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Posted on 07/11/2011 11:14:36 AM PDT by La Enchiladita
The first one I shopped in was in Glendale. I think it was the original. Trader Joe has not looked back since. TJ’s rocks.
You cannot beat the quality and prices combined. I went there for brie yesterday. Some current faves are the Crunchy Asian Slaw salad kit and the Southwest Chicken Wrap.
I used to shop at the one on Riverside Drive in Toluca Lake and financed the one on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood...good company.
They are building a new store just up the road.
Does that mean we’re gonna have a bunch of hippie protesters hanging around now?
To make amends, Trader Joes could donate some of their shopping carts to the homeless. /sarc
I LOVE Trader Joes... they have so many yummy items, i.e. frozen macaroni and cheese, grilled frozen asparagus, non-cured apple bacon, humus, apple cranberry scones, etc etc, just to name a few.
*Chuckle*
” The first one I shopped in was in Glendale. I think it was the original.”
Yep, it was!
Insider info....the TJ french vanilla half gallon (here $5.99) is made by Haagen Daz
A little history...
“Trader Joe’s Company operates a chain of convenience stores in the United States. It offers cookies, cheese, wine, and other products. Trader Joe’s Company was formerly known as Pronto Markets and it changed its name in January 1967. The company was founded in 1958 and is based in Monrovia, California.”
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=4204435
I like almost everything in there. By the way, their chocolate syrup has ZERO high fructose corn syrup, and recently, I found to my horror, that Hershey’s main ingredient is HF corn syrup.
I used to shop at Trader Joe’s. I stopped shopping there when they started boycotting Israeli goods.
I thought it was the opposite. Some “palestinians” were boycotting TJ’s because they carried Israeli products but not palestinian ones, whatever that would be.
Wow, I just did some googling. You’re right.
“I started shopping at TJ’s in 1976. It was the second one to open. It was on Riverside Dr. in Sherman Oaks. I’ve been in love with them ever since ;-)”
Started in the 1958 as “Pronto Market” and I remember one in LaHabra, Calif.
Trader Joes later, and privately owned, too.
It remained SoCal regional for decades.
They should see how much McDonalds throws in the trash - hour after hour, day after day, year after year.
Billions and billions, no doubt.
The first Trader Joes was actually in Pasadena on Arroyo. That store is still there. I think the second store was La Crescenta (also still there). Maybe the first Pronto market was Glendale?
Correct. Their expansion outside Cal is recent.
Now they go all the way to Boston.
I also remember TJs in Huntington Beach late 70s-early 80s where my brother and I went, in search of bargains on imported beer.
The attached article states that early Pronto Market expansion was in Orange County.
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Trader-Joes-Company-Company-History.html
TJs success has inspired several related types of stores, like Whole Foods, Fresh & Easy, etc.
But I think TJs hits the target so well, that they will survive when some competitors fail.
This market is probably oversaturated, in our area, where Pronto/TJs practically started.
For groceries, we have traditional chain stores, Ralphs, Safeway/Vons, Albertsons, Stater Brothers, then Whole Foods and other boutique healthy food chains and independent, TJs, Fresh & Easy, and then Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costo, Target....all for groceries when the population is NOT growing, incomes are NOT rising.
Some may fail.
Don’t forget Bristol Farms, Gelsons, Smart & Final and Sprouts.
Wow, there ARE a lot of grocery chains around, yet some neighborhoods are not served by ANY of them.
I most prefer a neighborhood “supermarket,” smaller than the big supermarkets, like Bob’s in Santa Monica at 17th and Ocean Park Blvd.
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