Trader Joe's will open its first store here in Prescott AZ on March 9. People here are all leaped up--we've been lobbying for a TJ's for years. And with good reason: TJ's is a great place to shop. Excellent food and produce at reasonable prices. Stupendous bargains in good, inexpensive wines from around the world. Friendly, courteous service.

Anyone here have experience with Trader Joe's?

Love the place, TB.

I used to have to go way out to Hewlett to shop there (there's a Riverside Chapel right around the corner, that's how I became familiar with it). But today there are a couple in Westchester, so sometimes I'll shoot up there.

The place is DEFINITELY worth the drive.

Love, love, love Trader Joe's. High quality and good prices. What more could you want?? I love their pizza, their cheeses, caviar, pate`, their frozen fish is excellent, they have the best frozen green beans I've ever had, and their desserts are too amazing for words. I didn't even mention their cookies and chocolates!!!

We don't have one here, but it's about a 15-20 minute drive into NJ, which isn't too bad.

I've never been to one that sells wine, but I'm not surprised that they have good selection and value.

Never been to one -- just checked, and there's one about 30-40 minutes north of here. I'll check it out. No wine there, though...

You know there is a TJ's right in my area by my daughter's house. I think I've been there maybe twice in my life. It IS nice but always packed.

I really can't comment on prices and such but I do know they have a variety of foods and it looks like a nice store. I just never feel like waiting in lines that I've seen there. I'll have to take the time sometime and check it out good.


TIS

Now I want to jump in the car and go there. UGH! So many delicious things to choose from....

Is it comparable to stores like Wegmans?

I might, if TJ's was larger or Wegmans was smaller. Perhaps a mini-Wegmans?

A good description. I like them both. Trader Joe's is too far for me though. One is going up in State College, which is about 90 minutes away. There are some outside of Philly and one in Maryland, but that's also 90 minutes. Wegman's is just 15 minutes. I understand that Wegman's is a verey good place to work.

All of this talk about food places - that we don't have in the UK by the way- is making me very hungry.......

I was gonna say, "do you even have (real) food in the UK?" ... but according to Chef Ramsay it's not too bad over there these days

We get by on crumpets,scones,tea,roast beef and yorkshire puddings.........

...to say nothing of Spotted Dick and Toad in the Hole...

Wegman's is very impressive, but their stores are HUGE--the one near my brother in law in central NJ practically bends with the curvature of the earth. TJ's typically are 14,000 squre feet or less. They have a broad range of products, but they specialize in brands they select for quality and value, vs. the multiple choices you get in a typical supermarket.

The TJ's in Westfield NJ sells wines. So do those in SoCal and Nevada. If anyone wants recommendations for great values in wines, PM me.

You probably already know this, TB. But when you're in Florida, you can NOT beat Publix for discounted wines .

Better than $11.99 (everyday) for a magnum of Bolla at my Buy-Rite?

I said in Florida, you pineapple .

PB, we spent two weeks in Surfside last month, within walking distance of a Publix. They had some fairly decent buys in standard brands. TJ's strength is in wines it brings in on its own label (TJ Coastal, TJ Organic, etc.), as well as those it brings in on exclusives or near-exclusives (Black Mountain, Napa River, Trellis, the "Moon" wines), and selected overseas wines.

Here in AZ, TJ doesn't do well competitively with its pricing of standard brands, like Mondavi, Concannon, Smoking Loon, etc. I think state taxes on alcohol are lower here. The supermarkets regularly run sales in which you get 10% off when you buy six or more (mixed six), and often go to 30% or more off. So, you can buy the abovementioned brands for as little as $5.30/bottle; Beringer for $4.99; Sterling for about $8; and sometimes Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc for a little under $10. Plus we have Costco, which sometimes comes in with amazingly low prices, like Blackstone Merlot for $4.50 and BV Coastal for $5. None of those are great wines, but they'll do for everyday drinking.

I haven't seen any great wine buys in the supermarkets in Florida. I end up in Costco or ABC Liquor for wine when I'm down there, and both offer great selection and prices.

