I stopped in to a Trader Joe’s about a year ago in the nearby city of Batavia, Illinois to see what all the buzz was about with this nationally acclaimed store. The store is located in a strip mall on the corner of Randall Road and Fabyan Parkway in the far west suburb of Chicago. The store is relatively small compared to the larger supermarket chains such as Jewel and Meijer. The store is even smaller than the upscale Whole Foods and Fresh Market stores. The ability to find close up parking during the inclement weather was not to be accomplished as I parked pretty far away from the entrance and proceeded with kids in tow. I will say that the parking lot is much more shallow than the deep parking lots one gets accustomed to at the large markets.
Upon entering the store, we were greeted with happy smiles and hellos from Trader Joe associates. We grabbed a cart and a flyer. The flyer boasted the seasonal specials and recommendations and we scanned the flyer quickly and proceeded down just about every aisle. The store is not very large so we were able to literally browse every aisle and even managed to consume a few food samples. The employees that offered up food samples seem to really enjoy my children and made them laugh. I will say that the store does a great job of hiring the right people to interact with customers. The atmosphere at Trader Joe’s was very uplifting for a particularly dark rainy day as the crew had on some touristy outfits and you felt a little more upbeat shopping in the store.
My visit to Trader Joe’s involved a purchase of dried strawberries (as spotted in the flyer) and some mango ice tea bags for brewing. The goods purchased were of excellent quality as we used the strawberries as a cereal topping and as a mid day snack. My kids really enjoyed them and I will have to return for another purchase of these as they do not last very long.
The iced tea was extremely refreshing as we had tasted it before when offered at a friend’s house. We swear by this tea as it only costs $1.99 for a box. Trader Joe’s does provide a lot of delicious food items for reasonable prices, though they do have some extremely high prices for some of their items. I would categorize their food offerings as more naturally based and with some exotic offerings that can be difficult to find at your run of the mill grocery chain. I would say this store is a combination of Fresh Market/Whole Foods/ and World Plus Market.
Trader Joe’s has the Fresh Market or gourmet feel with some of the trendier food offerings sold with respect to prepared soups, spices, and even wines. I would say the store also has a bit of Whole Foods influence since many items are organic and preservative free. Trader Joe’s seems international with its retail goods as each aisle reveals international specialties whether purchasing authentic tamales, naan bread, or Jamaican coffee. I plan on making a return visit to try some new items such as the Trader Joe’s soda flavors, different ingredient stuffed raviolis, and even the famous two buck chuck wine. The store will not replace dependency on visits to the large chain grocers, though it does provide the shopper with some exotic alternatives to your everyday meals.
