Anybody else wish Trader Joe’s opened up in the U.K.?

[Bl00mingCactus]

Love that store. Torturing myself by following on Instagram.

The thing is it just wouldn’t be the same here. Look at Whole foods. The London ones are so expensive there’s hardly anyone in them. I’ve never understood why we haven’t had an Old Navy though.

Interesting thing about Trader Joe's - it's owned by the same family that owns Aldi. One of the son's was given the US business and set up Trader Joe's. Then they actually allowed the other brother to enter the US market as Aldi.

It is a wonderful store but I don't think they could maintain their prices in the UK due to the different distribution costs.

UK Costco is pretty good but US one is better, also anyone can join US Costco as a member whereas in the UK you have to be part of a qualifying profession or association for some strange reason.

Whole foods is pricey in the US though. I’d say TJ is more Waitrose/ Sainsbury. They stock so many green items I search for at home quite reasonable. I bought a whole roll of Beeswax food wrap for the price of one beeswax wrap here, recycled tooth brushes, soap. We shopped for 5 topping up elsewhere quite well. Didn’t bother stepping into Wholefoods this time.😱

I like the local stuff too, the whole concept is good. I think it could do well here.

We bought the turkey chilli.

If you want really expensive try Morton Williams NYC.😱😱😱Had to make do with MW for breakfast one day and could only afford a loaf of cinnamon bread between us. Juice was £7!!! Could not justify the prices. We then shlepped to TJ and found my happy place.😀

The main American shopping experiences I miss whenever I’m away from home are Target, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s. It’s just easier to shop in the US and it’s much easier to buy healthy food consistently (t)here. Nobody’s pushing massive amounts of cakes, pastries, confectionaries and other sugar stuff on you constantly like they are in the UK.

@EachandEveryone yeah, UK Whole Foods doesn’t hold a candle to US Whole Foods at all. Even though I’m in NYC, I can still do pretty normally priced grocery shopping at WF. The UK ones are too specialist in their products I think.

We had a branch of WholeFoods near us, I think it was the first outside London - it did remind me of a shop in the States when I went inside, lots of space. Loved it, although didn't buy much which I think was part of the problem for it because I wasn't the only one - it was very expensive. It has been replaced by a Food Warehouse (Iceland)

Also love the Cheesecake Factory and I have fond memories of breakfast in Bob Evans a couple of times too.

Been a Costco member for ages too.

I think there is a Shake Shack in London, and possibly a Pottery Barn in Ireland (or there used to be). I recall someone coming back from a trip with a piece of Pottery Barn and the Friends jokes went on for weeks (it was a lovely piece though!).

yes, been wishing it for at least 5 years. I live in hope.

I pick up the 'everything but the bagel' seasoning on amazon but I really want the whole store

I want -
Cracker Barrel
Cheesecake Factory
Mollie Stones
Whole foods - none up in Yorkshire
4 Rivers Smokehouse
Walgreens/CVS (I’m not fussy!)

I'd love sn IHOP. Yummy
I'd love Sephora

Old Navy is horrible ,
William Sonoma is one of the places I adore and always buy truckloads of things from them, everything they sell is just bloody amazing.
there really isn’t an alternative to them in the UK.

never been to target can’t find it in NYC,

But I think supermarkets here are miles better than American ones, we also have a nicer variety of green grocers and specialty shops around us here.

Target is in Brooklyn and Harlem. I’ve never see Trader Joes in NYC

Think there are about 7, think the lower East side one has Target above it. Kill 2 birds with one stone. We’ve been to 3 of them.

Picture of an IHOP breakfast. We’re going to America next year, haven’t been for ages, we’ve already plotted where all the IHOPs
-for my DH-and Cracker Barrels-for me-are!

I like American supermarkets, they seem open and airy, lots of lovely fresh fruit on display. I was bemused at my sil who claimed not to be able to find a supermarket in Kissimmee when we dropped by one year to stay with her and her family for a couple of days (they were on holiday). The DH and I went shopping and brought back so much good stuff! I like pudding!

missyoumuch The two brothers separated their company in 1960. One became Aldi Nord (in the north of Germany). The other became Aldi Süd (in the south of Germany). Aldi Nord owns Trader Joe's and the Aldi brand in several European countries. Aldi Süd owns the 'Aldi' brand in the US and UK, as well as several other European countries.

www.instagram.com/p/B4vKgUbJnhY/?igshid=1kcwvs80s5dot😍

TJs in NYC is crazy busy. Last time we went at a weekend the queue to pay went round the entire store.

Yes we queued for aaaages. Not fun after traipsing round the city.

There's Shake Shacks in London.

MongerTruffle very interesting! The Aldi Nord brother was very smart to buy TJ's but the fact that it's stayed only in the US makes me think it's quite hard to replicate elsewhere.

I love sonoma Williams . I buy (at great expense) tins of Peppermint bark from them each Christmas. ‘Tis a bloody nightmare. I have to use a VPN to look at the site (in UK) then send to a site where I have a ‘street address’ in the US. They then send the package to me. Some years I’m really unlucky and get import fees too......
Bath and body works. Why oh why do they not have them in the UK? They are 100x better than body shop or lush. Every year when we fly through Dubai, I take a schlep from the airport to The Dubai Mall to pick up supplies at Bath and Body works between flights.

Ha ha my teens stocked up on those hand sanitisers. I don’t get why Trader Joes wouldn’t work here. More ethical shopping and less shite is becoming really popular. Also the limited stock in Lidl etc has proved to be a popular way to shop. TJ isn’t everywhere in the US, a select few shops here in the right places would work imvho.

I like the skin care, shampoos etc

But the food isn’t great better than many US supermarkets but it’s when you shop there you realise the quality of food is much better in the UK

I was trying to buy low sugar cereal, crackers and bread for my dad (he lives in the states has type 2 diabetes) and was surprised that there ranges still had buckets loads of sugar good range of cheese for US supermarkets