Grocery stores

[Nicklibergamer34]

I walk into a Walmart the majority of people there are obese.

I walk into a Trader Joe's and most people I see are thin yuppie types. They looked like they came from Gossip Girl!

I am not in favor of a nanny state like the one depicted in Demolition Man but I wish better food was more accessible to lower socioeconomic classes. Ever heard the term food desert?



I am not in favor of pumping food full of hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides. Call me a food snob I don't care. I don't care if I am surrounded by wealthy liberals. Hey at least they are hot!

[juleswin]

Why is it ok for the OP to continue posting while fire111 is banned everytime he pops his head back in?

Why is it ok for people to call fire111 a troll and get off without even a warning by mods? Instead fire111 is banned.

Is there anything I can say to cause my account to be banned? If yes, I would like to know what that is cos it certainly not in the posting guidelines.

Thanks all, and keep your activism nicklibergamer34. You are a great asset to the cause of liberty

[Dianne]

It's their lack of education. Obesity normally follows poor education regarding food. There are tons of recipes that are healthy, easy to prepare but the peeps don't know about them. My daughter is obese because my X would take her to McDonald's or Taco Bell for breakfast, lunch and supper when he had weekend visitation. Maybe this forum should unite and create a cook book for sale.... It's too late for this election cycle, but by next one we should have one published.... Three or four ingredient, cheaper than fast food, Rand Paul Cookbook. Not only does Rand cook up a case against corrupt NSA spying, but he cooks up a quick, healthy, non GMO, cheaper than McDonald's, feast.

[William R]

I walk into a Walmart the majority of people there are obese.

I walk into a Trader Joe's and most people I see are thin yuppie types. They looked like they came from Gossip Girl!

I am not in favor of a nanny state like the one depicted in Demolition Man but I wish better food was more accessible to lower socioeconomic classes. Ever heard the term food desert?





I am not in favor of pumping food full of hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides. Call me a food snob I don't care. I don't care if I am surrounded by wealthy liberals. Hey at least they are hot!

I'm wealthy and the wife and I buy all our food from Whole Foods. I'm not a liberal. Maybe a Classical liberal. Free Markets, Sound Money, and Traditionalism.

[Dr.3D]

I wonder what it is about Walmart. Why do so many people have stains on the crack of their pants? Is it something they sell that causes that?

[Danke]

I wonder what it is about Walmart. Why do so many people have stains on the crack of their pants? Is it something they sell that causes that?

PM AF.

[Zippyjuan]

Trader Joes is a specialty store rather than a traditional grocery store. They cater to a younger, more educated crowd. They tend to locate in collage areas.

Out in my neck of the woods, Vons/ Safeway was bought out by the company who owns Albertson's. As part of getting the deal approved, they had to get rid of some stores so they sold about 150 to some small chain from Oregon/ Washington called Haggan. Just a few months in (since start of June actually) and they are already in serious troubles. Their prices are more Whole Foods- much higher than the people who shopped at those stores were used to so many quit going there. They are on their second round of layoffs (600 to 1000 workers) and have cut most full timers to part time. Just this week, they announced they will shut/ sell 27 of their recently acquired stores. They seem to have bitten of much more than they could chew. Not having been in any of the areas before, they didn't even have trucks or warehouses to stock the stores and had to contract that out and suddenly went from 18 stores to 164.

Granted Safeway and Albertson's didn't want to part with any of their more profitable stores so those sold were probably poor performers to begin with.

Trader Joes is owned by a German company Aldi which has over 1,500 stores including 400 Trader Joe's. Their products mostly have private labels on them but are actually made by major companies (like Stacy's Pita Chips), though due to agreements, they will never say which ones.

[CPUd]

It's a bot.

[TaftFan]

Trader Joes is a specialty store rather than a traditional grocery store. They cater to a younger, more educated crowd. They tend to locate in collage areas.

Out in my neck of the woods, Vons/ Safeway was bought out by the company who owns Albertson's. As part of getting the deal approved, they had to get rid of some stores so they sold about 150 to some small chain from Oregon/ Washington called Haggan. Just a few months in (since start of June actually) and they are already in serious troubles. Their prices are more Whole Foods- much higher than the people who shopped at those stores were used to so many quit going there. They are on their second round of layoffs (600 to 1000 workers) and have cut most full timers to part time. Just this week, they announced they will shut/ sell 27 of their recently acquired stores. They seem to have bitten of much more than they could chew. Not having been in any of the areas before, they didn't even have trucks or warehouses to stock the stores and had to contract that out and suddenly went from 18 stores to 164.

Granted Safeway and Albertson's didn't want to part with any of their more profitable stores so those sold were probably poor performers to begin with.

Trader Joes is owned by a German company Aldi which has over 1,500 stores including 400 Trader Joe's. Their products mostly have private labels on them but are actually made by major companies (like Stacy's Pita Chips), though due to agreements, they will never say which ones.

