topic Re: Grocery Envy in Kitchen

Grocery Envy

QVCkitty1 — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 17:20:03 GMT

It seems like every time I see an ad for a food item , it comes from Trader Joe's . There is no TJ's anywhere near me. I'm surrounded by Wegmans , however locally it is Walmart or Tops. I'm always intrigued by the TJ offerings, so tell me, is the store really all that. I just saw an ad for harvest stuffing popcorn, and I want it ! Sigh.

Re: Grocery Envy

catter70 — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 17:36:02 GMT

I'm real close to Walmart, Wegman's, Giant and Weis, but no TJ's, though I think there is a warehouse close by around here for them. I'd like to see one here, too.

Re: Grocery Envy

I am still oxox — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 17:41:24 GMT

We have a Trader Joes around the corner and have not been there since the pandemic

Re: Grocery Envy

deeva — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 17:55:18 GMT

I have two TJ's near me, and they're always packed. I have several products that I regularly buy from them.

Re: Grocery Envy

feline groovy — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 17:59:04 GMT

@QVCkitty1 : you can buy their popcorn - and some other items - on Amazon.com .

Re: Grocery Envy

Citrine1 — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:02:51 GMT

I'm about 20 minutes from the nearest TJ's. I only visit on occasion, maybe once every three years. In my opinion, no, it is not all that.

Wegman's, on the other hand, IS all that as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately, I'm a good 45 minutes from the closest one. I try to get there once or twice a year.

Re: Grocery Envy

QVCkitty1 — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:08:04 GMT

@Citrine1 wrote:
I'm about 20 minutes from the nearest TJ's. I only visit on occasion, maybe once every three years. In my opinion, no, it is not all that.

Wegman's, on the other hand, IS all that as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately, I'm a good 45 minutes from the closest one. I try to get there once or twice a year.

@Citrine1 , I agree, Wegmans is a wonderful store ! Like I said we are surrounded by them, but I wish they were closer.

Re: Grocery Envy

cjm61 — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:08:05 GMT

@QVCkitty1 I'm not a big fan of TJ. It's known as a Millennials and Gen X type store. Average income for shoppers is the higher end. I find better quality items at Sprouts. It really doesn't appeal to me so much but they do bring in some unique items and consistently sell new things. It's usually crowded though. In my opinion, you aren't missing much. Like another mentioned, some items can be bought elsewhere like Amazon.

Re: Grocery Envy

GingerHead — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:36:35 GMT

@QVCkitty1

In my opinion......YES! It is all that and is my favorite store. I'd be so sad to move away from one.

They have unique and specialty items from around the world that aren't available elsewhere and much of their items are private label so the pricing is very reasonable unlike "whole paycheck" Whole Foods and similar stores.

They have a good selection of organic and free of artificial ingredient products and I love their big selection of seasonal items.

Also, I appreciate the small town feel of the stores without 50 trillion options, they limit it to the best for their customer base.....

Re: Grocery Envy

cusegirl — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:39:26 GMT

Never been to Trader Joe's. It is about 1/2 hour away from me. Wegmans is about 3 minutes away and I go there at least 3 times a week. They have everything that I need. Not interested in going to Trader Joe's.

Re: Grocery Envy

Tinkrbl44 — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:39:29 GMT

I have several TJ's in a ten-mile radius, but no longer shop there.

First, their parking lots are too small and always full.

Second, they carry too many interesting things and it's easy to have a full cart of impulse items by the time I'm ready to check out.

They DO have good prices on eggs.

Re: Grocery Envy

PinkyPetunia — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:46:04 GMT

There's a TJ's near me but I don't go there often. Most of the hype is about trendy high calorie convenience snacks, desserts and frozen items. These are impulse purchases.

I tried some snack flavored like Mexican street corn and I didn't like it. The buzz was that it was irresistable. Not to me.

