Projo Subterranean Homepage News

MCT
Trader Joe's grocery store in Albuquerque, N.M.

This email is spreading around Rhode Island like those jokes that circulate among friends:

This is the address for the Trader Joe's location request form. My mother and her friends did it in pa and they got a store! Forward this to your other friends who might enjoy a local Trader Joe's store.

http://www.traderjoes.com/location_requests_form.aspx

Never heard of it? Wikipedia notes that "The October 2006 issue of Consumer Reports ranked Trader Joe's the second-best supermarket chain in the nation, after Wegmans." More:

Trader Joe's describes itself as "your unique grocery store". Products sold include gourmet foods, organic foods, vegetarian food, unusual frozen foods, imported foods, domestic and imported wine, "alternative" food items, and basics like bread, cereal, eggs, dairy, coffee and produce. Non-food items include personal hygiene products, household cleaners, vitamins, pet food, plants, and flowers. Many of the company's products are considered environmentally friendly.

Trader Joe's sells many items from any of several of its own private labels. Such labels are quirkily named by the ethnicity of the food in question, such as Trader Jose's (Mexican food), Trader Ming's (Chinese food), Baker Josef's (bagels), Trader Giotto's (Italian food), Trader Joe-San (Japanese food), Trader Johann's (lip balm), and Trader Darwin's (vitamins). By selling almost all of its products under its own label, Trader Joe's "skips the middle man" and buys directly from both local and international small time vendors.

There are nearly 300 Trader Joe's, in 23 states and Washington, D.C.; there are 16 in Massachusetts, none in Rhode Island.

For more information, you might check out the Trader Joe's fan site, and reviews of the three Boston locations at Yelp ("Real people. Real reviews.).

All three come in at 4.5 out of 5 stars based on dozens of reviews. One reviewer described it as "Whole Foods but cheaper."

Browse the reviews:

-- Cambridge
-- Back Bay
-- Brookline

Each store is different -- from the reviews, it's apparent the the Back Bay location has lots of heat-and-eat prepared foods, while the Brookline store lacks parking. They're generally rather smaller than other chain supermarkets' stores -- more the size of the original Whole Foods on Waterman Street at Butler Avenue, rather than the newer ones on North Main Street (in what used to be University Heights) and at Garden City in Cranston. The Cambridge Trader Joe's is the largest.

If you want Trader Joe's to be one of your shopping choices here, you might follow the link to the form in the email I quote above.

---

4 Comments

pam said:

Thanks for the letter writing campaign info! I LOVE Trader Joes...began shopping there over 15 years ago when I lived in AZ...I hate having to drive to Shrewsbury when I need my Trader Joe's fix. I'd love to see it in Lincoln Mall!

Link | January 29, 2008 12:10 AM
Report Abuse

---

trudy said:

Trader Joe's is great, and I hope they come here.

I was very happy to see Whole Foods come to Cranston, as that is more accessible to those of us in Southern RI than the Providence Whole Foods. That is, until they took to blasting zillion decibel music in the store. What's with that?

I asked one of the checkers if I was the only one it bothered, and she said she has a headache within an hour of starting her shift each time.

No other grocery store I shop in does this. Some have background music, but it is barely audible.

So unhealthy, so un-Whole Foods. So not the place I shop any more, which is unfortunate, because they have a great prepared foods area.

Link | January 29, 2008 2:35 AM
Report Abuse

---

family Johnson said:

Please, one in Westerly would be just great, I'm driving to Ma to get GOOD Food.
Hope they will make it.

Link | February 23, 2008 1:28 PM
Report Abuse

---

violet said:

My brother told me about this store.He lives in Hyannis mass.
He has changed his diet completely,using many of the items for the purpose of eating a healthier diet. I recently had an congestive heart failure and need to lower my sodium intake.
He told me to look on the web site to see if there was a store near me, there were none.It would be great to see it at Lincoln Mall
Please fill one of our many empty stores here,I know it will be great to see one in or near my residence please consider it!
Regards,Violet

Link | November 11, 2008 11:06 AM
Report Abuse

---

Leave a comment

Name:

Email:

URL:  

Remember personal info?

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.