The newspaper’s Web editor has been goading me into posting a blog on Trader Joe’s to voice our outrage over Redding’s selection as a store site with no Medford location in view.
I smiled for a few days and nodded my head like most good reporters do. But I finally had to come clean about my less-than-ideal status as TJ spokeswoman. My editor could hardly believe her ears.
I realize what I’m about to say likely will mark me as the anti-Christ of the food world, but here goes …
I’ve just never been that impressed with Trader Joe’s. (Insert gasps here.)
I’m not downplaying the quality of most products or the (mostly) reasonable prices or TJ’s very organized and attractive, if small, stores. I guess I’m just not sold on the necessity of shopping there.
The handful of occasions I’ve had to browse Trader Joe’s have left me with the sense that I’d be hard pressed to find ready-to-eat Maryland crab cakes or pre-made pizza dough or chili-dusted pecans anywhere else, not to mention the store’s celebrated Two Buck Chuck. These are items I see myself seeking out a few times a year if I stopped into the store for curiosity’s sake.
Or, and here’s a novel idea, I could just make these things (except for the wine) myself.
Would I shop at Trader Joe’s weekly? Absolutely not.
People who I’ve heard extol TJ prices most often either live in California or previously lived there. They would know if there were cheaper options available.
But this is Medford, and I wouldn’t give up my weekly shopping trips to Food 4 Less for anything. Before the booing and hissing ensues, let me clarify that I realize Trader Joe’s and Food 4 Less are worlds (OK, universes) apart. But I haven’t found a store anywhere that can beat Sherm’s prices with any kind of competitive regularity. Plus, I know my money stays in the community, where Sherm and his family support many worthy causes.
Yes, Food 4 Less is a little dingy, a little run-down, sometimes chaotic, but I can easily forgive all that when I find a new product in stock, which happens almost weekly. There was a brief period when I thought Trader Joe’s was the only source for single-serving cartons of Greek yogurt. I gobbled up one while visiting my sister in Portland, athough TJ’s package was actually more like two servings.
But what did I find tucked away in Sherm’s natural-food section a few weeks later? Single servings of Greek yogurt, albeit a different brand, and this package was a far more reasonable size.
And what did Food 4 Less come back with a few weeks later? Pomegranate-flavored yogurt, soon to be followed by a fig-flavored version.
I guess the point of all this is when people tell me they simply can’t find a particular grocery item anywhere but Trader Joe’s, I often find myself saying, “Yes you can.”
Or if I think they’ll claw my eyes out for sullying the reputation of their beloved retailer, I just quietly think, “You’re not looking hard enough.”
