Today we took a little family trip across town to a place beloved by many, but brand new to us.
I’ve heard about Trader Joes for years. I have friends who do all of their shopping there and friends who go once a month or so to stock up on their favorite goodies.
When they opened up a new Trader Joe’s here in Houston, I knew I wanted to check it out! Unfortunately, the Woodlands isn’t exactly down the street from us.
So we loaded up our cooler and set out for a little road trip! (yes, our sole purpose was to visit Trader Joe’s. We’re a bit wacky if you didn’t already know)
Upon first glance, we were a bit unimpressed.
You see, we’re from TEXAS. There’s a reason they say everything is bigger in Texas. Because it is. Bigger. Everything.
Not Trader Joe’s apparently.
We’re used to MEGA grocery stores. 20+ aisles of groceries and goodies minimum.
From the outside Trader Joe’s looked tiny. From the inside it looked, uncomfortable?
(oddly enough, the comments on my Facebook page lead me to believe that our Trader Joe’s is actually much larger than a typical TJ’s!)
However, as we made our way around the store, I realized that size wasn’t really an issue here. In fact, other than constantly bumping into people, the size actually was an advantage.
I think at most stores, we end up with product overload. Trader Joe’s primarily sells their own brand so rather than an entire aisle of bread, you end up with maybe 10 choices.
That pretty much plays out throughout the whole store. Not a lot of choices, and yet what you want is right there anyways.
All in all, we enjoyed it. Since we bought all TJ brand items, we did not use any coupons and walked out just a teensy bit above our normal grocery budget. BUT, we also bought items we wouldn’t ordinarily buy because we don’t anticipate heading back there very soon.
I hope Trader Joes decides to build a store here in the Southeast side of Houston soon! That will really rev up the grocery wars around here 😉
What are your thoughts? Do you like Trader Joes? What Trader Joe’s products do you have to have?
First off – we love Trader Joe’s!
Hubby loves their hummus and chocolate, my kids love pretty much everything – cereal, cookies, chips.
I love that I don’t have to read the labels because I know they don’t sell products with artificial ingredients and no HFCS. Anything we have ever had from TJ’s has been fantastic. We moved to Upstate NY in December from Indiana (where we had a TJ’s within 50 miles of our house) and were upset when we realized there wasn’t a store nearby. My depression didn’t last long when I contacted the company to see if they’d be opening one anytime soon and found out we’re getting one at the end of this summer. And, it’ll only be a 20 minute drive. 🙂
Yes! I loved not having to really label read!!! I wish more grocery stores would have those standards. I’m jealous! Only 20 minutes away!
I like TJ – when our only options were ones in Arlington and Cambridge, I found them pricey – but the one in Saugus is reasonably priced and much closer to us. I like the small size of the store – I find supermarkets overwhelming!
You know, it felt very expensive as we walked through but we walked oUt with a grocery cart full and it wasn’t that hard on the wallet.
love that yall went all the way to the woodlands to see the store. We do things like that too. Like driving to Katy to go to Hobby Lobby, just to find out they offer about the same things as the one down the street in SE Houston does (less that 2 miles away from us). Maybe we will visit a TJ’s id they ever open one on the south side of 45!
Amber, we’re big fans of the mini impromptu road trip 😉
Not sure we would have driven to hobby lobby across town though! Lol
LOVE Trader Joes!! And yours looks about the size of the ones in my area..
I don’t do all my shopping there, I buy very specific items. And sometimes they are cheaper.. esp since many of the products are organic or more “natural”. We buy brown rice tortillas, Peanut butter, cheese is decently priced.ect..
I actually prefer the smaller stores.. time can be money, too and I can get in and out of TJ in just a few minutes where it would take much longer at a “regular” grocery store. I have also NEVER seen a cranky employee.. they are always so nice. This is not the case at many other stores in my area.
LOVE THEM!!
jenetta
The employees WERE so nice! I was very pleased with the cashier we had and the woman who helped bag. They were friendly and talkative and very nice.
Because we drove so far, we figured we might as well load up. But if we had one closer I think we’d use it in the same way you do. Just pop in for the specialty items 🙂