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I know I'm in the minority but I mostly don't get Trader Joe's. The food is mostly mediocre at best. I guess you're saved from the "tyranny of choice" by only h

I know I'm in the minority but I mostly don't get Trader Joe's. The food is mostly mediocre at best. I guess you're saved from the "tyranny of choice" by only having one of each item but if you don't like "Joe's spaghetti sauce" there's no other option vs a normal supermarket that will have several brands, one of which might match your tastes more than another. Maybe that old saying that Americans see food as fuel, vs French that see food as pleasure, means that most Americans don't care about taste so whatever they get from TJ's is fine? Further, the fact that, other than wine, the entire store is only "Trader Joe's" brand seems like it's working to put 1000s of small businesses out of business (the 1000s of brands that stock normal markets).

gs17 5y ago
> but if you don't like "Joe's spaghetti sauce" there's no other option vs a normal supermarket that will have several brands, one of which might match your tastes more than another Worse, I really liked one of the "Joe's spaghetti sauce"s, and recently it disappeared without warning, which is really common for items at Trader Joe's. You have to treat anything that isn't exactly something you could buy elsewhere as a limited time offer.
taurath 5y ago
The cheese and prepared food sections (salads, wraps, cooked chicken etc) are both extremely cheap compared to regular grocery stores, and of decent quality. A slice of brie is almost double the price in safeway from TJs. OTOH meat is more expensive (but higher quality). However I don’t know of anyone that only uses Trader Joe’s for groceries, for the same reasons you outlined. The bigger problem is just how sort of homogenized the US grocery system is, and with such vast distances to cover and the expectation to have basically the exact same things on the shelf quality takes a huge dive, and often the prices are not great. Even in areas like California or Washington with very large agricultural footprints “local” means almost nothing in a chain grocery store.
zimzam 5y ago
Trader Joe’s has the same prices nationally, so in NYC they are very cheap. For example, their jarred tomato sauce, which is pretty good quality, is $1.99 - the grocery store closest to me has bad tomato sauce starting at $4.99, the pretty good ones are more like $6.99 to $8.99. While not everything is this good of a deal, this is what makes it worth dealing with their crazy lines and limited selection!

gs17 5y ago

> but if you don't like "Joe's spaghetti sauce" there's no other option vs a normal supermarket that will have several brands, one of which might match your tastes more than another Worse, I really liked one of the "Joe's spaghetti sauce"s, and recently it disappeared without warning, which is really common for items at Trader Joe's. You have to treat anything that isn't exactly something you could buy elsewhere as a limited time offer.

taurath 5y ago

The cheese and prepared food sections (salads, wraps, cooked chicken etc) are both extremely cheap compared to regular grocery stores, and of decent quality. A slice of brie is almost double the price in safeway from TJs. OTOH meat is more expensive (but higher quality). However I don’t know of anyone that only uses Trader Joe’s for groceries, for the same reasons you outlined. The bigger problem is just how sort of homogenized the US grocery system is, and with such vast distances to cover and the expectation to have basically the exact same things on the shelf quality takes a huge dive, and often the prices are not great. Even in areas like California or Washington with very large agricultural footprints “local” means almost nothing in a chain grocery store.

zimzam 5y ago

Trader Joe’s has the same prices nationally, so in NYC they are very cheap. For example, their jarred tomato sauce, which is pretty good quality, is $1.99 - the grocery store closest to me has bad tomato sauce starting at $4.99, the pretty good ones are more like $6.99 to $8.99. While not everything is this good of a deal, this is what makes it worth dealing with their crazy lines and limited selection!