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800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
take your tastes elsewhere and stop your fucking whining.
@1: "It's German style chocolate. You do know it's really a German GmbH pretending to be a US company, right?"
It's not a German-style chocolate, they partner with American companies. You seem to be confused, the Albrechts aren't trying to shoehorn German food onto hapless Americans.
If you skip the wan produce and barely-resistible snacks, you can get a fairly decent deal on some things.
TJ desserts are a signature product but that doesn't mean they're uniformly terrific. The "Caramels Caught in a Blizzard" are better IMO.
Unless that's what you want from a chocolate bar.
@14, you should look again. Whole Foods has expensive food, but their own-brand stuff is better and cheaper than the equivalent products at QFC, Safeway, or TJ. Cans of beans in particular.
I used to go to TJ for grade B syrup - but now you can get that anywhere.
Your statement indicates a lack of familiarity with Trader Joe's.
Trader Joe's operates small, neighborhood markets that sell mostly private label products.
Trader Joe's negotiates a cash price for everything in its store, which is a very unusual model in a nation where most commercial grocery stores pay for the stock in their store with a multiplicity of credit and debt financing.
They appeal to budget-concious consumers who understand that paying more for the same product in name brand packaging isn't a good value.
@17
Much of the private label products in Whole Foods come from the exact same companies as Trader Joe's. In fact, much of the brand labeled products are also manufactured and distributed by the exact same companies as the private label products. The industry is largely consolidated into a few companies.
The difference in products is primarily in the proprietary formulations/recipes and in the quality of raw materials that each company is willing to pay to have procured and manufactured for them...oh, and in the perceptions fostered by the brand beliefs that are reinforced by clever marketing.
Both Whole Foods and Trader Joe's have impressive private label products that are really good values for the informed shopper.
It's not Grocery Outlet or Big Lots, though. Don't they make arrangements for the overrun ahead of time? It's always fresh, never stale or past-its-prime. Especially their non-novelty, more traditional products. Their meat and dairy products are pretty great.
And when I found some sort of industrial grommet from an extruder from their sesame snacks, but I don't hold that against them.
See #22.
Your statement shows an amazing lack of understanding of Trader Joe's.
Trader Joe's sells private label products with their store brand on the product.
A private label product is the same or similar as a name brand product except with a store brand label.
Hershey's chocolate in a Trader Joe's branded container is the identical product. The box of Cheerios in a Trader Joe's box is the exact same product. Exactly the same in every way except the packaging. The only difference is your perception based on beliefs born of clever, manipulative marketing.
You should maybe learn more about TJs. Yes, they do have relationships with brand-name suppliers and then TJs sells those items via their own labels, but they aren't "leftovers" in the traditional sense of the word.
The people who scream "$5 for a can of beans" at local grocers must have only shopped at chains their entire lives. There are no cans of beans for anywhere close to $5, and many less than $1.50, and they're not made in South America by chopping down a rain forest and spraying the remains with chemical poisons.
Walk into Central Co-op and look at the clientele - lots of immigrants who can't handle gross food at American chain stores, healthy people, progressives, queers, etc. It's not rich people blowing money on overpriced crap. Those people go to crappy overpriced chains like Whole Foods, Metropolitan Market or, yes, Trader Joe's.
There is really no legitimate reason to shop at Trader Joe's unless you're making a pro-international corporation political statement, or you value cutesy ads over your money, your health, social justice, and the environment (which seems to be most of Seattle). I guess if you have to have something that is technically a bottle of wine for no more than $4 (their best advertising gimmick) regardless of the social or environmental consequences - fine. But you can actually get a good bottle of wine for $7 next door, unlike at Trader Joe's.
Also, sorry Bethany, it's shameful for a food writer to keep promoting chain store garbage, presumably for free. It's bad for the world, bad for people's health, and gross. At least talk about the ingredients and where they come from -- like, you know, a food writer.
1. We don't all live on Capitol Hill. So, Central Co-op isn't an option for everyone, Reverend Raku (a title to befit the sermon). However, when I did live in CH, my experience was as a member of the coop that Central Co-op's pricing was only lower than others on some sale items and on bulk foods (bins). Everything else was either in line with other grocery stores or was at a higher price. You can argue the "morality" of the coop, but the same international food conglomerates that are behind the labels at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and others are also behind most of the name brand labels on the shelves at the Central Co-op.
2. PCC is closer to me these days. PCC has a broader selection of organic products, and no other coop or grocery store beats their selection of locally sourced produce. However, Trader Joe's pricing on the organic products and produce that they carry is actually lower than a comparable item at PCC or any other grocery store, coop or corporate, with the occasional exception of a sale price at Fred Meyer.
3. My fresh produce comes primarily from local sources, including local coops, farmers markets and the garden. But, quite a bit of the remainder of my grocery list comes from Trader Joe's because the quality and price are a really good value.
4. As a vegetarian, I don't eat meat; so, I've no helpful advice by way of comparison for those who do.
5. As a life-long member of coops, I strongly support them, but not blindly like a religious sycophant or sacrificially like a foolish steward. Central Co-op would close tomorrow if it were to limit the products it sells to only those sourced locally or to those produced by another, socially-responsible coop.
You're a hothouse madam preaching chastity in a whorehouse, Rev Raku. Good luck with that sermon.
I do, and aside from bulk goods, which aren't available at TJs, they aren't cheaper. IF they were, I'd buy from them first.
@34: WF's house brand is okay, but Safeway/Kroger? I can't see how they're better than TJs.
Actually Central Co-op is an eight mile bike ride from the nearest Trader Joe's to me and way the hell out of the way on my commute. I might go to it if there was one in my neighborhood, though the few times I've gone there the produce has fruit flies.
35- I can't find it, but someone on the Seattle Livejournal a few years ago and did an apples-to-apples comparison, with Madison Market the cheapest overall, TJ's second, and QFC/Safeway by far the most expensive. Of course you won't get apples-to-apples with factory farm meat or cheese at Trader Joe's, or maybe with commodity produce. Surprisingly, Madison Market (aka Central Co-op) produce is much cheaper for anything but the mass imported bananas and avocados, even when comparing the co-op's organic local produce vs QFC's garbage chemical produce from across the country.
It would be intetesting to do an updated comparison on The Stranger. I wouldn't trust Bethany to do it because I don't think she can tell the difference between Campbell's soup and local/organic/chemical-free soup. I'd volunteer to do it if The Stranger would post it or link to it.
32- Done! Sorry my sentences barely make sense there, did a quick comment on my phone bc I don't really care about feminist infighting.
When I'm buying non-factory farmed meat/cheeses/produce price is rarely the most important consideration, anyway. I just grab those from the farmer's market.