Or what makes a great grocery store soo great!

Why do we continue to shop at the same places? Why is it we LOVE  to shop at Trader Joe’s?  Sorry but we can’t say that we enjoy shopping at the  other large chain grocery stores in the area.  Trader Joe’s is simply different. The staff is friendly and helpful, the selection is right for my shopping needs and do we have to mention the samples? But there is more, really….

So we created a list to share.

There were many more reasons, but these were the top 10 reasons that we felt would sway new shoppers into trying out a Trader Joe’s store.  (OK- clean bathrooms make my person top 10 list for any establishment, but I was not sure they were THAT  important to everyone). By the way this list is in no particular order, just what we came up with chatting over our dinner one night….

1. Smaller Stores/ Better Selection — The Trader Joe’s stores in our area are about half the size of the chain grocery stores in our area. Yet they seem to have a great selection without having all the “extra” stuff that frankly makes me tired at the end of a shopping trip. For example, if I want green beans, Trader Joe’s sells two kinds of plain green beans. One bag has green beans, yellow beans and carrots. The second is simply green beans.  No time wasted searching through an entire isle of frozen veggies just to find the beans.

2. Great Return Policy—Trader Joe’s has a 100% satisfaction guarantee.  They really stand by this claim too. Even thought we love most things from Trader Joe’s I have returned a few items. One was a noodle dish that was way too spicy for me.  I brought back the open, half- full package and my receipt to the store, and this amount was deducted from my new purchases.

3. Friendly Staff—Who wants to shop where everyone is rude? Maybe it is the Hawaiian shirts and the “two bells” but whatever they are doing Trader Joe’s it works! Everyone who works at Trader Joe’s is helpful, friendly and always willing to check in the back for us.  Maybe that is why they are called “team members”.

4. Great Produce— The fresh fruits and veggies offered at Trader Joe’s are just incredible. The selection is great when you think of basics such as bagged lettuce, apples and those cute baby carrots, but what really gets me excited are the more unusual items that are in the store.  Recently we were shopping and I saw for the first time bags of peeled and cubed butternut squash. Now I love to cook with butternut squash, but HATE to try and peel it and chop it up. This is just one example of how Trader Joe’s is “working for me” and providing a solution to my problems. Now which recipe will we try first…

5. Clean Store—The TJ stores are all bright and clean with fresh flowers to welcome you to their shopping experience. We can’t speak for everyone but there is nothing worse to us than shopping for food in a store that has a dirty floor. I guess I can stick my clean bathrooms spot in here—and don’t forget that they sample their soap and lotions in the bathroom too.

6. Great Atmosphere– The entire shopping experience is thought out at Trader Joe’s.  They play great music, have colorful signage and make you enjoy your visit.  They designate one employee to “welcome” in the shoppers and have even started to bring the samples around like appetizers at a fancy party- complete with silver tray.

7. Samples—OK… Confession time…. we just love the samples at Trader Joe’s.  Every day they have hot coffee and also a cold drink for shoppers to try.  In addition there might be a cookie, or a cracker and cheese to try (even wines in some stores) or even a sample of some new product that just arrived. We usually try the daily samples just to be polite (yeah, right) but have discovered some great products as a result.

8. Prices— So all these reasons to shop at Trader Joe’s and now we are going to tell you that the prices are in many cases LOWER  at a Trader Joe’s  than other stores. WHAT? You have been avoiding shopping at Trader Joe’s  because you thought the prices were high- well now you can go and check for yourself.  For example, a pint of sour cream at our Tucson Trader Joe’s is $1.49. The sale price at other stores in the area is $1.99.  We use a PRICE BOOK to calculate the savings.

9. Great Customers—This one is weird we know, but we feel like the customers at Trader Joe’s are friendly and helpful and just nicer than those in other stores.  We frequently have  another customer came up to us and volunteered to say how good a product was or to suggest a wine that they enjoyed.

10. The Bells – Trader Joe’s has a fun system when they need more help at the front, help with a carryout etc… they will ring a bell. So instead of hearing an annoying voice over the intercom in the store, you will hear a bell ring 1, 2 or 3 times depending on the situation.  We mainly here the call for “2 Bells” which means someone in the front of the store needs some kind of extra help.

We will come back to these 10 Reasons in more details in future posts. But for now we hope that Trader Joe’s just keeps up the good work and that you might be interested in checking out your local Trader Joe’s store for yourself .

You can save TIME, MONEY and have FUN shopping for a change!

OK Readers, this is our list of why we love Trader Joe’s . What are some of the reasons that you love Trader Joe’s?? Please include your favorite store location in your post, so we can get a better sense of where our loyal readers live. Thanks!