First time I went to Aldi, I had to leave all of my items because they only take cash, which I didn't have at the time. Perhaps a sign at the front was in order.

[Zippyjuan]

The only Aldi stores I have been in were in Germany and cash was all I had so don't know about their policy here.

Did find this: https://www.aldi.us/en/new-to-aldi/shopping-at-aldi/

The Carts: We keep our carts in one convenient place. You put a quarter in the cart, shop and then return the cart to get your quarter back. This helps to keep prices low because we don’t spend time retrieving carts.

Checkout: Credit card processing fees are expensive. By only accepting cash, debit and EBT cards, it helps keep our prices low.

Bags: Bring your own bags or buy our reusable ones at checkout.

Saving Green: Everything we do from our smaller, energy-saving stores to recycled bags and cartons capture the very essence of conservation. As a result, you can save up to 50% on the majority of your needs.

[specsaregood]

//

[specsaregood]

//

[Zippyjuan]

That is one of their features too- fewer items. And of the items they do carry, they have fewer different options. In peanut butter for example the may have four kinds while a major grocery store may have 20 or more.

This article is from 2010: http://archive.fortune.com/2010/08/2...tune/index.htm

But Trader Joe's is no ordinary grocery chain. It's an offbeat, fun discovery zone that elevates food shopping from a chore to a cultural experience. It stocks its shelves with a winning combination of low-cost, yuppie-friendly staples (cage-free eggs and organic blue agave sweetener) and exotic, affordable luxuries -- Belgian butter waffle cookies or Thai lime-and-chili cashews -- that you simply can't find anyplace else.

Comment
Employees dress in goofy trademark Hawaiian shirts, hand stickers out to your squirming kids, and cheerfully refund your money if you're unhappy with a purchase -- no questions asked. At the Chelsea store opening, workers greeted customers with high-fives and free cookies. Try getting that kind of love at the Piggly Wiggly.

It's little wonder that Trader Joe's is one of the hottest retailers in the U.S. It now boasts 344 stores in 25 states and Washington, D.C., and strip-mall operators and consumers alike aggressively lobby the chain, based in Monrovia, Calif., to come to their towns. A Trader Joe's brings with it good jobs, and its presence in your community is like an affirmation that you and your neighbors are worldly and smart.

The privately held company's sales last year were roughly $8 billion, the same size as Whole Foods' (WFMI, Fortune 500) and bigger than those of Bed Bath & Beyond, No. 314 on the Fortune 500 list. Unlike those massive shopping emporiums, Trader Joe's has a deliberately scaled-down strategy: It is opening just five more locations this year. The company selects relatively small stores with a carefully curated selection of items. (Typical grocery stores can carry 50,000 stock-keeping units, or SKUs; Trader Joe's sells about 4,000 SKUs, and about 80% of the stock bears the Trader Joe's brand.) The result: Its stores sell an estimated $1,750 in merchandise per square foot, more than double Whole Foods'. The company has no debt and funds all growth from its own coffers.

You'd think Trader Joe's would be eager to trumpet its success, but management is obsessively secretive. There are no signs with the company's name or logo at headquarters in Monrovia, about 25 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Few customers realize the chain is owned by Germany's ultra-private Albrecht family, the people behind the Aldi Nord supermarket empire. (A different branch of the family controls Aldi Süd, parent of the U.S. Aldi grocery chain.) Famous in Germany for not talking to the press, the Albrechts have passed their tightlipped ways on to their U.S. business: Trader Joe's and its CEO, Dan Bane, declined repeated requests to speak to Fortune, and the company has never participated in a major story about its business operations.

Some of that may be because Trader Joe's business tactics are often very much at odds with its image as the funky shop around the corner that sources its wares from local farms and food artisans. Sometimes it does, but big, well-known companies also make many of Trader Joe's products. Those Trader Joe's pita chips? Made by Stacy's, a division of PepsiCo's (PEP, Fortune 500) Frito-Lay. On the East Coast much of its yogurt is supplied by Danone's Stonyfield Farm. And finicky foodies probably don't like to think about how Trader Joe's scale enables the chain to sell a pound of organic lemons for $2.

A closer look at its selection of items underscores the brilliance of Coulombe's limited-selection, high-turnover model. Take peanut butter. Trader Joe's sells 10 varieties. That might sound like a lot, but most supermarkets sell about 40 SKUs. For simplicity's sake, say both a typical supermarket and a Trader Joe's sell 40 jars a week. Trader Joe's would sell an average of four of each type, while the supermarket might sell only one. With the greater turnover on a smaller number of items, Trader Joe's can buy large quantities and secure deep discounts. And it makes the whole business -- from stocking shelves to checking out customers -- much simpler.

