One TJ nearby but a few years since I've been in. Rather small, not much bigger than a convenience store. Produce section takes up a large part but not much different than a regular supermarket. Very little in baked goods and bread selection. Large frozen section with stuff you don't see in other grocery stores but quality of the merch is so so. Remember buying some frozen roasted Brussels sprouts and a few Indian items just to try them as nobody else sells them here. Didn't look anywhere near as good as the package showed and the taste was just ok.
Amazon increases the price of Prime nearly 17% to $139 per year
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In my area TJ basically is the equivalent of "we only sell what we can sell for a good value" store. Real estate size of the store is usually way smaller than Safeway (1/4 to 1/3), sell mostly stuff that people need all the time, good price, most things not organic, priced slightly to much cheaper than Safeway when not on sale (10-20% less). I have a feeling they sell mainly items of high volume, fun, convenient (a lot of freezer items), but you are expected to still go to Safeway for what they don't sell.
To compete on price you probably will be going to Walmart Neighborhood Store, priced probably near or lower than TJ but the quality is .... not always good, catering to lower end price sensitive vs quality sensitive crowd, often out of the way and in the case of Walmart, you are not getting a good deal after you spend all the time going there to get 5% cheaper on some items (and more expensive than Safeway when not on sale).
Whole Foods would be the Hippies / Organic crowd store here, and Costco would be the "we are middle class and we want to fit in and shop like middle class" store. TJ is probably, from my understanding, similar to Aldi's in East Coast.
Example on prices:
Eggs: TJ is 2.29 / dozen Safeway often 3.29 unless on sale for 1.29
Organic milk: TJ is usually 5.50 and Safeway often 6.50 unless on sale for 4.99
Onion: TJ is usually 69c and Safeway often 1.29
Salad lettuce: TJ is probably 2.29 for 12oz and Safeway 5.00 for 16oz
Roma tomatoes: 29c in TJ but probably 99c or so in Safeway
Carrots, Garlic, Shallot, etc: similar story
Chicken drumsticks: 1.79/lb in TJ is better quality than 1.49 to 1.99/lb in Safeway brand (non Foster Farm)
Peanut butter (non hydrogenated): good quality for like 2.99 or something vs Skippy for 3.49 or something
Better quality so I buy in TJ: pie crust, frozen fried rice, ice cream treats, frozen mac & cheese, frozen clam sauce pasta, frozen mushroom ravioli, Pasadena chicken salad, vegetable wash, pesto sauce in small jar, peaches and nectarine when in season, eggs (they can hard boil without problem, Safeway's egg turn watery for some reason, likely mishandled or stuff, I only hard boil TJ's egg)
Worse quality so I never buy in TJ: oranges, bread (they mold too fast somehow), cereals, frozen shrimp and fish (Safeway nailed it better, unless you are buying from Costco or Whole Foods), strawberry / blueberry unless during peak season.
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Yeah, the TJ stores are small. The one near us is in a shopping center (a "mini-mall") and while I can't think of anyplace to compare the size with, I'd venture to say it's 1/10th the size of a Kroger. You have Aldi stores ? If so, Aldi and TJ are very similar in size. With either store, we'd be hard-pressed to do all of our grocery shopping though we could come pretty close with Aldi. When the kids were younger and we shopped for a LOT more variety, it wasn't even worth going to Aldi as we'd still end up at Kroger, Walmart, etc for "the rest of the stuff" we needed.
Around here, and I could be wrong, I think TJ and Whole Foods have similar customer base actually.
Around here, and I could be wrong, I think TJ and Whole Foods have similar customer base actually.
GON
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My Wife and Daughter both believe with all their hearts that TJ has higher quality products, non-GMO, all natural, etc. I challenged this once and was pounced on for even suggesting TJ sold food that was often nothing different than what Wal-mart or King Soopers sold, just a different box.
Next time there's a recall on some food product sold by Walmart or Kroger or (insert a major grocery retailer), look at what other brands are affected. In some cases, there will be Trader Joe's products impacted. Why ? Because it is "just a different box" as you say, made by the same food manufacturer. Does this apply to everything they sell ? No, it doesn't, but many products they sell are definitely re-packaged for them alongside Walmart versions, etc, etc.
TJ does have the lowest price on my Kulshan Lager. $8.88
Next is WinCo. $9.04
The rest are $9.99+.
Best organic apples sauce in the large jar. No one else carries. Other stuff just be selective.
Next is WinCo. $9.04
The rest are $9.99+.
Best organic apples sauce in the large jar. No one else carries. Other stuff just be selective.
I shop on both price and quality, depends on the item.
Walmart has the worst quality in produce in my area. TJ is hit or miss but their price is constant and quality varies depend on season. Whole Food is exotic and can be hit or miss (usually higher price and higher quality when off season but in season everyone has good quality anyways). TJ is not organic only, nor Whole Foods, they sell a lot of different stuff in different grades.
Maybe I'm picky, I buy one orange back to my wife, let her try it, then once get the OK I'll go get like 10 lb from the store. So far Safeway if you buy USA orange they are 85% chance good, TJ about 50% chance, Walmart 25% or so. Costco about 90% if they have it (and often they don't). Safeway wins by a landslide.
The key to shopping quality in produce is you have to compromise on price or quality. It is not machine made so every batch is different, so you cannot count on Walmart or Target to be there for you. I have no loyalty to any store, and since they are all so close I just take turn going to each anyways, not a big deal if you are only 5 mins away.
