4 ms·
Local supermarket chains reign supreme here in Iowa. There is nary a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods to be found. The generic brands offered by our local stores u
by CivBase 6y ago
Local supermarket chains reign supreme here in Iowa. There is nary a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods to be found. The generic brands offered by our local stores usually offer a greater variety of fresher food at a lower price compared to name brands.
I also tend to like our supermarkets' generic packaging better. They use quality, color packaging, but the designs are usually understated and no-nonsense. It's like they're trying to say "this is a quality product, but we didn't overspend on flashy marketing and cartoon mascots". Even if it's not true, some of the Good&Gather packaging in the article makes me feel like I could have saved a little more if they didn't spend extra on cartoon animals. But maybe I'm just biased towards the things I grew up with.
- irrational 6y agoI don’t know if I could live somewhere without a Trader Joe’s. Though, I only buy the pound plus chocolate bars and chocolate treats there.
- taurath 6y agoTrader Joe’s makes me irrationally angry about cheese prices at other grocery stores, especially Safeway and Kroger.
- CivBase 6y agoIs Trader Joe's cheese particularly cheap? Sharp Cheddar is about $5/lb here.
- taurath 6y agoCheap cheddar and mozzarella is everywhere here, but Brie, any hard cheese other than cheap Parmesan, meunster, Gouda, goat, chevre, anything smoked, fresh ricotta, glouchester, etc are all half price or less at Trader Joe’s compared to the above companies and the quality is good. To get better quality you must pay 4x at a Whole Foods or specialty store.
- CivBase 6y agoMost of that can be found for $8-15/lb at supermarkets here. I'm not sure how that compares to Trader Joe's since they don't support online shopping.
- CivBase 6y agoWe have a total of two Trader Joe's locations in Iowa. I've gone to one of them a couple times, but I didn't see anything I couldn't get at my local Hy-Vee.
- irrational 6y agoI've never heard of Hy-Vee. I assume that is a Trader Joe's like store where you live?
- JCharante 6y agoI loathe going into Trader Joe's because of the atrocious font on their in house products. Whole Foods doesn't have vegan marshmello unlike Trader Joe's so I still go there occasionally, but I never thought I cared deeply about design until I attended a school right next Trader Joe's. I walked 5x the distance to Whole Foods everytime to spare my eyes.