Swapping selection for value turns out not to be much of a tradeoff. Customers may think they want variety, but in reality too many options can lead to shopping paralysis. "People are worried they'll regret the choice they made," says Barry Schwartz, a Swarthmore professor and author of The Paradox of Choice. "People don't want to feel they made a mistake." Studies have found that buyers enjoy purchases more if they know the pool of options isn't quite so large. Trader Joe's organic creamy unsalted peanut butter will be more satisfying if there are only nine other peanut butters a shopper might have purchased instead of 39. Having a wide selection may help get customers in the store, but it won't increase the chances they'll buy. (It also explains why so often people are on their cellphones at the supermarket asking their significant other which detergent to get.) "It takes them out of the purchasing process and puts them into a decision-making process," explains Stew Leonard Jr., CEO of grocer Stew Leonard's, which also subscribes to the "less is more" mantra.

Customers accept that Trader Joe's has only two kinds of pudding or one kind of polenta because they trust that those few items will be very good. "If they're going to get behind only one jar of Greek olives, then they're sure as heck going to make sure it's the most fabulous jar of Greek olives they can find for the price," explains one former employee. To ferret out those wow items, Trader Joe's has four top buyers, called product developers, do some serious globetrotting. A former senior executive told me that Trader Joe's biggest R&D expense is travel for those product-finding missions. Trade shows that feature the flavor of the moment "are for rookies," a former buyer said. Trader Joe's doesn't pick up on trends -- it sets them.

More at link.

[Danke]

Meat seems expensive at Trader Joes.

[donnay]

Forget the grocery stores and find a local farmer and rancher. Buy local for the win!

[Anti Federalist]

I wonder what it is about Walmart. Why do so many people have stains on the crack of their pants? Is it something they sell that causes that?

PM AF.

Huh?

Somebody call for my services?

[Anti Federalist]

[amy31416]

I like all of the stores for different reasons. I don't like traditional supermarkets, for the most part, though.

Wegman's was my favorite. I liked Trader Joe's and Whole Foods too. Oh--but my absolute favorite was a place called Erie County Farms--cheap, insane and an amazing selection.

[amy31416]

P.S. Ban AF.

[oyarde]

I was always told Aldi is where you go if you are on food stamps.

I pick up smoked , bone in hams there sometimes. Usually about a buck to 1.30 a lb .They are as good as what I have turned out of the old smoke house .Great place for olives too.

[Danke]

I pick up smoked , bone in hams there sometimes. Usually about a buck to 1.30 a lb .They are as good as what I have turned out of the old smoke house .Great place for olives too.

A store that owns "traders". They even do business with injuns?

[Danke]

P.S. Ban AF.

Thank you.

[Schifference]

Raise your own Rabbits.

[oyarde]

First time I went to Aldi, I had to leave all of my items because they only take cash, which I didn't have at the time. Perhaps a sign at the front was in order.

Ya also need a quarter dollar to get a shopping cart.The Mrs makes me leave one in her console in case she wanted to stop there .

[oyarde]

A store that owns "traders". They even do business with injuns?

Yep , just like me ,they take cash from everyone .

[oyarde]

A store that owns "traders". They even do business with injuns?

I have never been in a Trader Joes, that is offensive , name of the Injun in Tom Sawyer and all

[oyarde]

My favorite local Chinese place is cash only as well .Local coin shop is cash , they also accept checks & IOU's from me .

[dannno]

Zippy is right, Haggens is a disaster. They raised their prices and didn't bring in any better quality. They let go all of the special needs baggers, now they are suing Haggens.

Meat seems expensive at Trader Joes.

Ya but it's better quality. Try finding a good quality supplier of grassfed ground beef for under $5.99/lb - TJ's imports it from New Zealand and it is cheaper than all the other local high quality grass fed beef.

Bacon - I would NOT recommend eating bacon regularly if bought from the grocery store. TJ's sells some good bacon that uses natural celery salt in the curing from pigs that have some access to pasture.

I get very high quality eggs from chickens that are pretty well cared for and have a diet supplemented with greens, giving their yolks a nice orange color. They are cheap from TJ's, high quality eggs at most places are at least $1 more per dozen.

I do get meat from the grocery store occasionally, but usually it's for bbq's where I'm feeding a few other people and I will look for manager's specials - for the quality, standard grocery store meat prices usually seem expensive to me, as a value comparison I think TJ's has most grocery stores beat for prices/value.

As compared to health food stores, their prices on other meats are actually quite competitive. TJ's is a great way to eat healthy on a budget - Whole Foods and other health food stores tend to be a bit pricey.

[TaftFan]

Ya also need a quarter dollar to get a shopping cart.The Mrs makes me leave one in her console in case she wanted to stop there .

I just grabbed one that someone failed to put up, lol.

That reminds me, they certainly don't have extra employees around. There were four lines but one cashier.

[kcchiefs6465]

I was always told Aldi is where you go if you are on food stamps.

Aldi's actually has some good prices. Produce was fresh, all around, at the few I've been to. I liked their prices and relative quality in food.

Check it out if you haven't gone there.