It just means the line got contaminated. They may still use different batches or quality, or process, to make the stuff they sell you. The only way to tell quality is to do blind taste test and see if you like it, and get into habits of not being loyal to any brand or store.
For example, some frozen dimsum made with pork stinks, yet the same pork from another brand doesn't (despite from the same factory). The cheap one was not "washed" or "soaked" prior to cooking so the excess myoglobin wasn't washed off along with stinky pork smell. Another would be "orange chicken", some are made with custard powder and egg in the batter and the other doesn't, so obviously they don't taste the same yet recall would be for both from the same line.
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The items usually come pretty fast, I too like their FREE shipping even when you don't have Prime.
We had Prime, we cancelled it.
With so many warehouses/distribution centers nowadays, I do wonder how delivery times would be without Prime. I can order a myriad of items right now (just after 12 noon) and have them on our porch by this evening. They do appear to come from a warehouse/distribution center 25 miles away if we choose (or qualify for) this option vs the smaller distribution center 15 miles away.
In the past, without Prime, you would order something and nothing would happen for days.... then they'd kick in and start processing it, getting it ready for delivery (via UPS, USPS, etc), and then get delivered. Back then, Prime was mostly a "priority" fee you paid to get faster processing (picking and packaging) as the shipping part was the same.
In the past, without Prime, you would order something and nothing would happen for days.... then they'd kick in and start processing it, getting it ready for delivery (via UPS, USPS, etc), and then get delivered. Back then, Prime was mostly a "priority" fee you paid to get faster processing (picking and packaging) as the shipping part was the same.
Aldi and Trader Joes are cousins, Brothers own both chains but have separate management. Totally agree on TJ and WF having the same customers for sure!
Thanks for the info. Do you have a source?
Living near a distro center, this has been my experience too, that w/o prime they sat on the order a few days before shipping, but in the last year or so (maybe since covid started?) they've been far more prompt in shipping right away on my non-prime orders. There is one other change, that a lot more of the deliveries are coming via Amazon's carriers instead of UPS.
Either way it beats USPS... ordered some small electronic widgets the other day, could've bought from Amazon but went with a cheaper seller instead, that I had bought things from before w/o issue but this time, my widgets coming from Arizona are currently bouncing around in Puerto Rico. Much USPS mail has been missing in recent months.
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When I used to see this, the only Amazon facility around was in Hebron and Amazon had no delivery vehicles themselves. Later a warehouse in Jeffersonville would supply some things. Today, there's a facility in Springdale, Monroe, Kettering, multiple in Columbus, and who knows where else.
I really only enrolled in Prime because of ..... The Grand Tour !! Today, I think we could do without it except we get student discount pricing so it's pretty cheap. I try and find things on Amazon Video but it truly sucks compared to other services. It's like they went out and bought the broadcast rights to anything they could find just to claim to have thousands and thousands of titles.
My Amazon Prime just renewed last month at I assume the old rate. I will have to check my card again to see what I was charged. I probably will keep it since I buy a lot of stuff off of Amazon and I use their CC for the rewards program so I get a lot of stuff for free.
This thread has been very educational and is perhaps the best “spousal conversation starter” I’ve had in a while— I plan to show my wife all of the good points made herein.
Have Amazon returns gone downhill lately for anyone, or just me?
Yesterday I had an odd experience while trying to arrange a return. I had to call and speak to a human and he asked if it was an in-store purchase— does an Amazon storefront exist anywhere?
Back to my original problem...is anyone else finding Amazon returns via the UPS Store are now costing money? It’s a bad inconvenience as the closest/only place we can return Amazon items is a UPS Store that’s a good 40 minute drive away. Get there only to find they now want to charge a fee to return an Amazon item, plus tax and insurance. We have returned several items to Amazon via the same UPS Store in the past and that’s never happened. Only in the last month or so have we encountered having to pay. Perhaps they have figured they are the only game in town for Amazon returns and thus they can change money— I don’t know.
I should clarify that my wife made the trip so I didn’t get to ask the store personnel firsthand.
Have Amazon returns gone downhill lately for anyone, or just me?
Yesterday I had an odd experience while trying to arrange a return. I had to call and speak to a human and he asked if it was an in-store purchase— does an Amazon storefront exist anywhere?
Back to my original problem...is anyone else finding Amazon returns via the UPS Store are now costing money? It’s a bad inconvenience as the closest/only place we can return Amazon items is a UPS Store that’s a good 40 minute drive away. Get there only to find they now want to charge a fee to return an Amazon item, plus tax and insurance. We have returned several items to Amazon via the same UPS Store in the past and that’s never happened. Only in the last month or so have we encountered having to pay. Perhaps they have figured they are the only game in town for Amazon returns and thus they can change money— I don’t know.
I should clarify that my wife made the trip so I didn’t get to ask the store personnel firsthand.
Yes, there's quite a few Amazon stores around the Chicagoland area. I've never been in one but I've driven past them and they're always busy. There's also Amazon Go but that was only for a few hustle-and-bustle cities. Mixed in with the amount of Amazon warehouses near me and I have no complaints of shipping speed or availability.
I don't recall having a Trader Joes or Whole Foods here anymore. Maybe one or two within a 50 mile radius if they didn't close down in the past 20 years. Our "boutique" grocers is Marianos (owned by Kroger). If you live closer to the city, there's Pete's which has the best produce and organization/presentation I've ever seen in a grocery store.
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I can still get stuff shipped for free without Prime so I see no reason to get Prime.
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