Any Trader Joe employees or Fans?

P71 wrote: Kind of an odd post but OK... Trader Joe's sucks. You guys have nothing Vegan, so the hippie that is my g/f won't go there and the "normal" food isn't good enough to warrant me going there. I'll take New Seasons any day of the week. You ask and you shall receive...

Nothing like paying too much for "gourmet" Vegan food. Of course you also live in Vancouver, so I'll forgive your ignorance ;) At least you don't shop at Whole Foods. Honestly, being a true vegan and still buying processed food from a store seems a bit odd, unless you're just going for produce, in which case Farmer's markets are usually a better deal.

There is a great truly vegan grocery store here in SE Portland.

Luckily, my girlfriend is only a vegetarian so she simply doesn't eat poultry, pork or red meat. Which means, meat substitutes, tofu and seafood. I of course still eat all sorts of meat, but many times I have to cook it myself (which is okay since she likes to put too much salt on stuff sometimes)

They just opened a good sized TJ's near us on Johnson Creek (across from a large Fred Meyer, which is pretty balsy, IMO) their wine selection is great and I'll agree that their produce section is pretty sad, but then that is what gardens and farmer's markets are for :)

I am headed to Trader Joe's tonight to pickup some basmati rice and whatever else I can from the shopping list before heading to Whole Foods and Wegmans for the rest of the list.

I never saw TJ's until I moved to California 10 years ago. I didn't realize how far they had expanded. I like everything but the produce. It is not bad, its just that there is better stuff available at the farmers market every weekend. There is also a really nice produce market near my place if I am shopping during the week.

There is a TJ's in Kettering where we used to live and at least one in Cincy (Kenwood) that we frequent more now based on where we live.

Jungle Jim's in Cincy is amazing but a bit overwhelming - http://www.junglejims.com/

And my inlaws live in southwest NY and have a Wegman's in a nearby town (Jamestown) - it is pretty cool. Their peanut butter cream filled doughnuts with chocolate glaze on top are unreal!

We have an Aldi here in Wilmington, along with a Walmart and Kroger, and Aldi generally has the best produce of the 3.

I moved back up north.

I now live across the street from a whole foods.. (Actually pretty damn cheap if you compare their 365 to what it costs for similar quality at a regular store.) And there is a TJ's across town.

ohh yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhzzzzzzzz

Ok now for some replies to your comments to the best of my ability:

Trader Joe's is just owned by Aldi, they let us do our thing, so no worries about going public, and trust me are profits are plenty good NOT to go public.

We have plenty of Vegan products, just look and ask (and a lot of our grocery products are Vegan)

You are right about the meat and produce, while some is good, great even some is just so so and there are better places to buy some produce, hell even I do,

So I think I am still the only person that works there on this board.

Now for the employees: This is tough, you are right it is amazing how friendly most of the "crew" is but we are selectively hired, not just anybody gets hired there, for instance my interview was 3 hours long! You HAVE to like people and for the most part the intensity is added later.

One of the reasons we try to be so helpful and work hard is because Trader Joe's takes care of us with great pay, (i make around 16 bucks and hour and have been there 1 year), we get great benefits, including health care at 20 hours a week and our retirement plan is WOW! They PAY 15% of our wage to an account for free, no matching, no contributions, just give us that money.

Also the Captains/Store managers (oh and they make about 200k) usually have been with the company for over 15 years and they know what works for the store, and they are held accountable for their hires.

Now for some fun stuff...

Our return policy is a no hassle one: If you dont like it bring it back in and we will give you your money back. Lets say you buy a bottle of wine and it was "corked" or you just did not like it because it was too dry or whatever, just bring it back and you will get your money back or a store credit, which ever you prefer.

Now next time you go in ask to try something new, ie a new chip,drink, or yogurt or something that you dont have to prepare (please be in reason) and we are obligated to open it up for you so you can try it, it kind of goes hand and hand with the return policy.

And that being said they first new person and the first "regular" at the Woodbury, MN, Trader Joe's (while i am working, my name is Joel) will get a free snack or bouquet of flowers.

Keep the input coming...

Thanks!

fiat22turbo wrote:

P71 wrote: Kind of an odd post but OK... Trader Joe's sucks. You guys have nothing Vegan, so the hippie that is my g/f won't go there and the "normal" food isn't good enough to warrant me going there. I'll take New Seasons any day of the week. You ask and you shall receive...

