I buy half of my groceries from TJs, with other half coming from Costco or Target. I have been very happy with 90% of what I buy from there, and I buy a lot (2-3 times a week). Always reliable products are wine, cheese, milk, nuts, eggs, deli meat, butter, olive oil, chips, produce, ice cream/dessert, and floral. Meat/poultry is hit or miss. Premade salads are great. I am not a fan of their bagels or bread (except fresh tortillas and sourdough), and you have to check dates. No preservatives means limited shelf life. Customer service is always impressive.
It’s like a side chick to your main grocery store. Always good for a party, but it won’t satisfy all your needs.
Like the coffee.
Most of my friends only buy the things they like, aren’t trying to make it a full service store. It’s a dozen miles from me and folks here tend not to drive far for things they can get closer. (When I’m in that area, it’s usually late.) Back in the day, you couldn’t get almond butter or some of the frozen things in your local markets. Now everything is everywhere, at least where I am.
I agree with you, I don’t get it. Dried goods and flowers maybe.
Back when I lived in Pasadena we used TJ’s mostly for cheap wine. We have access to two here in the NYC burbs. I don’t get it. For a while they had great scones (discontinued), a few good curry sauces (but I can get just as good ones in other stores), I get nuts and dried fruit at Fairway. Not impressed with the meats. The vegetables are lousy. There are good cookies, but I don’t buy cookies. Parking is hideous so why bother. (I don’t like Whole Foods either.)
I do a couple of TJ’s runs a year, partly because of what’s on offer, partly because it’s not a convenient location for regular shopping. Things we like:
Nuts - only place I can find the specific combination of dry roasted/low salt cashews DH likes
Sometimes cheeses that can’t be gotten outside of the super expensive place downtown
Brooklyn Babka - kosher parve and super delicious
They used to have a small kosher brisket but our store hasn’t had it for the last year or so
Some frozen stuff including stir fry Asian vegetables and the shells with brie and asparagus that are nice to have
Ours doesn’t offer wine, alas, state regs.
We miss the TJ’s that was just down the street in our old neighborhood. We now drive quite a distance for the two things we buy there — nuts and their particular soy creamer. They used to have a type of English cheddar that we liked, but we don’t eat much cheese anymore.
This probably belongs on the Family Allusions thread but when that TJ’s opened up in our old neighborhood, our son was about four years old. We told him that Trader Joe’s was a place to exchange your children for better behaved ones. If your kid was misbehaving, you could just take him to Trader Joe’s and trade him for another one. I thought it was fun to slow down as we drove past and go, “Hmmmmm…Not today.” Not his favorite store.
Haha, same owner!
I love many things at Trader Joe’s -
1)The frozen chocolate croissants (pain au chocolate), come out looking exactly like the photo on the box, even though they look like naked mole rats inside the packaging.
2)The triangle shaped ravioli that is filled with black truffles and porcini mushrooms. They are excellent and made in Italy.
3)That balsamic glaze!
4)They have many good cheeses - brie with wild mushrooms, toscano cheese with an edge of black pepper, etc.
5)Really excellent nuts and dried fruit.
6)Chocolate covered espresso beans. Comes in a little round tin with a window in the middle. I reuse the tins for small hardware and they’re great with that window.
7)Lots of decadent stuff that I try not to buy too often like Candy Cane Jojos.
8)Ours has wine and liquor too, though I don’t recommend the 2 Buck Chuck, lol.
ETA - my daughter loves their sunflower butter. She’s allergic to tree nuts and peanuts but she remembers peanut butter from before she developed food allergies and just adores that sunflower butter!
I don’t care for Trader Joe’s. One of my kids loves it and when she’s home I’ll sometimes shop there and buy the products she likes. Overall, I find better products at a local green grocer or Whole Foods. I know folks like the cheese at TJ’s, but I think my local cheese shop has a much better selection. Also, the TJ’s parking lot is always crazy. Last year, a TJ’s employee was hit by a car in the parking lot and died.
I live an hour from the closest TJ’s so it’s a treat for me. I stock up on lots of things when I go. One think I haven’t yet seen mentioned is that Trader Joe’s hamburger buns and English muffins are the only brands that don’t have added sugar. Every other brand in every other store (at least that I’ve seen) adds sugar to them. Why??!
I do agree with you. I’ve been twice and found nothing to make me return. To be clear, there is not one convenient to me so this perhaps clouds my judgement.
IIRC, Aldi is owned by different members of the same family…not the same owners.
Blech! Fruit has always been awful.
I don’t know what the exact % of the store’s contents is processed food, but it seems pretty close to about 100% as far as I’m concerned.
I think part of the appeal of TJ’s is that shoppers are not overwhelmed by hundreds (thousands) of choices, like in a large grocery store. The shopping experience is so much easier when you know what’s available and what you like within a limited set of options.
In the past, I’ve only gone around one time per year, around the holidays. Now we have one closer to us so I’ve stopped in more regularly to try out products but, as I mentioned, it has been a disappointment more often than not.
I think some of it is the way I cook/shop. I don’t enjoy shopping so prefer to visit less stores not more. Trader Joe’s has good prices on cheese but other stores have either similar prices (Market Basket) or better selection (Whole Foods). With the exception for frozen, chopped spinach for spanakopita or quiche, I don’t buy frozen veggies. Or really much frozen food at all. Produce wise, the grocers and Whole Foods are much better, IMO. Whole Foods has the best fruit by far and it isn’t that expensive now that they dropped their prices - their mango and pineapple, whole or cut up, is the best we tasted by far absent being in a place where it is grown locally.
I’ll have to give their nuts/dried fruit a try next time I’m needing some. But, I tend to be a one stop shopper for the most part.
“I think part of the appeal of TJ’s is that shoppers are not overwhelmed by hundreds (thousands) of choices, like in a large grocery store.”
I like choices. I like being able to find everything I want/need in one store/one trip. 
I’ve been in TJ a couple times but never impressed. I think it has more to do with the other shopping options available to you in the area as to how enamored you make be.
If this video from UCLA Spring Sing doesn’t show how good Trader Joe’s is then we might have a loss cause on our hands. https://youtu.be/VKWnc3XhvKM
I agree with the statement that TJ’s is a great sidekick to your other grocery favorites. To me a nice shopping blend would be Costco, our local produce/meat store and TJ’s. Not a main squeeze but a side.
That said, reading the list of posts here I’m reminded of how many products I DO like from TJ’s. The closest one to me is about 50 minutes away or at my D’s when I visit them.
To me, while I like a lot of their products (though I don’t go as heavy on the prepared frozen foods as a lot of people rave over) what makes it great is the TJ experience. The small size store. The friendly workers. The fun check out. The samples. I was at one last week looking at the cheeses with my mom (I do think they have some great cheese at good prices) and my mom was curious about one. A store worker overheard us and offered to open a certain cheese mom was interested in right on the spot and let her sample it.
I have to tell you, I would LOVE to work TJ’s as a retirement job. I just love the vibe and that’s important to me in a shopping experience. I love the upbeat vibe.
And FINALLYL, @doschicos , one of the things I love there are their chocolate chunk chips! I think they are milk chocolate???
@10s4life I guess I’m that gal at the end of the video. Just give me the Oreos.
Christmas in our house starts when Trader Joe’s puts out their chocolate covered Peppermint Oreos. I go immediately and buy at least 20 boxes. I hide 10 in my freezer to last all year. Best cookie ever. I like certain things from Trader Joe’s but I like to one stop shop so main grocery shopping is Ralph’s