Well I’ve been to both Trader Joe’s (TJ’s) and Whole Foods (WF) and I experience a world of difference. First of all, TJ’s is owned by a German company, but they know how to run a good company as TJ’s is ranked #20 in the U.S. as the best place to work, and the atmosphere evidences that. People seem happy and the food is great. We live in AZ so our TJ’s has employees and customers who love Trump and are not stuck in hippiedom.
WF on the other hand seems dour, unfriendly, and very hippie-ish - the same vibe I get from Sprouts. I go to TJ’s all the time here and love it - they have menu and cheese samples and wine tasting every day. It’s almost like a destination here. I never go to WF and rarely to Sprouts.
However, I’ll have to see if they ever play “Sweet Home” - they’re always playing old pop songs - usually pretty good music.
Trader Joe’s is AWESOME.
.
I am a nutritionist who specializes in diet and supplementaion.
I rate as follows:
Trader Joe’s: brilliant business model; very limited and erratic supplement department; virtually no product knowledge.
Whole Foods: overpriced, unless an item is bought in volume and sale-priced; fair-to-good supplement department (depending upon store size and location); unreliable product knowledge.
Sprouts: in-between pricing; some high-quality products in supplement department; product knowledge unknown to me as yet (too new to my area).
I shop for produce at TJ. Most of their supplements are little better than at a pharmacy chain - with even less selection; there are exceptions (such as Pycnogenol, which is a trademarked product). The employees are usually interested in a healthful lifestyle, but ignorant about nutrition and supplementation. The chain waits until a product becomes mainstream, then buys the cheapest source they can obtain for mass marketing.
I rarely shop at Whole Foods. They do tend to be large, and sometimes have products that smaller stores do not. Being on the Big Board, they stay away from anything controversial, even if it is clearly legal (such as raw milk in California). Although they have a fairly good supplement selection, there are glaring omissions; any questions about any product not very mainstream elicits a perplexed response from staff.
Sprouts: I am just starting to shop there. Their prices are better than WF, and there supplement department is vastly superior to TJ. I do not yet have an idea of employee product knowledge.