by RichardM » Sun Oct 30, 2011 12:38 pm
Suzi and I went out relatively early this morning after a lazy breakfast at Hillbilly Tea.
Thoughts:
95% of their products are labeled Trader Joe's or some formula of that. So companies are labeling products for them to sell. Much like Kroger, Mierers, Wally-World et. al.
Areas of the store were noticeably empty. In particular the frozen foods were at best 25% stocked. I am not saying low, they had rows upon rows empty. And some thing way overstocked cutting off the cold air flow. There are going to be some thawed shrimps at 1:30 today.
They had pre-packed Sushi that went out of date on 11/10/11. That is 11 days from today. We sometimes get sushi to go from stores, but I am NOT going to get that. Thanks but no thanks.
When we go there the lot had cars in it. We were probably 12-15 cars back from the front. We were inside about 30-40 minutes and the middle rows (closest to the store) were full to the drive lane out. And, you could see all the people lined up inside shopping. Church is out. I would not want to be in there now.
I am not sure who they are a competitor to. Certainly not to my old employer, The Fresh Market. Twenty-four feet of pre-packed and vac-packed meat is not going to compete with 64 feet of fresh cut to order meat. They did have some thing that looked interesting. Stuffed turkey breast for example. I don't see them being a big competitor to Whole Paycheck, except on price. I do see them filling that physical area niche for stop on the way home and pick up something for supper. They have a lot of what I call Lazy Food. I saw packages of diced onions, shallots & garlic and celery, onions & carrots. They did NOT have their beer covered up as required before 1:00 pm on Sundays, but bless them, the spirits store was closed so I could not savor nearly 3 buck chuck with dinner tonight. All their seafood was frozen and the appetizing is not a word I would use to describe it.
It's a grocery store. One that Louisville did not have. In a couple weeks the crowds will be gone. Not someplace we are going to go do weekly shopping. It is a place we will go in a few times a year to see what they have or for specials. I will visit the spirits shop to check it out.
Other things I noticed. I have opened 6 stores in the past 5 years, the Krogers at Hurstbourne/Westport and five for The Fresh Market. Every one of them had store management, district and regional managers at the store, shaking babies and kissing hands. Meeting and greeting. Making their presence known. I didn't see anyone who vaguely resembled that at the store. Maybe it's their policy. When we checked out they did NOT have any handouts to put in the bag and they did not solicit us to sign up for e-mail. And no upsell on their cold bags, even tho we did get some frozen items and cold items. (Policy)
One great thing they do. PAPER BAGS! I hate plastic bags. Too may are used. When we shop at Kroger, I always bag my own order. I can put a 55-70 dollar order for weekly shopping in two paper bags and not mash anything. I don't need 10-12 plastic bags. Trader Joe's you can keep up the paper bags.
I know Barbara is working there and hope she keeps us informed on upcoming events.
Richard
Richard Lord Meadows, Earl of Vienna, Marquess of Morgantown and Westover, Baronet of Parkersburg, and West Virginia’s Ambassador to the Portland Neighborhood.
