Another Day Another OS wrote:
> Well Walmart certainly could pay higher wages, but then they couldn't
> keep their prices so ridiculously low... and there in lies the
> contradiction of the average American - they want to earn union wages,
> but they want to drive Volkswagens, Volvos and Honda. They say they
> care about losing manufacturing jobs, but IKEA makes & sells all the
> chic and trendy stuff they gotta have. $18 an hour for a cashier makes
> us feel all warm and fuzzy until that .39 can of beans cost $1 and then
> the idea that waving a hand over a scanner constitutes a career makes
> less sense.
>
> If Walmart started paying wages on par with specialty stores like TJs
> and Whole Foods the complaint would be that the lack of a low cost
> retailer, like Walmart, is hurting the poor.
>
> Economic literacy is not the average Americans' strong suit.

Trader Joes is a discount market.

Karen

On 2006-11-08, Karen > wrote:

> Two buck Chuck is literally not what it used to be.

Heh.... True. Now, it's tastes like what you pay for it.

nb

On 2006-11-08, Karen > wrote:

> what I meant was, it does not taste the same. The wine is different.
> It's more like Two Buck Puke.

I wouldn't say it's that bad, but it's not what it used to be.

nb

Karen wrote:

> Trader Joes is a discount market.

mmm, yes and no. They discount what are typically considered upscale
and luxury items. For staples, milk, bread, canned goods etc, they're
prices are considerably higher than Walmarts. Because they use the
store brand thing so effectively it hard to make a straight up
comparison on a lot of items, but the items we bought when we were there
the other day were mostly basics that we buy all the time and when
checked against a Walmart receipt from two weeks ago were about 25%
higher cost.

In article >,
Another Day Another OS > wrote:

> Karen wrote:
>
> > Trader Joes is a discount market.
>
> mmm, yes and no. They discount what are typically considered upscale
> and luxury items. For staples, milk, bread, canned goods etc, they're
> prices are considerably higher than Walmarts. Because they use the
> store brand thing so effectively it hard to make a straight up
> comparison on a lot of items, but the items we bought when we were there
> the other day were mostly basics that we buy all the time and when
> checked against a Walmart receipt from two weeks ago were about 25%
> higher cost.

I don't have a WalMart nearby....but I do find TJ's eggs more expensive
than any grocery store around. At under $2 for cage free/hormone free
eggs they are sometimes even cheaper than conventional eggs at Safeway
or other chain grocery stores. Milk is less expensive as well. Butter
is always less expensive and sometimes cheaper than Costco.

marcella

On Thu, 09 Nov 2006 07:41:06 -0800, Marcella Peek
> wrote:

>but I do find TJ's eggs more expensive
>than any grocery store around.

Hi Marcella,

I believe you meant to say "less."

All the best,
--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

On Thu, 09 Nov 2006 07:41:06 -0800, Marcella Peek
> wrote:

>I don't have a WalMart nearby....but I do find TJ's eggs more expensive
>than any grocery store around. At under $2 for cage free/hormone free
>eggs they are sometimes even cheaper than conventional eggs at Safeway
>or other chain grocery stores. Milk is less expensive as well. Butter
>is always less expensive and sometimes cheaper than Costco.

No WalMart near me either and CostCo sells in such large quantities
that it's not worth it to buy milk there for only two people (one who
never drinks milk and the other one who mostly cooks with it).

When I've noticed prices on staples, they match or beat Safeway in
milk, eggs and butter. I don't use TJ's as my main grocery store
(it's not meant to be), but if I'm there and need any of those items
I'll pick them up. No need to run to Safeway just for that anymore.
As far as bread, the selection at TJ's is great... a lot better than
most Safeways.

--
See return address to reply by email

Another Day Another OS wrote:
> sueb wrote:
>
>> What ever you do, don't get the Vrut!
>>
>> I'm not a big TJ's fan. A lot of it has to do with the employees. I
>> once stopped in a store at 4 in the afternoon after working out at the
>> gym. I grabbed some salmon, a bag of frozen gyoza, and a big tin of
>> Altoids. The checkout girl asked if it was my lunch.
>
> I have to add my two cents here... We made our second trip to TJ
> yesterday afternoon and while the crowd we saw the first time was gone
> and we were able to pick up a few things our encounter with the
> employees was less than encouraging. TJs seems to have followed the GE
> model of hiring the - service jobs are beneath us crowd from the
> immediate neighborhood - in fact many of them reminded me of the former
> Shop -N Save crew that I desperately avoided when I lived in Squirrel Hill.
>
> We couldn't get anyone to help us find what we were looking for and when
> we located the stuff and went to check out, it was all the cashier could
> do to tear herself away from her conversation with her co-worker and
> trouble herself to check us out.
>
> Whatever Whole Foods does to hire their pleasant and helpful, if a bit
> quirky and sometimes too familiar staff, Whole Foods is about the only
> store in the city that has figured out a way to keep the sneering at the
> customers they loath element out of their employee ranks.
>

I have to say that I went to Trader Joe's in Pittsburgh last night and
didn't have this experience at all. The staff was helpful and friendly.
In fact, I couldn't find any ginger "Cat" cookies and when I mentioned
this to the person checking me out he actually went and looked at a
display that said there were ginger cookies, trying to find some for me
and it turns out that they were out. Maybe you went on a "bad" night.

Heidi