<p>I guess that’s the thing that I dislike the most: they keep discontinuing items I really like. Or it’s out of stock. My son loved their Black Pepper sauce - no longer found. Or Thai Peanut Sauce. He also likes their Spicy Chai Tea mix. That may not be discontinued, but looks like it’s only a seasonal item. I can’t remember all the others.</p>
<p>TJ has a long way to go to get their Kurig coffee cups right - just one variety. And too their K-cups have this unnecessary outer foil wrap - not exactly the greenest packaging…</p>
<p>Interesting thread. I do buy a lot at Trader Joe’s but very specific items. In our area they have the cheapest milk and eggs so I always buy those there. I buy their orange juice unless Florida’s Natural is on sale in the supermarket. I no longer like the design of the Tropicana so don’t usually buy. When I buy ruby red grapefruit juice, I buy at TJ’s. I use no prepared foods or frozen foods other than their frozen peas or frozen stringbeans. I do buy cheese there, I buy their mini-shredded wheat, demi baguette, also their small hand lotion that I keep in my desk at work, the raspberry sorbet, unsalted roasted almonds, unsalted cashews, dried apricots, dried cranberries, mini whole wheat pita, hummus, yogurt, sometimes their blended juice, whole wheat english muffins, coffee filters and coffee beans. On Long Island they have seasonal fresh produce like zucchini and I buy in season. They have better selection of red and green peppers than the supermarket, sometimes I will also buy lemons or melon, depends on how they look or how they look in supermarket, same with blueberries and strawberries. My favorite place for produce would be Fairway but not really close enough when I just need a few things, same with coffee beans as I no longer buy ground coffee. Sometimes I buy TJ’s herbal teas, sometimes I buy in the supermarket. In NY neither TJ or Costco can sell wine…although TJ does carry interesting beers.They used to have a root beer that I liked but they no longer carry and I no longer drink any soda. They used to have unsalted blue corn tortilla chips but no longer carry. I do buy their canned mandarin oranges and unsalted organic diced tomatoes. I do like the dark or milk chocolate bars with hazelnuts and maybe once I year I buy their frozen chocolate gateau. They also used to have a nice frozen apple strudel that was good to have for emergency dessert!</p>
<p>I’m wondering if satisfaction with some of the perishable items (e.g. produce, bread, fish) depends on your location. I’m in California, and the only spoilage/quality problem we find is with cheese (which we still get because it’s cheaper at TJs). At the TJs in my area, they’re really good about taking things back if there’s a freshness issue, or if you end up not liking something. For that matter, I’ve had store staff open packages so I could taste something before buying, especially if it was a new item. That doesn’t work well with things like frozen pizza (hee), obviously. </p>
<p>I like most of the products at TJs that I’ve tried. The exception was the frozen shrimp which was tasteless and had a strange consistency. </p>
<p>But their coffee, eggs, orange juice are very good. I also love the premade salads.</p>
<p>I live in California, and I haven’t found that any fresh items (fish, meat, vegetables) are satisfactory at Trader Joes.</p>
<p>Can’t speak to the meat (we keep kosher) but otherwise it appears that the Cardinal and I have a difference of taste buds. And now the Cardinal will never accept a dinner invite. ;-)</p>
<p>Forgot to mention that in our area they usually have nice cut flowers. I always look forward to tulips! We do also buy the organic chicken drumsticks in summer also with their sun-dried tomato chicken sausage, they are also great for grilling. Their Israeli couscous is good as is their papperdelle pasta and their unsalted chicken or vegetable broth. I also like the brand that I can get in Fairway or whenever I am around to shop at Whole Foods.
Now for a real shopping experience… there is the Park Slope Food Co-op which is another story entirely!!</p>
<p>I accept that I am the only person alive who does not appreciate Trader Joe’s. I bought some things there for a book club meeting and …shurg…no better than anywhere else I could hav shopped. JMO.</p>
<p>We just got a Trader Joe’s about 3 months ago, so I’m still trying stuff. I didn’t much care for the salsa, as others have said. Chips are OK but i prefer others. We are getting a Costco later this year so I will get theirs to compare. </p>
<p>I </p>
<p>The flowers are pretty. I will guve them that. </p>
<p>LOL I hate their flowers and a very good friend always brings me some when here for dinner. They have one half the life of any other flower purchase in the area. They live 2 days at most and I figgin dislike them! They shed immediately. </p>
<p>I agree about the eggs and milk being lower priced than what I find at local markets. I like a lot of their products. The category I won’t buy is any fresh bakery item. I don’t know where they make them but nothing I have tried has been good, IMHO. I do a combination of scratch and convenience food cooking. I love their General Tso cooking sauce and their marinara sauce. I don’t have the urge or the time to make every single thing from scratch but that doesn’t mean my family is eating junk food either.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>TJ has a wine store in Union Square. </p>
<p>I agree with limabeans - every time I find something I love at TJs, it disappears after a few months. And when there are 3 or 4 flavors of an item, and I like one of the flavors, it is almost guaranteed that’s the flavor that will not be sold after a few months. </p>
<p>SansSerif: That would be my #1 gripe about TJs. Items once found never to be found again. It happens occasionally on items I thought were staples at TJ’s. I’m not fond of some of their TJs branded beer. It’s cheaper than many microbrews but typically is not true to style and rather nondescript. The exception is their Trader Jose. The TJ version of Corona. I find that a bargain variety Corona. I avoid their IPA and Stouts.</p>
<p>Oregon, I never buy the flowers, mind you. I see them when I arrive in the store and they look pretty. That is too bad that they do not last! </p>
<p>I haven’t been in TJ’s in Union Square but not likely to do much grocery shopping in Manhattan. I wonder how they get around NY’s pretty stringent requirements. We usually buy wine in local wine shops but sometimes if we are ever in Suffolk County we do go to Stew Leonard’s Wine Shop.
COSTCO near me also has nice cut flowers but I would never go to Costco and wait on line just for one item and for whatever reason our COSTCO or maybe all of them don’t have any express check-out. DH does most of the COSTCO shopping usually every month or so when we have enough items on our list that are needed.</p>
<p>I have never shopped at Trader Joe’s much but I bought our turkey there this year. it was fine (I wanted a fresh turkey but I don’t like the Whole Foods brine, and Hinck’s Turkey Farm closed). I thought the store was dark, limited and poorly laid out. At least in our area, Whole Foods is larger, cleaner, brighter, and has better selection. Between Whole Foods and Costco, I see no reason to go to Trader Joe’s.</p>
<p>I think TJ is never intended to compete with Costco or Sam’s Club. Where TJ offers variety and Costco offers low cost with bulk purchase. However, TJ does give a run with the other supermarkets.</p>