You guys have had me jonesing for a TJ's run, so I talked my daughter into going with me after haircuts this afternoon (I had to bribe her with an M&M McFlurry first), but then I remembered that I had to get home to marinate the cutlets for the grill. Long story short, my mother never took them out of the freezer and I ended up running to Costco for a rotisserie chicken for dinner. So, no cutlets in my lovely OJ marinade and no Trader Joe's. All in all, a disappointing evening.

Ohhh, the cup dashed from the lips.

I guess I just have a soft spot for the place because I think it's the best supermarket in the state .


That's all I'm interested in, everyday drinking .

Well, whenever someone cares to start a thread on the virtues of UK cooking (of which I have always been quite interested), you can count me in!

Signor V.

How does Trader Joe's compare to Whole Foods?

I only eat my own spotted dick....i tend not to touch anyone elses..........

If you could do that, you'd never leave the house. Buth then again, who would?

That's the hot issue here, Lilo:

We have New Frontiers market here, which is directly comparable to Whole Foods and Fresh Fields--quality produce, gourmet foods, etc. TJ's competes directly with those items. TJ also sells wine and beer--New Frontiers doesn't. People here were agitating for TJ to come here for years, and New Frontiers used its clout to block them every time--until last year, when the city cut an innovative deal with a developer.

The consensus here is that TJ might kill off New Frontiers because of the direct competition. TJ probably will hurt Cost Plus/World Market, which sells wine and beer, some gourmet foods, and other stuff (furniture, carpets--really bizarre mix of stuff) located close by. On the other hand, TJ is located right below a fairly new mall that has been devastated by the recession (about a quarter of the space is empty). It is bound to bring lots of traffic from Sedona and Flagstaff, and people who come from there are likely to visit the mall and other Prescott businesses.

BTW: does Whole Paycheck sell alcoholic beverages?

Duh, that's where the name comes from, TB. Drunks go there to spend their whole paycheck.

...am I correct in assuming that you buy your alcohol at Publix instead of Whole Foods?

Whatever's on sale, TB .

I went to a Whole Foods for the first time a few weeks ago. I found some things very reasonable, and some things ridiculously overpriced. I think I would compare Whole Foods more with Fairway than Trader Joe's.

First of all, I got a $3 chardonnay at Whole Foods that was actually drinkable. It was a tad sweet for my taste, but my daughter, who just started drinking wine, loved it. I also got a $5 merlot, but haven't cracked it open yet, so can't comment.

Their sushi and their hot sandwiches were very inexpensive and fresh. We bought four different sushi rolls, and all of them were delicious. The price ranged from $6-$8, but I can't remember if there were 9 or 12 rolls in each. The herb-encrusted roast beef sandwich was only $7. They also had a very nice coffee and gelato bar, and their prices were no more or no less than anywhere else.

Their bakery was expensive, but everything looked top shelf. Their cakes looked gorgeous, but too pricey for me to try. We ran out of time before I could really look at much else, so I can't say what the other areas were like, but since they were advertising organic eggs from uncaged chickens, I'm guessing expensive.

Overall, I still like TJ's better, but Whole Foods was certainly a pleasant experience.

I love Trader Joe's. We have a bunch of them around here, so it's never too difficult to find one.

Yes, California is TJ territory. I hear some of their CA outlets sell spirits as well as wine and beer.

Meanwhile, a Five Guys outlet opened up in the same area as our TJ. We had a thread within the last year or so discussing fast food joints. If I recall correctly, In 'n Out came in first, closely followed by Five Guys.

UPDATE: After more than a year of waiting and being leaped up, TJ's finally opened this morning. But, I couldn't get near it because every parking space was taken and the line of cars extended out to a state highway. I hope nobody got crushed when the doors opened.

Local paper says a Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage(?) store will open here in the summer. Anyone here familiar with that chain?

Just noticed that TJs has the nerd certificate of approval: the character Raj on The Big Bang Theory buys his wine there.

If you ever buy popcorn already popped, TJs Olive Oil Popcorn is really good. Two dollars for a big bag.

I LOOOOOVE that popcorn!!!!

Of course you do. It's food.

I finally walked over to the new TJ just now. Like I died and went to heaven. The wine prices are even lower here than in CA and NV. Oh, boy!