Nothing like paying too much for "gourmet" Vegan food. Of course you also live in Vancouver, so I'll forgive your ignorance ;) At least you don't shop at Whole Foods. Honestly, being a true vegan and still buying processed food from a store seems a bit odd, unless you're just going for produce, in which case Farmer's markets are usually a better deal. There is a great truly vegan grocery store here in SE Portland. Luckily, my girlfriend is only a vegetarian so she simply doesn't eat poultry, pork or red meat. Which means, meat substitutes, tofu and seafood. I of course still eat all sorts of meat, but many times I have to cook it myself (which is okay since she likes to put too much salt on stuff sometimes) They just opened a good sized TJ's near us on Johnson Creek (across from a large Fred Meyer, which is pretty balsy, IMO) their wine selection is great and I'll agree that their produce section is pretty sad, but then that is what gardens and farmer's markets are for :)

Yeah, we're all about the local/real stuff. She's the only "real" vegan I've ever known. We have a local produce stand just down the street and grow stuff in our backyard. Nothing like fresh strawberries all summer long!

We usually go to Portland for shopping once a month. Food Fight is the bomb! We really don't like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, but New Seasons is pretty nice. Their fresh lunches are killer.

We find that your average TJ customer is just there for the image. Also, they advertise having Vegan food, and in reality Safeway has more, which pisses off the g/f.

I could care less though. I tell people I'm an "opportunarian". I eat anything I get the opportunity to get my hands on. I like just about everything. VooDoo Donuts Vegan donuts are better than any regular donut BTW... Even my carnivore friends agree to that one!

By far the best grocery store I've ever been to was HEB (here everything's better). Great selection of meat, produce, vegan foods, and pretty much everything and there's always good music playing!!! I've only seen them in TX so dunno about the rest of the country having them, prices were better than the commisary too.

valiant171 wrote: Now for the employees: This is tough, you are right it is amazing how friendly most of the "crew" is but we are selectively hired, not just anybody gets hired there, for instance my interview was 3 hours long! You HAVE to like people and for the most part the intensity is added later.

That's not half bad. I might have to look that into that as a potential place of employment in this hard time. There's a TJ's 3 blocks from my house.

There is a Whole Foods here, but other than that it's Publix or Winn Dixie. The neighborhood WD always smells like bad fish. Not much around here for good markets. SoFla= bleah

P71 wrote:

fiat22turbo wrote:

P71 wrote: I could care less though. I tell people I'm an "opportunarian". I eat *anything* I get the opportunity to get my hands on. I like just about everything. VooDoo Donuts Vegan donuts are *better* than any regular donut BTW... Even my carnivore friends agree to that one!

I was watching Donut Paradise a couple hours ago on the Travel Channel and they went to VooDoo and they filmed someone asking for a couple of the vegan donuts. Can you shed some light on these?

VooDoo Donuts is one of the world's best donut shops (they've been all over TV and magazine articles and whatnot) famous for the eclectic flavors (actual bacon on a donut, fruit loops, and some ahem "controversial" shapes for the donuts) and the fact that you can get married there.

While the regular donuts are delicious, the vegan donuts are made without eggs/butter/animal products and are so light that you could literally eat a half dozen of them and not feel as bloated as a single regular one. The chocolate is pure chocolate and sugar (vegans know how to make wicked chocolate for some reason). If you're ever in Portland, it is definitely a must-stop.

I didnt read the entire thread, so sorry if this is a repost. Anyway, trader joes has 2 buck chuck (actually Charles Shaw brand) wine...if you dont know about it, youre missing out. I much prefer malted hopps and barley to fermented fruit, but, if I must partake in wine, Id rather drink this than some snooty $50 a bottle crap.

The story behind the wine is here. If you havent heard the rumors, theres a few good urban legends about it. Anyway, Our wedding was open bar with only beer and wine offerings. We served Charles Shaw at our wedding, and we ran out of this before we ran out of the free major label domestic beer...lord knows I did my best to keep the race close, but I can only drink so much beer

My sister thinks they are THE BEST grocery store....so for that reason, I think they AREN'T that great. A few years ago, at my Mom's birthday party, my sister made sure we all knew the brownies came from TJ's. So wha? They weren't REALLY any better than a good Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker mix.

TJ's the grocey store for those folks who miss the "good ol' days" of yuppiedom?