When I was just a wee college lass, a friend of mine used to bring the Trader Joe's Frequent Flyer up to Northern California for us to marvel at. He was from Orange County, and at the time none of us were familiar with the joys of Trader Joe's, but we enjoyed the folksy copywriting and antiquey design. The latest edition has been dubbed the Culinary Compendium, and Notcot posted about it yesterday.It's amazing that the flyer still has the same funky clipart and writing style as it did back when there were only a handful of stores in Southern California.
I know some of my friends have switched to Fresh & Easy, but I'm still a very faithful TJ's shopper, since I have two starving teenagers who are too used to eating JoJos and Tofutti cuties and Just Chicken and Cranberry Oatmeal to make a switch. How many food stores and/or farmer's markets do you shop at each week?
11 comments:
2-3, I'll usually hit one general supermarket, one specialty food store (Whole Foods, F&E or TJs) and a farmer's market.
I've pretty much switched to F&E. I hit that weekly, and farmers markets and Vons/Ralphs about every two weeks. (Once corn is in season, the farmers market at Victory Park becomes a weekly trip.)
I still go to TJs about once a month, for ice tea and wine, but it is just too erratic with what they have in stock, and I'm sure we have all experienced falling in love with a product only to have it disappear forever (the goat cheese empenadas were my all-time favorite.) Maybe F&E will go that way eventually, but so far they have been much more consistent, at least to me.
The Culinary Compendium has a much more regional focus than the fearless (not frequent) flyer. If you go to the TJ's website, you can download the Culinary Compendium.
in the past few years, tj has done a few of these smaller format compendia a year. the flyer is still published as well, i believe 5 times a year.
yup, I've pretty much switched to F&E, but I still go to TJs for dog food.
Apparently I'm a big old outlier -- I go to 5-6 stores a week. And I don't even cook dinner every night.
TJ's; Middle Eastern store; Mexican store; Vietnamese store; butcher; F&E; Von's; occasionally the Korean, Japanese, or Indian stores. The 909 ain't got no Whole Foods or Surfa's, but we muddle by.
TJs for everything, Whole Foods for cleaning supplies and shampoos, etc, Ralph's for, literally, junk food.
Trader Joe's forever. Whole Foods = no flavor.
I'm a T.J.'s devotee. I like to compare layouts at different T.J.s around the City. My faves: Culver City, Sepulveda & Palms, La Quinta!
I also stop at my ghetto Von's 'cause it's near my house, easy parking and does the job (even though it's a hell-hole of a store).
Great vegies at California Korean market on Western & 5th St. They have vegetables that look like they're from the Moon! I love the freshness and selection of all their produce.
In these cost conscience times, it is necessary to shop at several stores: F & E, TJ's, Whole Foods and Ralphs (love the double coupon: watch for sales on toothpaste etc and use a coupon, wow cheaper than Target at times!). Plus, the real Pasadena Farmers Market but remember farmers market does NOT mean cheaper or better.
TJs, Super A, and Costco (but not weekly.). If F & E was closer, like downtown, I'd go for some things--the English muffins, and some of the meat,etc. but I'm not schlepping to Highland Park. I still don't get their rationale for that location.
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