Albertsons Avenu

[Gemini Cricket]

Will someone explain to me Pavillions and Whole Foods and places like that? I mean, it seems like the same stuff everyone else has but just more expensive... ???

[Alex]

Essentially it is (though this wasn't so much true a decade ago). However, by shopping at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods or one of those stores you get the onanistic pleasure of pretending you're somehow making the world a better place.

[Gemini Cricket]

So, basically food with the dirt still on it...

[Alex]

No, the product is clean. At Whole Foods and TJ's the dirt is still on the cashiers.

[Not Afraid]

Whole Foods is more "granola" with a lots of organic produce and bulk foods.

Bristol Farms is more "gourmet" with Godiva Chocolate and Peet's Coffee and a great deli counter.

TJ's is a cheaper version of a "gourmet" store. They have odd cheeses and things like Buffalo Burgers and great ready-made frozen foods and salads. They custom wrap most of their product so it's like buying "plain wrap" but the quality and selection is high if you eat "weird" food like we do. They also have great selection of breads and sauces.

You won't find wonder bread at any of these stores (not that anyone eats wonder bread anymore.)

[Ghoulish Delight]

I don't equate TJ's and Bristol Farms/Gelson's/Pavillions. The latter group has largely the same products as the "standard" groceries, plus a few "luxury" items (better lunch meats, bakery goods, etc.) at sufficiently inflated prices. TJ's is a little different in that they carry almost nothing but their own brands or small off-brand items, some of which comes at a premium, but much of which is actually cheaper or competitively priced stuff for better quality. Much like shopping at Costco requries keen attention to what's actually a deal, so does shopping at TJ's (if deals are what you're looking for). For example, it's always a great idea to buy cheese at Trader Joe's, but you need a loan to buy packaged lunch meats.

Can't vouch for Whole Foods, haven't meen in one more than once or twice.

[Gemini Cricket]

I've bought fresh spice produce from TJs and they were wilty and moldy in a day or so. Bleh.

Give me my Brownie Bites and save the lecture for the smelly dude behind me, Hippie Cashier Dude who looks like Almanzo Wilder from Little House on the Prairie... Okay, that one cashier I like. Dirt and all...

[Alex]

I don't really hate TJ's (though I say I do for dramatic effect and to help with Darwinian culling when those with weak blood vessels stroke out), but rather a lot of the people who shop there. "But it has the best selection of Indian food," they'll tell me as they walk past the local Indian grocery that they won't go into because it smells weird.

Plus TJs had a commercial on the radio that bugged me to no end.

"There are many names for potstickers around the world...but here at Trader Joe's we call them...shu mai."

No, the entire nation of Japan calls them shu mai. It was like they said "There are many names for baked yeast dough around the world but here at Trader Joe's we call it...bread."


That's how fickle I am. Based on a single really stupid commercial I'm willing to never again step into the store.

[Not Afraid]

Once again, I am grateful I don't listen to commercial radio.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

TJ's is a little different in that they carry almost nothing but their own brands or small off-brand items, some of which comes at a premium, but much of which is actually cheaper or competitively priced stuff for better quality.

On a serious note that is one thing that does bother me about TJ's as it has grown into a mini-corporate behemoth. They used to offer a great selection of small and local brands. Now, whenever a product proves popular enough they white label it and sell it under their own brand completely screwing the small company that made it popular in the first place.

Plus, the mega-corporate behemoth's have mostly caught on. While brands may be different there aren't many products at TJ's now that I can't buy at Safeway for the same prices and when I want to go small I can easily go to the source (farmer's markets, direct-import ethnic grocers, etc.) I can understand why TJ's would be a cornucopia in relatively bland parts of the country but in LA and the Bay Area TJ's is just the same sort of interstitial layer between the source and the consumer as people disdain Safeway for being.