After the daily updates for months on Medical Marijuana coming to Arkansas, now it's TRADER JOE'S IS COMING TO LITTLE ROCK!!!!

Who, what and why is Trader Joe's and why is it newsworthy?

They sell food.

Just a high priced grocery store, small.

https://www.traderjoes.com/

It's a slightly more upscale, slightly more hippie-ish grocery store. Sort of a half-step between the regular grocery stores and something like Whole Foods. A little more expensive than a traditional grocery store, but not unreasonably so.

The main difference is they produce/source their own products, so it's a cool place to go to find and try new and unique things. (Kinda like Aldis, only without the "budget" slant.) You won't find Nabisco, General Mills, Coca-Cola, etc. in there.

In addition to their prepackaged stuff, their cheese and produce is especially excellent. They also tend to have a decent wine and beer selection. Some of that is produced for them, but some is more exotic other brands that you local liquor store may not carry.

Liberal Left Food Store, loaded with pajama boys and Cantabrigians.

it's awesome. Unique stuff and many ready-to-eat food items that aren't just frozen crap.

A lot of their stuff is under their own name, such as the beer, and it's not the worst, but not the best, but generally priced at a fair price point.

If not for TJ's, I'd have starved by now.

quote:

Originally posted by spunk639:
Liberal Left Food Store, loaded with pajama boys and Cantabrigians.

Maybe on the East Coast, but in more normal areas further south/west, there are plenty of regular folks who shop there too.

2 Buck Chuck. All you need to know.

Thanks for the information. Nothing to get all excited about for me and mine. I guess the biggest question most of the denizens of Little Rock will be "Do they accept Food Stamps?"

I'd rather see COSTCO come to Arkansas.

Never bought into the craze.

Been to Trader Joe’s a couple of times and left empty handed. Neither my bride nor I could figure out why that place was supposed to be such a big deal.

Do you have The Fresh Market there? "Kinda-sorta" like that.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Just a high priced grocery store, small.

Not necessarily.

I've been going to Trader Joes all of my life. I don't buy or go for many items on their shelves. But the ones I do like, they are great products for less money than my local Kroegers. They have some very good frozen foods (Mandarin Orange Chicken) and pizzas that are not pricey. Their coffee beans are cheap and not bad. I no longer drink Two Buck Chuck wine , but many folks buy it as an everyday drinkable wine, plus they have a decent selection at competitive prices. Their spices are much cheaper than counter parts in grocery stores. We always buy our eggs, olive oils,and frozen naan there. It ain't Whole Foods, a store I do not like.

It's a smallish, crunchy/hippyish grocery chain.

They cater to the organic crowd.

I've been to them and don't see what the big deal is.

quote:

Originally posted by spunk639:

Liberal Left Food Store, loaded with pajama boys and Cantabrigians.

I learned a new word today.

Cantabrigian |ˌkan(t)əˈbrijēən|

adjective: of or relating to Cambridge (in England) or Cambridge University.

noun: a student or faculty member of Cambridge University.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sNK8LDD_MWk

Sorry don't know how to embed

If there was one near me, I'd go there often.

Generally most excellent breads.

If you are familiar with the Aldi chain of grocery stores, then you have some familiarity with Trader Joe's. You see, Aldi (short for Albrecht Diskont) is a German family-owned chain of grocery stores. Two brothers, Theo and Karl, differed on whether or not to sell cigarettes, so they split into Aldi Nord (North) and Aldi Sud (South).

Expanding into North America, Theo's company created the Aldi brand in the U.S. Karl bought a small chain of California groceries and renamed it to Trader Joe's.

Both chains have a focus on local produce, store-branded products and limited choices. Having both in my area (NoVa), I find Trader Joe's to be a higher-priced "specialty" chain and Aldi more of a limited inventory but lower priced goods.

Check out this link for details.

It's the pretentious person's grocery store.

On the upside, it's a good place to go if you want to find unique stuff.