We do three markets: TJs, local chain supermarket, and Costco. All are great in their own right and just about covers anything we could possibly need as a family of 4.
I’m pretty sure that TJs and Costco share some of the same distributors and there are some parallels in the products they carry.
And, yes, Costco sometimes has a slight edge over Trader Joes on their pricing of cheese and frozen items, but who wants to but a 4-pound block of cheese when you can get a small 1/2 pound wedge at TJs and how many frozen items can I fit in my freezer?
For things like pasta sauce or pantry items, I don’t mind the larger Costco quantities, but I only have so much room in my freezer and I’ve had too many refrigerated items go bad…
I usually go to TJs at least once a week and Costco maybe once a month or every other month. Other quick items we’ll get at the local Vons (Safeway), Ralphs, or Whole Foods.
If I had to choose only one store to regularly shop at, it would definitely be Trader Joes.
The other thing that makes Trader Joe’s so unique is that they are consistently bringing in new products. (The downside to that, of course, is that some of my favorite products disappear…)
One of the things that I used to love among their seasonings and spices was a cinnamon and sugar grinder that had just the right amounts of both ground together (great on French toast made with the aforementioned brioche bread). They stopped carrying the cinnamon-sugar grinder combo (I think it was supplanted by the everything-but-the-bagel seasoning which everyone loves, so it all evens out in the end…)
I can’t even imagine driving an hour to a store. For anything. Costco is about 20 minutes from me and that’s a planned trip. WF is 5 minutes away and I never go there.
I’m surprised by the people who do not like Trader Joes.
I lived or 33 years in rural Vermont and we did not have TJ. I knew of it from visiting my kid in NYC. For the past five years, I’ve lived in cities and one of the treats is to have Trader Joes very nearby. I only food shop once every 7-10 days and I always go to two stores on that trip, one is Trader Joes and one is a regular large supermarket. I can’t do all my shopping at TJ because they simply don’t carry everything, and particularly in the non-food categories. The Trader Joes I shopped at in Cambridge, MA had wine and beer, but not the TJ near me now, unfortunately, as I do think their wine prices are good.
One thing I like about TJ is that they simply carry items unique to their store (not every item, but certain ones I can only get at TJ).
Unlike others, I have not had a problem with their produce…regular items I have gotten in produce include lettuce, tomatoes, persian cucumbers, haricots vert (thin string beans), broccoli, avocados, onions, potatoes, snap peas, and raspberries, strawberries, watermelon, blueberries.
Usually get their cut flowers which are very reasonably priced.
I’ve become addicted to their black bean and cheese burritos (freshly made) for lunch. Other typical stuff I have gotten there many times include steak, rack of lamb, chicken, ground beef, flank steak, ahi tuna, salmon, frozen shrimp, frozen veggie fried rice, pork potsticker dumplings (gyoza), snacks, raspberry lemonade spritzer, stoned wheat crackers, nuts, cheese spread with jalapeño, cheeses, eggs, fresh curried chicken salad. Those mini chocolate peanut butter cups are deadly.
Both of my daughters and their spouses also shop at TJ.
Happily, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods are within a 7 minute drive east or north, respectively, or both are across the street from each other if I head south. Costco is 20 minutes, no matter which direction I head…
For Asian foodstuffs, you can’t beat 99 Ranch, and we have some pretty great Persian markets in the area (both of which are in the vicinity of Costco (that also has prepared foods and that I use for catering. I often try to to kill a few birds with one stone when I do a Costco run…I haven’t tried H Market that someone mentioned upthread.
Oh, and farmer’s markets –– they’re the best!
A Whole Foods is supposed to open here soon. I personally don’t know if our town can support it. It was suppose to be one of their “365 Stores” - less expensive version of WF - but I don’t know if that’s where they landed. But, while I don’t know if our population can carry a WF, I feel like it could carry a TJ’s - the location where WF will be borders a nicer city “village” and a university. But I don’t know that college students will frequent a WF and spend a lot of $$$.
Our only hope is that a TJ’s will decide to follow so we don’t have to drive nearly an hour to get to one!
For those folks who can’t understand why everyone doesn’t love TJ’s, when you don’t eat processed food with added sugar, additives, coloring, chemicals and preservatives (bread, crackers, cheese, pasta, cakes, cookies, cereal, packaged potstickers, alcohol, etc.) and you feel the fruit and vegetables aren’t high quality, you’ve pretty much eliminated the entire store at TJ’s.
