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

[Bl00mingCactus]

Love that store. Torturing myself by following on Instagram.

I have bricks upon bricks of the Trader Joe's Almond and Ginger bar soap. I love it but, now, unfortunately, so does my DH and stocks are rapidly dwindling!

On my last bar of the ginger soap.

I used to live a 5 min walk from a TJs. Other than the brioche bread there was very little that was exceptional about it. The fruit and veg quality was dodgy at best. And I found the limited quantity of international food (esp Asian food) in the aisles (ie non frozen) really frustrating. I agree with a PP- I was glad to return to Waitrose and Sainsbury’s.
Meanwhile Whole Foods is expensive nonsense although their 365 range isn’t terrible.
Now Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma...hmm. The day I win the lottery I am buying everything.

Pottery barn kids do amazing line of kitchens and doll houses, we lived in the Arabian Gulf and bought a lot of PB kids stuff for our dcs, I shipped most of the things we bought to the UK, they are so well made, the Chelsea kitchen is still going strong. Though it’s used by my DDs daily.

JL do stock PB kids but it’s limited to just baby stuff,

Harrods stock a bit of William Sonoma products but limited too,

I stock pile pumpkin and pecan bread mixes and vanilla pound cake mix it the yummiest pound cake I’ve ever tasted, they stock so many spices and baking ingredients I never find anywhere.
I could go on and on... It’s truly my favourite shop in the US.

There’s a Whole Foods in London. Agree Trader Joe’e, Crate and Barrel and Cheesecake Factory would be good.

Whole foods Kensington is so close to me, but I rarely shop there, it’s big but nothing special not very fresh either . much prefer Waitrose, M&S food , occasionally Harrods FH ,they always have the freshest produce .

I’ve never been to TJs but when in the US, I like Denny’s (think there were rumours that there was one opening in the UK but it was a day trip from my location). I also (try) and collect Snoopy stuff and loads of the stores over there (CVS, Walmart, Hallmark) stock stuff cheaply but either there isn’t an option for overseas shipping or the fees are more than the item. I hate that there’s hardly anything in the UK.

BBW used to have a few stores in the UK (I remember one in the Trafford Centre when that first opened) but they pulled out years ago. Not sure why, as they’re owned by the same people that own Victoria’s Secret and they seem to do OK here.

I’d also love Sephora; the option to mooch round and try different brands in the same place without and having to ask an assistant at each individual counter. Again, we had a few in the UK but never really took off. I’m guessing because (IIRC) they weren’t in city/town centres; they had one at Merry Hill shopping park but surely would have been better in Birmingham city centre? I worked near Westfield Stratford a few years ago and when one of the shops closed down there were rumours that Sephora was coming back, but no ☹️.

The thing with Trader Joe’s is that to a certain extent it’s not supposed to replace a huge diverse shopping experience you’d get in a very large grocery store. It’s modeled the same way as Aldi and Lidl. A short range of products that are good and rotate well.

This doesn’t necessarily translate to healthy (low sugar, low fat, etc) or extremely ethnically diverse in some cases especially regarding sauces, let’s say. But they have a lot of foods that are good bases for making meals and foods that are treats or snacks, especially seasonal foods. If you want high fiber and low sugar cereal, you’d still likely have to visit your your regular large grocery store for that variety.

TJ's has decent, cheap flowers.
Whole Foods has a lot of cooked food and bars.
Overall I really miss waitrose and sainsburys though.
UK supermarkets are good value for money and sell everything. I also think the basic quality is much higher.

For the soap lovers, my favorite was Trader Joes Lemon verbena. I can smell it now from memory.

JingsMahBucket has it right. Trader Joe's is not a place to do your full week shop, but to pick up specific items that only they carry. Their frozen foods are very good compared to what's available in normal American supermarkets, so for busy families popping something in the oven from TJ's doesn't make you feel like a horrible parent!

Their dried fruits and nuts are very nice, wide range and well-priced.

And their snacks are amazing. Give me TJ's cheddar popcorn and peanut brittle any day!

My closest big town is the first place in the UK to get a chick fil a which I also love but it’s closing down as LGBQT protests re the founder of Chick fil s being a Christian that doesn’t believe in Gay marriage and supports a charity that is anti gay marriage as well.

😁

Wouldn't big counter brands such as Clinique, Bobbi Brown etc object to their stock being sold in a 'help yourself' setting? It's what makes them look premium, and keeps customers intimidated.

It might 'dilute the brand' if the products didn't have to be accessed through sales people.

I don’t know MorrisZapp it’s the set up in the US and in France (and wherever else Sephora are) and they don’t seem to object there? They still have their own counters in department stores like Macy’s etc.