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| - This is really 4 1/2 stars (dammit Yelp!), the only thing keeping it from a 5 being the produce (a little pricey) and cheese (house brands are not that impressive). So that means that between here, the farmer's market, and Pasta and Provisions (when the budget allows, hehe) I get to stay completely away from the Teeter (unless they've got their Barefoot selection on sale).
The first TJ's I ever visited was outside of Philly, and since we were about to embark on a backpacking trip, was the perfect place to grab any and all trail mixes, bags of nuts, cheap tortellini, and other dry goods. Since then, I've become a devoted fan, even braving the 100-people deep lines at the location in NYC's Union Square (I kid you not-- even at 10 o'clock at night on, like, a Tuesday) for the cheap goodness of this store. Now that we're here, and I get to park 20 feet from the store entrance, and can even use a CART if I need to, and people aren't glaring angrily at each other and grabbing for the last container of bruschetta topping or the last bag of pizza dough... it's as close to bliss as grocery shopping can aspire to be.
No, the house wine isn't great-- especially the extremely sweet chardonnay (stick to the reds, imho) but it's cheap, and decent. English muffins/pita/whole wheat loaves are tasty and a dollar cheaper than your average store. Soymilk, eggs, pizza dough, soy chorizo (YUM), you name it, you can get almost everything you need for a healthy, flavorsome week of cooking at home for 30% less than HT or even, amazingly, Food Lion.
One more thing, and then I'll stop gushing: the frozen selection. My fellow veggies will concur that the prices of things like veggie burgers and chik patties have gradually climbed to ridiculous prices over the past year: at TJ's, all those brand names (and some awesome house brand versions) are here, and at 2006 prices.
Proud to be a hardcore Trader Joe's fan.
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