Trader Joe's in Louisville

Amen, Nimbus. Although my experience with Trader Joe's is limited to my visits to Indy to see my sis and bro, I'm a big fan.

I think it's definitely worthy to remark about the cheeriness of the staff. I would venture to guess they are a good company to be employed by because those people couldn't be nicer.

If nothing else, they pay well:

You can't buy engagement from employees, but the pay at Trader Joe's helps. Store managers, "captains" in Trader Joe's parlance -- the nautical titles are a holdover from Coulombe (newly promoted captains are commanders; assistant store managers are first mates) -- can make in the low six figures, and full-time crew members can start in the $40,000 to $60,000 range. But on top of the pay, Trader Joe's annually contributes 15.4% of employees' gross income to tax-deferred retirement accounts.

Full article http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/20/news/companies/inside_trader_joes_full_version.fortune/index.htm

I think it's definitely worthy to remark about the cheeriness of the staff. I would venture to guess they are a good company to be employed by because those people couldn't be nicer.

My thoughts exactly. If they had the same stuff as Kroger or ValuMarket I'd never set food anywhere but TJ as long as I live. We just got back from another holiday trip to Columbus, OH, to visit my in-laws. Went to TJ Friday and was looking at an item. A staffer came out of nowhere and said, "That's really good, would you like to try some?" I said yes and my mother-in-law, wife and I sampled. The people running the cash registers have ALWAYS (ten years of going to TJ in OH & AZ) seemed like they were unreasonably happy. Even if they marked up the merch, just the attitude would be worth the change - local or not!

So we actually WANT a national chain to come in and increase the competitive pressure on our locals?

Must... resist.. responding...

No, sorry, can't let that one slide by.

As much as I dislike the term "straw man", you're soaking in it Madge.

I can only speak for ourselves, but I suspect the outlets that will get fewer of our dollars are the non-locals like Kroger and Meijer if Trader Joe's comes to town.

That said, we don't tend to be terribly concerned about the "organic" label, but I suspect the competitive pressure there would be on Fresh Market (hi, Richard!) or Whole Foods. On the other hand, my guess is that those who frequent Rainbow Blossom won't switch anytime soon, because that store's more purely organic.

If you're talking produce, Trader Joe's doesn't sell anything by the pound. I believe that their reasoning is it makes the checkout process faster. The perception is that you end up paying more for, let's say a bunch of bananas than you would at Paul's. Besides that, in my opinion Paul's Market keeps themselves competitive with the chain grocers by having the freshest produce around and decent prices.

Wine? Well, there's always two (actually three) buck Chuck. I confess that I partake occasionally, but I don't think the locals have much to fear from the Trader Joe wine department. I can't speak for the rest, but Party Mart and Liquor Barn are pretty darned competitive, price-wise with a better selection.

What other locals do you think would feel the price pressure?

What other locals do you think would feel the price pressure?

I'd guess Lotsa Pasta might take a hit.

[Robin Garr]

What other locals do you think would feel the price pressure?

Steve, to some extent I was thinking about places like Rainbow Blossom, Lotsa Pasta, Doll's, Bergers, and maybe small wine shops like Gemelli. None in exactly the same niche as TJ's, but overlapping, and for small businesses in tough economic times, it's a reality that having a branded operation nearby is going to take some dollars. Maybe I'm wrong. I'd like to think so.

On the other hand, the one thing I know best about Trader Joe is Charles Shaw wines, "Two Buck Chuck" (actually four buck Chuck outside California). I know who makes it and I know how it's made, and I know it's 99 percent hype. Maybe TBC is not typical of TJ's. Maybe it is. But it doesn't leave a really good taste in my mouth, pun intended.

[Robin Garr]

"Two Buck Chuck"

To clarify a little, the issue here is that this wine is sold in tremendous quantity, and it's not consistent. It's bulk wine from a variety of different sources over space and time. It is entirely possible that a random buy might be unusually good; and to TJ's credit, I suspect their QC people don't let real swill into the system. But it's still bulk wine worth what you pay for it or maybe a little more.

We loves us some Aldi's Lambrusco too , but we draw the line at this stuff...

http://www.leasingnews.org/CartoonBank2/Cheap_wine.gif

While I think Trader Joes does carry other wine labels along the same quality level as TBC there are some reasonable wines available and a couple of months ago I saw a bottle of Shafer Merlot at the Indy location on sale for the same price it is offered at the winery.

I'm with Michelle on the day-tripping. It's be ages since I've been, and I don't think Alan has been....we've been talking about it. Might just have to do that in the near future....

As for it coming to Louisville. I'll beleave it when I see it open the doors. Last time the rumor started flying, the wine issue was the reason it didn't materialize.

http://www.burgersmarketlouisville.com

Their prices and selection are not bad at all, we got duck fat and a few other hard to find items there. Most times they can get something for you special order that they don't have on the shelves.

