[kuschku]

Btw, the reason Trader Joe's is so cheap: It belongs to ALDI Nord, the sibling company of ALDI Süd, which runs the US ALDI markets.

Founded by two brothers, the ALDI chains have the concept of insanely cheap products, but no rebates, no coupons, no extra - usually saving money by just rolling the entire pallet directly into the store from the truck, having no storage space, nor having to pay anyone to unload it.

[justinator]

Funnily, Trader Joes in Boulder, CO is not very cheap at all, and certainly not a place you can do regular shopping to get those essentials that anchor an entire week's worth of meals. To top that all, there's no booze to be bought!

The workers at this location are numerous, cheery and helpful; the store is well-put together, with large displays. Some items are cheaper, but mostly it just seems like boxed/frozen "health" food, that doesn't seem all that frugal to buy, so I pass on it.

Before this location was built, my friends would go to New Mexico to do Trader Joes runs, so I do believe other locations must be economically attractive enough to spend that sort of time/gas to get there.

It's just the local market I guess: there's many local boutique grocery brands in the area: Whole Foods, Vitamin Cottage, Sprouts, Luckys... It's either TJ is competing with them on price (they can be quite expensive...), or their competing on the much larger super markets, who are also raising their prices and bringing in luxury items, like pour-your-own-growler Kombucha.

It's sort of madne$$.

[rm_-rf_slash]

Aldi is insanely cheap, and I mean that literally: I feel as if I am insane to spend my money elsewhere. As much as I love Wegmans, those "helping hands" corralling shopping carts in the sprawling parking lots have to be paid, and it comes out of my purchase.

[kefka]

Ive also found that US Aldi is also carrying some Trader Joes products. I was quite thankful, given we do make a trek to the Trader Joes about 1:20 away. Our Aldi is 10 minutes away.

I've also found fresh foods, cheeses, some wines to be of really good quality. And if something's bad, they have a "replace+money back" guarantee - as in, 'were sorry you had to come back, here's your money and the goods for your hassle'.

[xherberta]

OK, but do think through how you might be better off with a little less in your account and the people around you having jobs, as opposed to having more in your account while unemployed grocery workers throw rocks at your shuttle service and vote in a ridiculous gov't.

But if you want to buy local beer and local socks and support local jobs in other ways with the extra $, coolio.

[rm_-rf_slash]

I'm from Ithaca. We don't have shuttle services or unemployed grocery workers throwing rocks or a ridiculous government, unless you find it ridiculous that our mayor literally walks the walk on reducing CO2 emissions by selling his car and having turned his dedicated parking space into a teeny tiny park with benches and potted plants.

You may be thinking of somewhere else.