Re: Grocery Envy

goldensrbest — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:52:05 GMT

It is nice for certain items, i don't go very often to our local one,i use to but it is always busy,people seem to really like them,

Re: Grocery Envy

Meowingkitty — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 21:10:11 GMT

I don't have a Wegmans in Arizona but I go to Trader Joe's which is about 10 minutes away about once a month. I like several of their products. Rice, cheeses, hummus, hot honey, various frozen foods. Ours has a big parking lot and I go at 8:00 when they open so it isn't as crowded. Ours just relocated to a bigger store and now it's twice the size of the old one and in the same area.

Re: Grocery Envy

bellaartiste — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 19:05:41 GMT

I love trader Joe's. I have been shopping at one or another for twenty five years. I used to live in South Pasadena close to Monrovia the first Trader Joes. I have moved several times and fortunately there is always one close by.

It was considered a gourmet market, but has branched out to include many more items. The appeal was good cheap wine, a variety of great olive oil, specialty cheese, breads, produce, nuts, condiments, unusual waters, fish, meats, Italian sodas, great prepared foods etc. In the old days they were the only one to carry unusual items that were hard to get at your regular super market.

I shop there every two weeks, and yes every parking lot is a nightmare.

Re: Grocery Envy

GingerHead — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 19:19:03 GMT

@bellaartiste wrote:
I love trader Joe's. I have been shopping at one or another for twenty five years. I used to live in South Pasadena close to Monrovia the first Trader Joes. I have moved several times and fortunately there is always one close by.

It was considered a gourmet market, but has branched out to include many more items. The appeal was good cheap wine, a variety of great olive oil, specialty cheese, breads, produce, nuts, condiments, unusual waters, fish, meats, Italian sodas, great prepared foods etc. In the old days they were the only one to carry unusual items that were hard to get at your regular super market.

I shop there every two weeks, and yes every parking lot is a nightmare.

@bellaartiste

Luckily, I live in a smallish college town and mine's not that busy unless I go on the weekends. I usually go on weekday mornings when it's not at all busy but I have been at others at the wrong times and it was a no go!

Love the specialty items you mentioned. Their selection of cheeses, yogurts, nuts, seeds, produce, meats and specialty, seasonal items are really great.

Re: Grocery Envy

kaydee50 — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 19:23:19 GMT

We have a TJ's a 10 minute walk from us and we go there weekly. DH loves the french onion soup. I love the non fat Greek yogurt which for 5.3 oz. is only 99 cents. We buy other items there and I would miss TJ's if it were to go away.

We are also getting an Aldi's close by. Looking forward to that. We also have a Jewel supermarket and a Whole Foods which is I guess why I have never/would never buy food from TV.

Re: Grocery Envy

beach-mom — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 19:34:08 GMT

We have one about an hour away. We used to go there a lot when they first opened, but parking was hard and it was always crowded, even if it was on a weekday afternoon.

All that said, I love this store! I find it very affordable. The first time there we checked out with a loaded cart and our bill was less than $100. We like their wine too.

On our most recent trip I was getting ingredients for a French charcuterie board. I thought it would be a lot to get everything, with all of the meats and cheeses especially, but it costs less than $50. And everyone liked it a lot!

I would go there more often if I could.

Re: Grocery Envy

Sooner — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 20:02:53 GMT

Trader Joe's is just an upscale (somewhat) Aldi's. There produce where we have one isn't great (far better elsewhere), the meat disappointing, and lots of odd other stuff that you wind up spending money for that you didn't really want.

We used to go frenquently before we went across the street to Whole Foods, pick up a few things, but honestly for me it's not what I want in a grocery store, and pretty much a waste of time and money.

Re: Grocery Envy

PA Mom-mom — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 20:04:43 GMT

I live about 20 minutes from a TJ. I rarely go there except for:

I cured myself from these chips about 2 years ago. When I went to the store, I always felt confused for some reason. The aisles are on a slant, and I'm used to the traditional aisles. I know, I'm old.

Someone on these Forums suggested the chocolate, so I bought it. It was good. And, they always have an inexpensive Advent calendar for the kiddies every Christmas.

I have many good stores in my area, including Wegman's for specialty items; so I'm good.