"tjs" news and stories

After far, far too long a time with their slow-loading yet content-less website, Trader Joe's has upgraded to something worth visiting. The site now offers a complete look at the history and values of the privately-owned company, as well as the same information on new locations and copies of their latest "Fearless Flyer" newsletter.

The best thing about the site is that they now have a great display of their new items. Once you select your location from the drop-down menu, a page with pictures and descriptions of some of the new products in your area comes up. I already found that Cheddar with Mango, Chile & Lime is a new type of cheese ("one of the most unique cheeses (ever!)") currently being offered, a product I might not have noticed simply stocked on the shelves. They also have a useful FAQ that answers some questions about labels and nutrition, in addition to clearing up the ever-present concern of whether Trader Joe's products will turn you "into a superhero, a professional athlete or one of the great brainiacs of humankind."

Great job with the website overhaul, TJs. We love having a site that we can use!

Source

A banana chip is a thin, deep-fried slice of banana. Once fried, the slightly sweet chips are crisp (often bordering on rock-hard) and oily. Because they look like fruit, some people mistake these for a healthy snack, but they are far from good for you. A one ounce serving has about 150 calories and 9.5 grams of fat, almost all of it saturated.

On Trader Joe's top 100 list, they included something called banana crisps. I only tried them recently, since nearby Trader Joe's seemed to be perpetually sold out of them. Unlike the traditional deep-fried diet disasters, these chips are baked. They are ultra-thin and akin to an ordinary potato chip in both looks and flavor, and actually make a great substitute for regular potato chips because they don't taste very banana-like at all, though they are slightly sweet rather than salty. Best of all, each one ounce (2/3 cup) serving has only 40 calories and 1 gram of fat.

[Banana crisp image via Trader Joe's Fan, which has a great review of them, too)

100 calorie packs are one of the hottest, fastest-growing market segments today, yet I was a bit surprised to see them at Trader Joe's this weekend. Although TJs is usually up to the minute with their foods and flavors, I haven't seen them give in to packaging trends as they have done here. It does fit in with their desire to make good foods - especially ones that are nearly ready-to-eat, like frozen and refrigerated meals - easily available to their consumers, though.

The only flavor I saw on the shelves was Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, which are an ever so slightly smaller version of their crunchy, mini cookies that are traditionally sold in tubs at the stores. The regular cookies are fantastic and these tasted just like them. In my opinion, they are definitely a cut above a lot of the other 100 calorie pack "cookies" I've tried. I'll still get the tub cookies for munching at home, but I wouldn't think twice about these as a lunch or road-trip option.

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Mint Creams tempted me from their plastic containers, stacked appealingly close to me as I stood in line with my other purchases at Trader Joe's over the weekend. After a moment of hesitation, I gave in a tossed a box into my cart. And I am so glad that I did. These little candies are about an inch in diameter and are slightly domed. They taste like a cross between a junior mint and a York peppermint patty, with a filling that is creamy, but with a little bit of texture to it. The difference between those other candies and these is that the TJs dark chocolate shell is much thicker, providing the perfect compliment to the filling and a noticeable chocolate flavor. They're really good when chilled and end up tasting like a minty, bite-sized ice cream treat, which makes them incredibly refreshing (not to mention that it keeps them from melting) on a hot day.

It looks like Trader Joe's is set to open a store in yet another Joe-less town. Though they have not released the address yet, Trader Joe's has confirmed that they are planning to enter the Pittsburg market. Local speculation and city officials say that the specialty grocer has plans to move into the Wheeler Paint Co. building on Penn Ave in the neighborhood of East Liberty. There are only five TJ's locations in Pennsylvania at the moment, so this should be good news to Pittsburg residents who are fans of the store.

Now that TJ's has store-opening almost down to a science, it's no surprise to hear that the store should be open by the end of the year.

Source