Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Where in the world are Trader Joe’s warehouses? (2015)

sburer.github.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 88 posts

Re: Where in the world are Trader Joe’s warehouses? (2015)

#61

Post by rootusrootus »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #34
noduerme wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>stuff like 2 slightly different tomato varieties I'm such an idiot shopper. I was on a date with a girl and going to cook her dinner but I was missing a few vegetables. Went to Fred Myer (local Kroger chain). I was picking up some potatoes and the girl found a stack for half the price that looked just as good, hidden on the other side of the produce aisle. She was like, "you don't look for good deals, do you?" Ugh.…

Oh yeah thats another trick, out the cheaper ones somewhere illogical! They just are doing price discrimination based on how much time you have to hunt for the best deal.

Eh, that's not been my experience at Fred Meyer. The produce section is open, with aisles, and while the organic and non-organic versions of a particular item are not usually next to each other (I could guess why), they're not hidden nor difficult to find. Sometimes the organic is farther back, sometimes up front, you just have to use your eyes -- it's all in plain view.

Re: Where in the world are Trader Joe’s warehouses? (2015)

#62

Post by smm11 »

indigodaddy wrote: post #23
genocidicbunny wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A big part of this is that they are ruthless with cutting products that don't perform well. A good chunk of those ~4000 sku's are dedicated to items that are available for very short periods as they are tested. I think a big part of Trader Joe's success is that they have a good core of staples that people are willing to come in for, and then they have a big selection of new and interesting items that people are willi…

Seems spot on with my experience and shopping there. Well said.

The frozen food section at TJ is an innovation in itself.

Re: Where in the world are Trader Joe’s warehouses? (2015)

#63

Post by toast0 »

rootsudo wrote: post #43
noduerme wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TJs is the bomb. But their choice of store placement is definitely cryptic. It always seems to be a little too far for a regular grocery trip; somewhere close to a hip strip, close to a blue collar neighborhood, but not quite walking distance from either. They have a very specific demographic and I'm sure they've been making shrewd property decisions as well. Here in Oregon they have to compete with New Seasons, whic…

I've never had a great experience with GroceryOutlet and don't understand how they operate or even have a franchise model. But my experiences are from the Seattle Area south to Oregon.

The couple of times I was in one (San Jose), it seemed like most of the stock was liquidated by other stores, and the extremely low frills store vibe was in full effect, so I suspect it's just a simple minimize the costs and hope. There was a pretty decent crowd, so they've got a market of IMHO price sensitive, quality insensitive customers.

Re: Where in the world are Trader Joe’s warehouses? (2015)

#64

Post by JJMcJ »

rmason wrote: post #8

Back in the nineties a very popular East Lansing supermarket announced they were closing. A campaign was raised to get Trader Joes to locate in the space. A major campaign was raised and they gathered a pretty amazing 20-25,000 signatures online. The organizers got a nice letter back from Trader Joes who said they really appreciated their enthusiasm but the East Lansing area was too small a municipal area for a Trade…

TJ's is OK but it's no substitute for a full supermarket.

Re: Where in the world are Trader Joe’s warehouses? (2015)

#65

Post by Jxl180 »

SeanLuke wrote: post #42

Trader Joe's presents an interesting punctuation problem. The most common rule, I think, for forming possessives is rule #1 of Strunk and White: "Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's. Follow this rule whatever the final consonant." But Trader Joe's already has an apostrophe. Should the proper writing of this headline should have been... Where in the World are Trader Joe's's Warehouses? Or should it have been…

If we swap it with Amazon, it sounds correct to say “where are Amazon’s warehouses?” But is it really incorrect to say, “where are Amazon warehouses?”

Re: Where in the world are Trader Joe’s warehouses? (2015)

#67

Post by smm11 »

JJMcJ wrote: post #64
rmason wrote: post #8

Back in the nineties a very popular East Lansing supermarket announced they were closing. A campaign was raised to get Trader Joes to locate in the space. A major campaign was raised and they gathered a pretty amazing 20-25,000 signatures online. The organizers got a nice letter back from Trader Joes who said they really appreciated their enthusiasm but the East Lansing area was too small a municipal area for a Trade…

TJ's is OK but it's no substitute for a full supermarket.

What is a real supermarket?

Re: Where in the world are Trader Joe’s warehouses? (2015)

#68

Post by brewdad »

ghaff wrote: post #40
supernova87a wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember in the beginning of the pandemic they were asked to comment on this, especially about how online ordering and pickup could help people in the situation. The COO (?) specifically said that they preferred to invest in their people and store experience, not automation or such technology. edit: ah, found the articles: https://www.businessinsider.com/trader-joes-wont-offer-groce... https://www.boston.com/food/c…

And delivery runs counter to that if you deliver from one of their stores because you now have pickers for delivery clogging up the aisles. It is an idiosyncratic store. To tell you the truth, I'm not as enthusiastic about them as some people are though I go in from time to time if they're convenient. They have a lot of prepared food and possible healthier and better quality prepared food is still prepared food which…

They've been a lifesaver for my son in college. He's living in a dorm but the housing service has struggled the entire year with staffing, food stocks, and just generally being able to feed kids who don't have 60-90 minutes to spend standing in line.

TJ's is right off-campus and he's able to pick up meals he can prep in his dorm room a few nights a week when a lab or extra-curricular keeps him from being able to get food at the dining hall.

Re: Where in the world are Trader Joe’s warehouses? (2015)

#69

Post by AtlasBarfed »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #30
rmason wrote: post #8

Back in the nineties a very popular East Lansing supermarket announced they were closing. A campaign was raised to get Trader Joes to locate in the space. A major campaign was raised and they gathered a pretty amazing 20-25,000 signatures online. The organizers got a nice letter back from Trader Joes who said they really appreciated their enthusiasm but the East Lansing area was too small a municipal area for a Trade…

I get the sentiment: I was very excited to have an Aldi store being built near me. Great value for money and an almost “grab what you need and you wont get a shock at the till” unlike other stores that do stuff like 2 slightly different tomato varieties one double the price of the other. Another example the coke is always a good price. Other supermarkets keep rotating the 24 and 30 packs prices to pretend there is a…

I'm a big fan of Walmart's generic soda. 70-90 cents for a 2-liter from what I've seen. I particular Diet Dr Thunder, generic dr pepper is a litmus test for me in generic soda brands.

Their diet stuff flies off the shelves, so that HN story about diet soda "spoiling" (was it methlyation?) isn't a problem. I doubt it lasts even a day on the shelf.

Their kettle salt+vinegar potato chips, orange "yogurt" (comparable to yoplait orange cream "yogurt"), generic life cereal is all pretty good. You can tell, because those are often not in stock, I think their production is limited by agreements with the name brands I would speculate.

Aldi's generic soda was pretty bad. Meijers, most grocery generics, all pretty crappy.

Re: Where in the world are Trader Joe’s warehouses? (2015)

#70

Post by Spooky23 »

Digory wrote: post #10

Clever, but the guesses aren't useful, because "the middle" is rarely the most efficient place to get goods off trucks and rail. I know the TJs in Kansas are stocked from a Kansas Aldi distribution center, near rail and highways. A better start might be mapping known Aldi warehouses. https://careers.aldi.us/employment/olathe-warehouse-jobs/61/...

The corridors are similar Western NY -> DC corridor is probably served by a facility in Pennsylvania. New England to Albany to Connecticut is probably near Worcester, MA.

I know that for McDonalds and Aldi, Albany, NY is “Boston” and Utica west is “Pennsylvania”. It’s all about the transport corridors and modes.

Post reply on HN