If at all possible I like to keep it local when I can.

I'm in total agreement with you about the selection, but not not the prices. That was my main market for about 5 years when I lived in Crescent Hill. I always thought paying the extra cost of staples was worth the selection of specialty items and I really miss being so close to them. But unless they dropped their margin significantly and I just haven't noticed, they are pricey. Not as pricey as Burger's, though.

I'm in total agreement with you about the selection, but not not the prices. That was my main market for about 5 years when I lived in Crescent Hill. I always thought paying the extra cost of staples was worth the selection of specialty items and I really miss being so close to them. But unless they dropped their margin significantly and I just haven't noticed, they are pricey. Not as pricey as Burger's, though.

I am in agreement about the prices of staple ingredients and clearly Burger's isn't as big as Trader Joe's but for other items there are other places like Creation Gardens. I went up to TJ's once and really enjoyed the selection but I don't see what all the hype is about.

Prices are only mildly important when cooking for yourself but I definitely wouldn't buy anything in bulk from them unless they were beating out wholesale places, which I doubt but is possible with the Wal-Mart of the food industry model.

well, I just finished a almost 3 year stint of working in Indy during the week. Monday turned out to be my stock the pantry day most weeks. Trader Joe's and Kroger were both conveniently located near my office and studio apartment. Typically, I visited both.

I really liked some things at Trader Joe's and I got to be pretty good friends with several of the staff, especially the "sample lady". This is actually pretty easy if you go the same day and time every week because that just seems like the staffing was very consistent. This was very nice for me, because it can get lonely working out of town every week. So, I will always appreciate Trader Joe's for that.

The things I mostly like about Trader Joe's are their better than decent quality rotation of wines, cheeses, and chocolates that they offer at very,very good prices. I also like their quality and prices on their prewashed and ready to use produce, like romaine hearts, baby spinach, mache, arugula, cabbage, mixed greens, brussels sprouts etc.

I did use their coffee for awhile, and they do have good offerings, but their flavor profiles do not match my preferences in most cases. Their olive oils, pasta sauces, pre made hummus, tapanades, fresh salsas, selection of cooking broths, hot sauces in jars, chips, crackers, flat breads are all notable -- all at very good prices.

I'm not a fan of frozen dinners, so I never really got into those. But they do offer a decent selection of wild caught frozen fish that beats the fresh stuff at most super markets, again at very good prices.

So, for me at least, they aren't a one stop shopping destination, but they did improve the quality of my expatriot life -- a lot.

One thing I don't understand is the attraction of Jungle Jim's. The wife and I did make a quick stop there on one of our recent forays to Cincy, and we don't get the attraction. It was a loud and annoying super market grafted on to what looked like a very comprehensive wine store - though one without notably advantageous prices.

It should be noted that we didn't visit the meat department as time was short. I did have the plan of searching out some unique and delicious mustards, which was a complete whiff. Alas, this disappointment might've tainted my whole outlook.

Steve H's description says it well (for those who don't see what the big deal is).

And I echo his thoughts that it is a "quality of life" issue. And I am close friends with at least one other person who feels the same way (she has told me this opinion). Having a TJ's in town will improve my quality of life here.

One thing I don't understand is the attraction of Jungle Jim's. The wife and I did make a quick stop there on one of our recent forays to Cincy, and we don't get the attraction. It was a loud and annoying super market grafted on to what looked like a very comprehensive wine store - though one without notably advantageous prices.

It should be noted that we didn't visit the meat department as time was short. I did have the plan of searching out some unique and delicious mustards, which was a complete whiff. Alas, this disappointment might've tainted my whole outlook.

Now, Jungle Jim's I LOVE!

We eat a lot of ethnic food, and to have separate aisles for Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese foodstuffs, to have fresh veges that just cannot be obtained elsewhere (when was the last time you saw bins of Dragon Fruit, Durian, or even Jerusalem artichokes?), to be able to get dozens of different mustards (did you look in the British aisle? the German aisle? the Eastern European aisle?) or hundreds of hot sauces, to pick out fresh fish swimming in the tank and have it filleted (sp?) right in front of you, to have a 40 foot olive bar and more than 100 feet of cheese, to be able to buy (which we haven't) fresh cow's head, sheep's head, or lamb's head, to be able to buy (which we have) cow tongues or lamb tongues fresh, I could go on buy won't.


Roughly two-thirds of the store is an international grocery (the rest being a "standard" grocery and a large well-stocked wine store). It really sounds as if you only saw the wine store and "normal" grocery, and totally missed the international section. True - it's noisy, crowded, et al, but go back.

You reach it by going through the butcher area, and then if you turn right you hit the enormous produce and then international, while if you go straight or left you hit the "normal" grocery. Go right yooung man!