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| - With sad faces, we know that Trader Joe's will not open in Hawai'i BUT what that means to many of Hawai'i's residents is that any visit to ANY Trader Joe's will yield fun, useful or delicious omiyage (gifts representing a specific place or region to share with those who did not travel). Unlike souvenirs, these gifts carry more cultural significance.
The number ONE omiyage gift is a food item. That being said, people from Hawai'i seek out and treasure those butter wafer cookies or Speculoos cookie butter or mostly anything that has a Trader Joe's brand label on it. In the past, we've brought back TJ's famous cookies (biscotti, chocolate-malted chip cookies, chocolate covered almonds and/or Lacey's cookies). However, this time, we didn't bring luggage and only made enough room in our carry-on bags for small and light items.
Going into this particular location, we did note that their shelves were all well-stocked and organized, the facility was clean and well-maintained, the staff members were friendly and prices were reasonable. We wandered in and immediately found the items that we had planned on bringing back with us. No, they weren't food items but, let's just say that whenever we buy these items, we've always been stopped by TSA or have had our luggage opened and inspected.
For this neighborhood, this TJ's is a great place to shop at. Maybe the next time we're out this way, we'd stop here, again.
NOTE: Did you know that every TJ's location has a hidden toy or plastic lobster (named "Lemmy") to keep the kids occupied while you shop? Or their private labeled food items are ALL tasting panel tested to assure the products are GMO Free, preservative-free, trans-fat free and free from artificial flavors.
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