trader joe's?

Question

what is trader joe's? is it a health food store like whole foods or wild oats, or just a regular grocery store?

hmm interesting. well now i know what to picture when i hear the name. I doubt i'd see one of those anywhere around here anytime soon. in the largest city in maine we already have a whole foods, wild oats, two hannaford's, two shaw's, and another two shaw's and three hannaford's in the boardering towns (at least)

Answer 1

Its somewhere in between a health food store and a regular store. They have there own brand which tends to be all natural and healthy products-- you can find most things from a regular store there too from fresh produce and fish, to marinated meats, to frozen entrees, to hollistic dog and cat food.

Answer 2

Trader Joe's has a lot of products that are produced by name brand companies, but then Trader Joe's puts their name on the label. By not paying for a big company's advertising, sales force, etc, you save money.

They also do have a decent selection of organic and vegetarian foods. Often times at decent prices.

Yes, they still carry brand names, but it's not usually things like Dove Soap or Sunkist. Instead, they'll have Kiss My Face Olive Oil Soap and Hansen's Tangerine Lime Soda.

I prefer Trader Joe's to Wild Oats. The Wild Oats in our area is MUCH closer, but MUCH more expensive.

Answer 3

Kim H describes it best, although it is less of a "health foods" outlet than they just are super political correct (not meaning that negatively) to use natural ingredients without additives, no hormones in their dairy, no tropical oils in their snacks, etc., etc., AND THEY LET YOU KNOW THAT CONSTANTLY.
Most of their packaged foods are private label (what isn't is often particular, like Venezuelan chocolates) and probably would be called specialty or gourmet foods most any place else and positioned to foodies, although not with gourmet prices. Where they are licensed for alcohol they have incredible private label bargains (including the infamous "2 Buck Chuck" and "3 Buck Moe" wines) and otherwise a very careful upscale but reasonably priced selection - and not including ANY major popular priced beers, in favor of their private labels, some local and nationally distributed microbrews, and some imports.

TJ's does no sales. It's promotion is limited to its quarterly brochure ("The Fearless Flyer") and mostly radio (much of that being underwriting of NPR stations).

TJ's recently changed (most stupidly, in our opinion) it's positioning slogan from "A Unique Grocery Store" to "Your Neighborhood Grocery Store." It is certainly not a typical neighborhood store!

At the present time, Trader Joe's has such customer devotion that although a typical TJ's is about 1/6 to 1/10 the size of major chain supermarkets they are jammed with as many customers.

In short, at present what TJ's is is....a phenomenom (in the USA).

TJ's is one of the two USA chains owned by the grocer Albrecht of Germany. A great irony is that Albrechts other USA chain (stores of which are in many other countries although TJs are as yet only in the USA) is the minimalist
goods-on-palettes Aldi.

Last October, "Consumer Reports" (USA edition) rated TJ's tied No 1 (with Wegmans) and Aldi tied No 6 as the USA's best grocery chains.

Answer 4

I went for the first time this past week....it is a nice store....but it isn't like whole foods....it seemed to be more like a grocery store to me...not as many organic products that I would have liked....I really didn't shop thoroughly enough to make a real determination...but it is a lot smaller than whole foods and a lot of there products carry their own trader joe label. I will say this...the items they have that are at Whole foods, are a lot cheaper at Trader Joe. Good luck.

Answer 5

Trader Joe's--- oh how I miss them!!! None here in Hawaii!
Back in the early 70's TJ was a tiny liquor/snacks/convenience store across from MGM in Culver City. Because the "beautiful people" are also health conscious, they started stocking Alta Dena dairy products, "health food" juices, nuts, etc.... but at cheaper prices than the health food stores of the time.
The market just grew and grew. They built a bigger store across from MGM and branch stores in other parts of LA-- They still stock a large assortment of wines and liquors, "natural" snacks and foods, and definitely 'gourmet' items of all types--- and their prices still beat most other places.
Although now even Costco and Safeway are getting into organic food --- and even Chips Ahoy has wholewheat flour! Who knows where this shall lead??? Healthy affordable food for all??? A miracle!

Answer 6

Its a health food store. I think its better than Whole Foods and Wild Oats and I wish there was one where I live now!

Answer 7

It's not a health food store.

It's more like an independent grocery store.

They specialize in fresh veggies, pre-packaged meals, a nice selection of wine and they work to sell items at a reasonable price to their customers. Sort of like an old fashioned corner market.

Answer 8

it's kind of all of those things. It is a grocery store, but much smaller then most. It also has health food in it. It can have really good prices on things and is definitely a place to at least visit if you are trying to eat healthy.
It also has lots of wine and cheese:)

Answer 9

It's a health food store just like the ones you mentioned. Check out their website, www.traderjoes.com.

Answer 10

funny to see this because I just moved from UT to VA and here there are no Wild Oats :-)
my employer says she goes to Trader Joes and we are planning to go. It is like a Wild Oats only not as big
I am excited to go!