherwise, all of the other foods are processed or frozen, and their not that good. The lines are always horrendous and the parking has always been difficult around all of the stores I've been to. I guess that's an indication that many, many other people don't share my opinion.

two things: a lot of the time when southern californians praise trader joe's, they're thinking of the original chain, before it was bought. In those days, they didn't have produce and only had a little cheese. but they had a lot of wine and it could be amazing. they were classic bottom-feeders, buying out distressed inventories with cash for a few cents on the dollar. sometimes they were distressesd because of business reasons (mostly cash flow or distributors wanting to clear bin ends) and sometimes it was because of troubled wine (a pallet left on the loading dock for a week). That could be great for us. i can remember buying CASES of jj pruhm wehlener sohnneur auslese for $6 a bottle. it could also be problematic. i remember buying a bottle of burgundy that had clearly been left in the sun. the only problem was the lineup was always changing. my solution was to keep a corkscrew in the car: if i found something i was interested in, i'd buy a bottle and go into the parking lot and taste it. if it was good, i'd go back and buy a case. since the purchase, they keep a steady inventory of discounted but not deeply discounted wines. the other thing is that i think a lot of the problem is expanding before they had the infrastructure set up. i do most of my grocery shopping at TJ and their produce in Southern California is usually pretty good, and sometimes excellent. i've heard repeatedly that this is not so on the east coast and my guess is they haven't quite figured out how to figure the transportation into the equation.

Good place- quirky foods, not as expensive as Whole Foods, not as corporate as standard supermarkets. Definitely a winner.

hardly. It's more a general tree-hugger thing.

I've seen all sorts of shades of people at TJ's.

many, many other people are only aware of recipes that say "start with a can of cream of mushroom soup"

I use my local TJs for certain things. They do have a semi-decent cheese selection and the prices are far better than other local stores. Their produce can have treasures, like fresh, on the stalk Brussels sprouts, or be limp and tasteless stuff. Their frozen goods are often worthwhile for things like a quick appy suddenly being needed or to add to other things, like their frozen meatballs to toss into a wedding soup or dish. Their nuts, house brand olive oil, and some spreads can be good.

We probably go about once a month as we do most of our shopping elsewhere.

Central Market FTW.

Wegman's

how about a "things we buy at TJ" thread? i'll add: almond butter; second the olive oil; almonds, walnuts and dried fruit; king arthur flour; mendocino beer; mccann's oatmeal; bagged arugula and wild arugula when they have it; cooking cheeses; pizza dough; and especially at this time of year: artichokes (they have a deal with Ocean Mist, which grows about 80% of them in California, and you can always get smalls and mediums at great prices).

Olive oil and steel cut oats are not your "type" of food? *sigh*

+1. In Chicago, it's not great for produce and there's no baking supplies to speak of. We don't buy much packaged soups/meals, but we do buy peanut butter, dried fruit, nuts, olive oil, some cheese, kosher chicken (only place in the neighborhood where it's reliably in stock) and a few other things. The primary thing we get there is dairy -- their Greek yogurt is much cheaper than Fage and other brands at regular supermarkets, and their cottage cheese, other yogurts and milk are quite decent for the price. Eggs aren't bad either -- better than supermarket eggs, IMO (although once our CSA starts in a few weeks... farm fresh eggs ).