DR Jeanne posted:
Yes, you're right about the uniformity.
My first TJ's was, I think, a small one in a little shopping center near what is now Sony Pictures, not far from what was once the Culver Theatre. In those days they just had all sorts of oddball items and didn't try to cover all the bases grocerywise.
There was a large TJ's in San Diego, again with odd assortments of gourmet items. There was hardly ever anyone in the store!
These days I shop at the one on Pico and 33rd (Santa Monica) and (today) the one on Sepulveda and Palms Blvd. (WLA) There are two more near me, but are less convenient due to traffic patterns.
TJ's has done an exceptional job, I think, of staying abreast of trends and customer preferences. Virtually everyone I know shops at Trader Joe's at least some of the time.
That says it all. They had oddball items, they made it clear in the Fearless Flyer (something I'd sit down and read religiously back in those days, marking it up for things to try) that not every store would have every item, and they'd tell you how many pallets or truckloads or whatever that they'd been able to make a deal on for certain items. Whole different scene, man. It's a miracle that the store's core "something" survived as it became a successful national chain.
That one near Sony and the Culver Theatre -- I remember that, if it was one of those original ones that still went by its former name.
Wait a minute..
Pronto! Pronto Markets.
Not sure about the Sepulveda and Palms, but there was one in Palms on National Blvd. that I went to a number of times. One of the originals, in Pasadena, was fun to go to, which I probably only did once. Mine in Redondo/Torrance (in the Riviera Village, to be exact) was one of the few that started a small department with -- I forget now -- deli meats, sausages, etc. -- that I think could be cut to order. That happened shortly before I moved away.
One of my favorite things was a package of three small beef burritos for, like, a dollar (maybe two -- oh hell, I don't know, but it was cheap). To this day, I haven't found a burrito that simple and that good.
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Topic: THE DAY I DID NOT HAVE THE CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER THING (Read 11181 times)