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

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.