This blogger must confess to have never been a fan of Trader Joe's because it seemed like a lot of marketing hype.
Yes, hype.
Hype around the idea that their food doesn't contain artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. OK, but the price of the food this blogger purchases, meat, is still something like one dollar to two dollars higher per-item than at Safeway or Alberton's. You're not likely to find a Trader Joe's in a low-income neighborhood like West Oakland or South Chicago.
Just saying.
If there are too many Trader Joe's, it's because a significant number of Americans have bought into the marketing hype that the food retailer actually sells, again, food that doesn't contain "artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives." Now, my mother, who I'm visting as of this writing, agrees, saying Trader Joe's has "quality food, but it's not cheap."
That's the point.
The real food retail void to be filled is by providing "quality food" at cheap prices. Maybe the urban food farming movement is the answer, but that's still in its infancy.
Have you ever done a true price comparison? Trader Joe's has great prices on every day things like milk, eggs, bananas, etc. Some of their stuff is slightly higher priced, but that's because the quality is better there than most places.
ReplyDeleteWhere do you live, try buying more natural ingredients at the farmers market, new seasons, or any other natural mart. I think you will find Tj's has the lowest price/quality ratio around... dingbat
ReplyDeleteFrozen veggies, almond milk, canned beans, bread... all these items are cheaper at Trader Joe's than Safeway. They just also *happen* to be free of preservatives and additives, as well. Nobody beats TJ's.
ReplyDeleteI work for trader joes in Nevada. I am proud to say we are trying our best to give "you" the customer the best quality at the best price which is why we do business through vendors and do our own labels like roger does but without the preservatives and artificial ingredients etc. That's the price of eating healthy. I CAN BE VERY HONEST THAT WHOLE FOODS WON'T BE IN LOW INCOME NEIGHBORHOODS. because $200-300 at trader joes very easily can be $600-700
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