Sam - I can’t believe your wife let you live to tell the tale. My husband has Very Strict Grocery Shopping Rules. After 31 years of marriage, he is terrified to disobey.
I’d never pass up Trader Joe’s for Whole Foods, either! Unfortunately, as much as us Hawaii people whine to the TJ people when we travel, they refuse to open a store here! If you vacation in Hawaii, you can tell the local people on the plane, because their carryon is a TJ bag, full of goodies.
That said, I shop occasionally at the Kahala Whole Foods, even though it’s full of Kahalans. Yeuhh... If you can tear yourself away from the high-priced temptations, there are actually bargains to be found.
When my children were visiting in June, I bought a duck. It wasn’t that much more than a frozen duck from Safeway, but it tasted like a different critter. It was unbelievably flavorful, tender and delicious! Just the memory of the flavor brings a tear to my eye!
I frequented TJs when I lived in Los Angeles. I moved back to KC and there is none here but they opened a few years ago, several in the St. Louis area. My sister is a manager there - hopefully they’ll be in KC soon. There’s already a small business of folks taking orders from KC and driving to St. Louis and back with the orders.