There’s a TJ’s about 5-10 mins from my home. Pass it most days.
WTH @doschicos , are you cray cray?!?!? I’m kidding of course, but I am thinking about unfriending you now?
I adore Trader Joe’s, as does my family. Yes, some products are duds, and I really dislike that many vegetables are packaged in plastic. "
Thanks for reminding me about all the packaging! Another thing not to like. 
I do like the praline pecans, @Lindagaf. One of a handful of products I do like but since they’ll disappear in my house in a few days, I don’t like to buy them often. Too tempting. I just find the stuff I like at TJs falls into the snack camp and I walk out of there with bad for me stuff and nothing for real meals.
"The veggie gyoza are GREAT! "
That’s the product that prompted me starting this thread. They were so mushy. Ugh.
“There’s a WF nearby but I find their Amazon Prime specials misleading - you have to download an app to get the discount. Once i realized that, I have not gone back to WF.”
Or you can sign up online and give the checkout person your phone number. This doesn’t bother me. It is like many loyalty programs.
I do recognize that the TJ employees are polite (but I luckily get that at our local grocery chains Hannaford and Market Basket as well as at Whole Foods - no complaints in our area) and I know the company treats employees well which I appreciate.
“@doschicos, are you tempted to try any of the favorites listed above to expand your trialing of their products??”
Maybe persian cucumbers and nuts. I will go in occasionally for greeting cards. But, I’ve kind of given up on the rest. I’d say that less than 25% of what I’ve bought would be worthy of repeating. I’ve tried the Orange Chicken, for example - one employee told me it was his favorite and I know it is one of their best selling products. I don’t understand why. I wasn’t impressed. That hit ratio is too low for me.
Things we buy at TJs:
Good selection of dried fruits and nuts at excellent prices
Pear and Gorgonzola salad dressing
Spicy Peanut salad dressing
Everything Crackers
Good selection of cheese at excellent prices
French Roast and decaf coffee beans
Heavy cream (the ONLY available outside of a local dairy that has no additives at all)
Butter
2 Buck Chuck
Frozen pork dumplings I cook using the pot sticker method.
Decent low carb whole grain sliced bread
They actually have good quality dog kibble which I have bought in emergency situations
Nice flowers by the stem much cheaper than Whole Foods
ETA A friend of mine regularly buys the red wine marinated pot roast and we’ve cooked it in my instant pot with some stock and herbs and so forth. It’s delicious.
We don’t have CostCo or Market Basket here.
With the exception of fresh (raw) produce, I almost exclusively shop at Trader’s - I don;t eat meat so I can’t speak to it, but I’ve found their salmon to be good quality and good price.
My shop there includes:
Cereal (I like the Kashi and Barbara’s brands) - far less expensive than the traditional supermarket
Raw almonds (organic) - pricing can’t be beat
Zero fat unflavored Greek yogurt - I actually think it’s Fage in Trader’s packaging - price can’t be beat
Ezekiel bread - again the price is unbeatable (and I keep mine in the freezer as I can hardly get through a loaf in a month)
Middle Eastern flatbread
Hummus - all flavors - price cannot be touched by others
Cheeses (love their selection)
Salsa (love the double roasted)
Soups (brick packaging, organic)
Organic tahini
Organic pb
I do buy frozen organic veggies for soup making and other stuff
I’m impressed with your willpower, @doschicos . In my house, especially if the kids are around, the pecan pralines disappear in hours…maybe even minutes, haha. Hubby always complains that he never gets any.
I’m glad we have a TJs nearby because they have a few well-priced items we like—frozen tamales, frozen gyoza, frozen fruit, marinated beef tenderloin roasts, Virgil’s Root Beer. But their selection is quite limited, often not the highest quality, almost never local, and heavy on the processed foods. We do most of our grocery shopping at our local food coop which has much better fresh produce (much of it local and seasonal, mostly organic, without TJs’ excessive packaging which drives me nuts), better quality and better selection of meats (mostly local and organic), better cheeses (local and imported), local organic non-ultrapasteurized milk, local organic eggs, a wide selection of locally roasted Fair Trade organic coffee, excellent selection and quality of bulk foods (beans, nuts, flours, grains), outstanding locally baked breads, and on and on. We’ll occasionally shop at Whole Foods when it’s convenient, but WF’s prices are often higher than our local coop and they have far less local product. We also shop at our local farmer’s market in season for the absolute freshest produce at very reasonable prices.
