March 17, 2006
Enter the Trader Joe's Era of Grocery Shopping
Brian Van headed over to Trader Joe's at Union Square this morning, and says it was "crowded as hell." He has a set of photographs on Flickr, and we asked him if people were getting green leis, due to St. Patrick's Day. Brian said no, but:
All of the staff were wearing these quirky-patterned shirts (I'd say hawaiian but I'm no authority on shirt patterns) and were happily greeting people. Balloons were everywhere, mostly green and white for St. Patty's day. And there were a TON of food handouts. So many. One guy gave me a handful of some sort of peanut mix, and I happily scarfed it down... only to find out from the searing sensation in my mouth a second later that it was Thai trail mix.People really love their organic pre-packaged, pre-washed greens, don't they? And we bet the glorious, new-store gleam will disappear after the weekend - everyone will go there to sample food! Curbed says the Trader Joe's wine store is not open for business - perhaps it doesn't want to unfairly compete with the St. Patty's Day bar business.The checkout lines were around the back of the store. As long as any afternoon at the Shake Shack... But, overall, it looks good, real good.
Are you going to Trader Joe's? It sort of looks like Fairway on a Sunday afternoon - bring your protective padding!
Photographs by Brian Van
UPDATE: this story is obviously too large to be covered by a single photographer, so we also took the liberty of sending Gothamist favorite JCN up to snap a few pix:
Holy potassium, indeed!
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everybody in the trader joe's organization wears those shirts. yes, hawaiian.
and there was a good article in the times last week about how they go about choosing what to put in the stores.
it's behind the select wall now though.
I cannot deal with those crazy organic stores- any store that needs a Line Manager is not the sort of place I can shop and not kill someone. Way too crazy for my taste.
Once the initial thrill dies down, I will definitely go there over Whole Foods or Fresh Direct; T.J. has fresh food at much better prices - I predict this will hit Fresh Direct and Whole Foods harder than they suspect.
I am so excited. I plan on getting up early tomorrow for when the doors open, in hopes that everyone else will be too hungover to care.
Probably says something about me that I'd rather eat shitty produce than deal with the crowd.
The shirts are the standard Trader Joe's Hawaiian style worn by all Trader Joe's employees.
there's a gwen stefani joke in that last picture somewhere.
i survived the line at 10:30am. it was crazy but not worse than union square whole foods during peak hours. the staff was great and they have lots of free samples too. the wait was about 10 minutes even though the line wrapped all the way around the store.
0.19 PER banana??????
Is that how they are pricing it or .49 per lb?
Guess they really are catering to the Prepared food/take home meal niche and not bulk food customers.
i'm from so-cal so i was stoked when i heard we were getting a TJs, but i'm totally bummed to see something that was a total staple in my childhood getting the whole nyc mob the next best thing treatment.
No more trips to bloody Long Island for TJ groceries. Oh hell yeah.
Grocerie shppers in NYC are having the best week ever!
I see the Guinness, but I can get that anywhere--do they have Sheaf Stout? I used to love that when I was in California.
walked over at about 1pm. there were 2 lines at the front of the store. one that took about 3 mins just to get in the door. the other was the end of the checkout line that wrapped all the way to the back, and around to the registers in front.
thankfully, there wasnt a line to get the hell outta there.
Yippee! Don't have to mail TJ's goodies to my daughter, in Manhattan, anymore! Have shopped TJ's throughout California. Just went there this morning in San Francisco. The staff is anxious to see what the Manhattan TJ's look like. It's good for NYC. Worth the wait, for good food and good service....
Yes, No more evil 30 minute snaking Whole Foods LInes. Fuck you whole foods and your evil fresh food ways. That's until TJ's starts to get popular and we also get super lines. Hopefully this competition will spur Whole foods to finally open that Houston street place.
TJ's, a convenient place for people who can't or don't cook
I lived in LA and didn't become a fan of TJ's until the grocery strike a few years ago. Supporting my union brothers and sisters, I shopped only TJ's and Whole Foods and grew to love TJ's. I can't wait to stock up on all my fave prepared foods. I do cook, but since nobody else here does, they stand to do a phenomenal trade.
so trader's joe's cheaper than whole foods, then? btw, how does it compare to pricey normal supermarkets around manhattan, like say the ones in the upper west side?
Trader Joe's has great prices.
The new store is laid out similarly to the West Hollywood location on Santa Monica and Formosa, so I felt a satisfying sense of deja vu.
They have three different canned marinara sauces at basically the same price as crushed tomatoes from a regular supermarket, so let the lazy pasta dinners begin.
I wonder if business will slow down when NYers are confronted with the cognitive dissonance that their precious next big thing was not invented in Manhattan. Or Brooklyn.
the best thing about TJs isnt the prices, its the TJ brand stuff like their frozen chocolate covered bananas, the chai tea mix, and the trader giottos pizza. yum!!
You lucky, lucky Manhattanites. Your food shopping will never be the same. Now all you need is a 99 Cent Only Store and I might consider actually moving to New York...I know, I know, you'd rather I didn't. I'll respect that.
searing? please. The peanuts are mild at best (unless you munch a whole chili pepper perhaps, but you wouldn't miss one of those).
TJ will do fine in NY and is looking for more locations which of course they will find in time. They don't like paying high rent and people are finally realizing that if you give them cheaper rent you will get higher foot traffic therefore making all the properties around it worth more. Lastly as a private Co. they bigger they get, the better they will get. The exact opposite is true with public companies.
Is Trader Joe's wet food involved in the deadly pet food scare?
I work at Trader Joes in Sourthern California and let me tell you, it's so much better then the major grocery chains,(Raplhs,Albertsons, etc.) I used to work for Ralphs and we had to pour spoiled milk over our bread that we threw out and don't get me started about their service deli! At TJ's we donate all of our bread the next day to local chairities and organizations as well as our salads and premade meals, we donate groceries, and supplies to schools in our area, and we play great music. Trader Joes is great because we constantly evolve our products and stores based upon what our customers desire. They treat their employees well, which makes for happy customers, which makes for an all around great experience....and the food is amazing. Do you know any other store where you can get a coffee, sample of N.Y. Cheesecake, balloons for your kids, and 99cent eggs, all while listening to Smoke on the Water by Cream on the overhead? Yeah I didn't think so. GO TJ's we've got the best customer service... ASK ANYONE!