Really? I find the article to be somewhat critical, and it deos discuss some of the reasons why I find Trader Joe's disingenuous, if not suspect.

...Trader Joe's business tactics are often very much at odds with its image as the funky shop around the corner that sources its wares from local farms and food artisans. Sometimes it does, but big, well-known companies also make many of Trader Joe's products. Those Trader Joe's pita chips? Made by Stacy's, a division of PepsiCo's (NYSE: PEP - News) Frito-Lay. On the East Coast much of its yogurt is supplied by Danone's Stonyfield Farm. And finicky foodies probably don't like to think about how Trader Joe's scale enables the chain to sell a pound of organic lemons for $2.

I don't like the obfuscation of product sourcing, even though I understand that's necessary for them to get the prices so low. It's good that they pay employees so well. It's an interesting business model, but I sometimes distrust the general atmosphere, which tends to have the effect of greenwashing the fair amount of actual junk they sell alongside the organic produce and artisanal-type pantry goods.

Still, it's nice that it exists. It is 'fun' in the way a retail store can be sorta fun. They have a few products I'll make a special trip in for.

I like Trader Joes but I still have to go across the street to the normal supermarket to get non-food stuff like cat litter and dish soap. I tried their dish soap once and it did absolutely nothing.

For a small city like mine getting a Trader Joes (and a Whole Foods) was a big deal and a nice symbol that we're not a complete backwater. It's too bad that they can't sell beer or wine here though; 2 Buck Chuck really isn't terrible stuff.

I desperately wish they'd put a Trader Joe's in my neighborhood. Anytime I walk past a big enough vacant storefront, I think, I really should e-mail them and tell them about this place, let them know we want them here.

I love Trader Joe, I wish we had it in England. I love the one I've been to in Ohio way more than the one on 14th St in NY, because the queues in NYC are always in-sane. But they do sell crumpets.

I thought I'd died and gone to heaven, though, when I stepped inside Fairway Market in Red Hook. What a fantastic supermarket.

I wish they'd go international as well. Love love love to have one here in BFEBC.

I just stopped in to a TJs on the way home from a doctor's appointment. A crew member engaged me in a long conversation about their cookies and then insisted on opening a pack for me to try*. It was a bizarre experience, because I got a vague hitting-on vibe, to the point where if I were single I'd have been thinking "Hmmmmm, what's going on here, and what if anything should I do about it?"


*Upscale, crispy chocolate chip cookies. Made with butter. Tasted a lot like Tollhouse, actually. $3.99 for about 15 cookies.

*Upscale, crispy chocolate chip cookies. Made with butter.

Ooh. I ate those the other night. Like, all of them. I couldn't stop. They did taste like Tollhouse, but they did not require my baking or mixing anything. Which was awesome.

I love Trader Joe's. "Trader Joe's business tactics are often very much at odds with its image" true but it and it's management does not seem anywhere near as scummy as Whole Food's and it has a better selection of better products at lower prices than Whole Foods.