We make most of our meals from scratch and are fortunate not to be on a tight budget. We tend to spare no expense on ingredients, but I think on balance it’s probably no more expensive to cook from scratch using high-quality ingredients than to eat of lot of processed foods and restaurant take-out—and surely healthier, too.
I LOVE their cheese puffs. Seriously. They have the consistency of styrofoam and are delicious, and I can eat half a bag at a sitting. Also love their Syrah soaked Toscano cheese, frozen garlic naan, frozen raspberry and cream bars, frozen coffee popsicles, frozen chocolate croissants that you bake yourself, frozen brownie/coffee ice cream sandwiches, Ezekiel bread, yogurt… did I mention the cheese puffs???
“They have the consistency of styrofoam and are delicious”
That sounds like an oxymoron. 
I like having Trader Joe’s around for quirky and interesting items. They have a good spirit. But as a national chain, they don’t even try to have local items. Whole Foods is the same, and has a corporate feel with all the Amazon stuff now. Costco tries a little, but not nearly enough.
I appreciate our local grocery chains, the farmer’s markets, and some fabulous single local grocery stores. Those are my favorites - shout out to Dorignac’s and Acquisitapace!
My local Whole Foods does carry some local stuff but it could do better. Agree that TJs doesn’t even try.
“For those folks who can’t understand why everyone doesn’t love TJ’s, when you don’t eat processed food with added sugar, additives, coloring, chemicals and preservatives (bread, crackers, cheese, pasta, cakes, cookies, cereal, packaged potstickers, alcohol, etc.) and you feel the fruit and vegetables aren’t high quality, you’ve pretty much eliminated the entire store at TJ’s.”
I think that’s a little overboard. Not everyone is filling there cart with the Trader Joe Jo-Jo’s and orange chicken. Are you going to make every salsa, sauce, condiment and such from scratch at your home? Good for you if you do, but the majority - high majority - of America is not going to be that extreme. And unless you’re getting your cheese from a dairy farm or just buying American sliced cheese I think their cheese selection is quite good and solid in ingredient composition.
I love this unauthorized commercial for Trader Joe’s from a decade ago. Apologies for the poor video quality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdB7GDZY3Pk
I cook from scratch as well as use convenience foods, because…they’re convenient.
There are things I buy at TJ’s that I’d be lost without:
Cheese
Pita chips
Dips
Combo popcorn
Some crackers
Imported pasta (not the TJ brand, ish)
Fresh ravioli
A couple of their frozen pizzas/flatbreads
Turkey at thanksgiving
Some of their frozen desserts
What we have for frozen food is probably 60% TJs
When I worked, I had one of their salads 4 out of 5 days/week
Etc.
I don’t shop at WF or PCC; my local Thriftway is the best for a lot of the staples, fruit, veg, meat, and fish. H likes Central Market, but I hate dealing with umpteen traffic lights, so only go there if I happen to be driving past or with him. Costco for the big stuff.
I’m spoiled by good choices within a couple of miles of home.
I don’t eat processed foods nor do most of my friends who shop at TJoes. I think the chain grocery stores have a lot more crap food. As for the orange chicken I think it’s a food kids and teenagers like. I think like any store you can find healthy food or junk. It’s up to you. I would be surprised if a lot of the food had a lot of preservations chemicals. Years ago my friend owned a bakery and they were approached by Trader Joe’s about carrying one of their scones. Trader Joe’s was very particular about what ingredients went into the baked good.
I shop mainly at a small chain grocery store. The quality of food is high but it also costs more. I also shop at Costco, grocery outlet and Whole Foods. If you have Amazon prime and check the Whole Foods app each Wednesday you can find some good deals. My Whole Foods also carries a lot of local products and produce. This week I bought blueberries that were from a farm 20 minutes from my house. I also bought hummus that is from a company 90 minutes away. They also carry local salsa, fresh local corn tortillas and has the best price and largest selection of a local ice cream. The blueberries were crisp and full of flavor. I could buy the same berries at the local farmers market but it’s not as convenient.