Thursday, November 6, 2008
Bites First Glance: A Look Inside Trader Joe's
Posted by Carrington Fox on Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 11:29 AM
There may be, as my rose-colored colleague puts it, a hint of “institutional fun” about Trader Joe's, the happy Hawaiian-themed grocer that opens its first Nashville store in Green Hills tomorrow. And the oversized album covers, Hatch Show Print-style graphics and tiki-tinged guitars that now adorn the former Wild Oats space do look a little like the stage set for a community-theater double-feature of Oklahoma and South Pacific. But after a recent tour with store “captain” John Uebbing, I'm sold on the fun, institutional or otherwise.
Let's just say Captain Uebbing had me at “open sampling policy.” As we passed a particularly caloric and intriguing aisle loaded with peanut butter cups, dark chocolate-coated edmame and all-natural fruit leathers, the Captain reached for a bag of dried hibiscus flowers and asked if I'd like to taste one. He quickly assured me that he was not just currying favor with the media, but that he would make the same offer to any customer who was curious about an item.
“What will you do with the rest of the hibiscus?” I asked, assuming no one would need more than one of the dessicated blooms, which look like a cross between a baby octopus and a dried cherry and taste a lot like the latter.
“I'll walk around and offer them to other customers,” he explained, adding that the company learned early on that it would more than make its money back on such giveaways. (Indeed, I am now awaiting the opening of the store so I can buy my own bag of $1.99 dried hibiscus and a boatload of 49-cent fruit leathers.)
The same marketing logic drives the sampling station in the back left-hand corner of the store, where there's a veritable buffet of freebies, from soup samples to carrot cake and artichoke dip with crackers. So you're almost guaranteed a free meal at TJ's.
While the majority of the items in the store are private labeled, making it hard to compare prices with other retailers, prices seemed reasonable across the board. A few examples:
Handmade chicken burritos, frozen: $2.49
18 oz. frozen haricots verts $2.49
16 oz. shampoo $2.29
2-quart apple juice $2.99
1 gallon milk $3.49
1 gallon organic milk $5.99
Dozen large eggs $1.79
½ gallon organic not-from-concentrate orange juice $3.99
½ gallon OJ from concentrate $1.99
1 lb. dried cappellini $0.99
The fun begins Friday, Nov. 7. Trader Joe's opens at 9 a.m., and customers who get in line before 8:30 a.m. will receive goodie bags and a chance to cut the ceremonial lei.
Located at 3909 Hillsboro Pike (phone: 297-6560), Trader Joe's will be open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. As always, if you get there, please report back on Bites.
Comments (19)
Showing 1-19 of 19
Ooh, I can feed myself everyday with stops at Whole Foods, TJ's and Harris Teeter!
like
dislike
Anyone else notice a permit was pulled for a liquor store in Grace's plaza( right next to TJ's?) Could it be that's where they're planning to sell the 2 buck?
oh, surely some byzantine Metro code prohibits something so easy - like, you can do the midtown and frugal thing (beer store on one side, liquor store on the other) only if you start with liquor first but you can't go the other way around? I mean, everything about these laws seems designed to aid the existing alcohol beverage purveyors, so surely they didn't forget to keep this opportunity closed?
and if it's this easy, why the heck hasn't Whole Foods already done it? There was (were?) a gazillion square feet available when they started that project, now their store already seems small compared to other Whole Foods I have visited, and that's without making room for any adult bevvies.
mind you, I hope you're correct. I'm just not counting my chuck before it's plucked, so to speak...
Due to this pesky thing called a job, I won't be making it to the grand opening, but I will be going as soon as I get off work! I can't wait!
The liquor store trying to go into the Grace's space isn't Trader Joe's-affiliated; it's something called Nirvana. If they do indeed get permission to open, there's no way TJ's will get to have a liquor division - it's like five feet away.
I've been dreaming of a Trader Joe's since I moved from Boston to Nashville seven years ago. Now that the day has come, I think I can wait a bit longer for the initial novelty-flocking crowd to settle down. Please let me know when I can easily find a parking space to pack my car with awesome frozen meals and exotic snacks!
To those TJ newbies down in Nash, this store will change your life! Let your tots crack fellow shoppers' shins with their mini-carts while you purchase the makings of a mean chicken curry made with like 3 ingredients! Or throw frozen petit pois and proscuitto into their frozen bag o' gorgonzola gnocchi and pretend like you slaved for hours...
Got to TJ's today. It was difficult to park, and the store was crowded, but the staff was endlessly cheerful. I scored some English toffee, fruit leathers, whole wheat pasta with flax, and some cheese, as well as some frozen items (orange chicken, veggie samosas, edamame). Their selection of salsa was also better than any other place I'd seen in terms of quality and price. I nabbed some chipotle and habanero lime.
Big Fella just returned from TJ's and here's the report: brats $3.99, which is two bucks less than WF, $1 less than Harris Teeter. Oranjeboom beer,never spotted on this side of the ocean, 6.99. Chocolate covered cherries, 12 oz for $4.49. Last week's chocolate covered raisins, same weight, $4.99 so a significant saving.
Captain Uebbing. Captain Steubing. Too close to be a coincidence, me thinks. Did he look anything like this?
I made it to TJ's Saturday morning. And my input is roughly the same as Kira's. The parking is just as much of a pain as it was when it was Wild Oats. But the folks at Grace's Plaza are being totally uncool about use of their lot.
Anyhoo, yes, a total madhouse but the employees were great. Though it was early in the day. But there were lines just to look at products.
I will say that I wouldn't call most of the stuff a total bargain. Bananas were cheap, but a lot of other stuff seemed to be priced comparable to Kroger, Whole Foods, etc. The big difference was that there was so much offered that's not available anywhere else and the selection of prepared food was big. But that's not really what I buy. Regardless, I still managed to spend $90. So I obviously enjoyed the trip.
Just a tip for those like me who are really missing the 2 buck- go to redwhiteandfood.com and sign the petition. It is not only the partition of a wall that is stopping TJ's from selling the wine it is the fact that our antiquated liquor laws in TN are arranged so that if TJ's sells Charles Shaw at $2.00 then everyone with a retail wine permit must also have the right to sell it at $2.00 and thus negates TJ having a position of profit when bringing this product to our area. The only reason the empty space next door is not a TJ's Beer and Wine store is the fact that they loose their exclusivity on all of their products under out law.
not sure I agree with TJ's insistence on exclusivity. They could always make their special buys available to the local distributors, for all the harm it would do to their in-store sales. Trust me, they have nothing to fear, those guys don't buy anything new or adventurous. And if they did, by the time it wound up in a local beverage store it wouldn't be close to TJ's price point.
Let the market prevail and let the ridiculous advantages the liquor distributors think they have won fall around their feet.
OK, first off: My Steubing comment and link was funny, but neither Lesley, peter nor SL made any reference to it, so I'm sitting in my office pouting.
OK, I'm over it now. But anyway, as a single guy ("bachelor" sounds kind of creepy to me), I have to say TJ's is a godsend. And I do think it's very reasonably priced. Lots of prepared and frozen food that is actually good. I even found a frozen veggie burger that I like: Dr. Praeger's. It's not dry and lame, like so many.
I've been twice, I love TJ's, and compared to others I've been all over the country, this one seems to be laid out better and have larger aisles. My family seems to think they purposely find buildings w/ lousy parking b/c they know folks are going to come anyway, this one is no exception. We walked on Saturday and then had no problems with parking around 7:30pm on Sunday night.