Did you buy any, TB?

You bet! Now that I can walk there, I can buy in small quantities and walk home with them. I did a review of some of their wines for local friends. If anyone wants to read the reviews, PM me.

Trader is much cheaper than Whole Foods. Whole Foods has far more variety and a more upscale crowd. People at Whole actually know what quinoa and tempeh are. In other words, they attract more food snobs.

Trader is more of a frozen items and cold cuts crowd. Especially in Queens and Long Island.

TJ's presence is shaking up some of the other stores. This week Costco and the supermarkets are running big sales on wine.

I learned that 700 people applied for jobs at our TJ's. They hired 43, and 25 current employees from other stores asked for transfers here. That makes 68 employees to staff a store that's open 13 hrs/day, 7 days/week.

A TJ's opened on Staten Island last year. It doesn't have a big parking lot, and is a nightmare on Saturdays. When we got married in 2007, we bought cases of wine from TJ's. We put custom made labels on the bottles, and used them as our wedding favors.

Finally got to TJ's. I bought something I never saw there before - linguini with clam sauce from the freezer section. It was surprisingly good. I also bought a frozen pear tarte, which I think is new, but haven't tried it yet.

Trader does not even selling frozen peaches. Unreal. For some reason they just won't carry it.

Great idea.

The thing I HATE about TJ and WF and all these other stores are the huge lines that you often find in them!

When TJ opened here, I was afraid people were going to get trampled to death when the doors opened for the first time. Guy I knew told me he went in that morning and had to wait a half-hour to check out. It's calmed down considerably since then.

Lou, you're not kidding! What the hell were these builders/architects thinking when they designed the SI store?

You cannot even maneuver through that parking lot! No room to pass if another car is coming in the opposite direction. Limited parking spaces, and no pull in or back out room from many of the parking spaces if you are even able to find one. As you correctly pointed out, a friggin nightmare.

I've attempted to go there on 3 different occasions but gave up each time after being unable to access the parking lot on the first two occasions and not being able to find or fit into a parking space on the third occasion!

I was told that the S.I. location doesn't even sell wine as they do not have their liquor license. Do you know if this is true?

...sounds like the parking lot at the Publix in Surfside FL.

I like Trader Joe's a lot. They have sweet tea in gallon jugs that are actually sweet tea, not whatever is in the arizona or lipton sweet tea containers.

They have a lot of great stuff but they are an hour away.

Before TJ opened here, the nearest ones werein the Phoenix area, 100 miles away. So, when I was in Phoenix, I had to make a special trip to TJ and basically bought four or five cases of my favorite TJ bargain California wines to stock up until the next time I was in the area. Now that they're within walking distance, I've been experimenting with their European and South American wines, lugging six at a time in a cloth wine carrier. Nearly all of them have been excellent bargains. I've also been able to be more adventurous with their foods. Their Cuban wrap is very good. Sliced cheeses are excellent.

We had chicken tonight and I made TJ's vegetable bird nests with it. They are carrots, onions and kale in a tempura. Just delicious.

An EXCELLENT lunch sandwich.

That just sounds mouthwatering at its finest right there.

You live in Falls Church?

This past summer I was living in Arlington (Rosslyn), great place for young professionals like myself. Lots of my work colleagues were talking about buying houses,etc in the Falls Church area...

I lived in Rosslyn for quite a while. The whole Metro corridor from Rosslyn to Ballston is a lively place!

I'm actually just over the border from Falls Church in Fairfax County. It's funny, because when people ask where the neighborhhod (Pimmitt Hills) is, we inevitably end up saying, "It's behind the Trader Joe's," and then they know where it is.

When I was still working in funeral service, I used to do quite a bit of business in the Falls Church area, at National Funeral Home/National Memorial Park.

Whenever we'd take a funeral from New York to Arlington, we'd inevitably have to pick up paperwork at National Funeral Home in Falls Church. Nice area.

I know what you mean, while living in Rosslyn I used to tell people I lived next to "Ray's Hellburger" which is a very famous burger joint that Obama goes to.

Trader Joe's does not even sell frozen peaches. Unreal.

Mango creamsicles - just ate a whole box in a day!