Your Questions Answered: Is Rep. Benfield Trying To Bring Trader Joe’s To Decatur?
Decatur Metro | November 18, 2009“S” recently wrote in with this question…
I heard that Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield has some sort of campaign going to bring Trader Joe’s to Decatur. Do you have any info on this?
On Monday, Rep. Benfield replied to the question…
Yes, for a long time I ran a notice in my weekly community updates encouraging folks to contact Trader Joe’s about opening a location in Decatur. I recently quit running the piece because I ran it for about 6 months. But I’m a big fan of Trader Joes and would love to see them in our community. I learned about the “movement” from Facebook and helped spread the word. By separate email, I’ll forward you one of my old Benfield Beats that publicizes the Trader Joe’s effort.
Link-wise the Facebook page is here, currently sporting 1,111 fans. And to check out the most recent Benfield Beat weekly newsletter, click here!
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Hoo! If she can help persuade TJ’s to come to Decatur, I move she be elected the Queen of All Things. *keeping fingers crossed*
She helped bring high gravity beer to the state under Sonny teetotaler Purdue, she is already the Queen of All Things.
Well, “Queen of Heaven and Earth”, then. Howsabout that?
If she could get Trader Joe’s and Costco at North DeKalb Mall she would be “Queen of Heaven and Earth”
yes, Costco too! Does anyone have a status update on that? is it off the table or just tabled?
as long as we’re hankering after Costco (and we are!), let’s be specific and be sure to ask for in-store coffee roasting, and a book section!
I’m sure our local booksellers would discourage the book section.
their in-store roasted coffee does rock–dark roast 2lbs for around $9…i borrow a friends membership card who looks similar to me just to go in and buy the coffee…
One can dream, but from all I’ve read, it seems that Trader Joe’s wouldn’t seriously consider ‘Downtown Decatur’ due to lack of large, free surface parking lots near potential outlets (not so green for a company that seems to claim that niche!), and they wouldn’t consider ‘Decatur Metro’ due to less than desirable demographics.
Although I used to agree it would be a neat addition to Decatur, I’m done pining over them. I’d rather see a Whole Foods (yeah, right!) or at least a homegrown mini-market with a variety of local and organic selections.
I tend to agree with you on Whole Foods or a homegrown market. Every time I go in Trader Joe’s i feel like most everything I pick up is glorified processed foods.
Chad, I don’t get the love either. I like the cereal prices and the flowers and Baby Nell likes the “lalloons!”, but the food is very processed!
I think it’s because if you are going to get processed stuff, it’s tastier than the processed stuff you get at Publix. I am all for healthy cooking. But I use Tj’s for the one night a week where I don’t have the strength to cook a full on meal (refrigerator pizza crust, frozen orange chicken, potstickers). I like the packaged soups for lunches on the go and the chocolate covered everything (blueberries, chitpotle almonds, etc) are good stuff, to me at least. I’ve done blind taste tests and they can pick and favor TJ stuff 90% of the time. I can’t shop at TJ’s alone but it is worth the drive to Midtown every few weeks.
I moved from NC and the TJs at Chapel Hill was always packed. I was shocked to see the Midtown one so sedate.
I used to like the pot stickers from TJ, but I bought a bag of frozen chinese dumplings from the freezer at the Buford Highway farmer’s market that were nearly as good as my grandmother used to make. Absolutely fantastic, and worth the trip.
Agreed, Chad. (and I can’t shop there anymore since this hit the news last summer: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/trader-joes-flunks-seafood-100.php) Shop somewhere closer!
Just an FYI if you are interested in supporting sustainable seafood efforts: Whole Foods is completely misleading about whether or not their seafood comes from sustainable sources. They do not follow to the Seafood Watch recommendations, but rather some other group that is, as far as I have been able to figure out from Google, something created and supported by the fishing industry.
Mmmmmmmm….processed deliciousness. Me likey!
Seriously, I don’t think TJ’s could take the place of a good farmer’s market, but as others have said, they’ve got good ready-to-eat stuff (sides & mains) for when you just don’t feel like chopping, cooking & cleaning up after a long day at work, but don’t want takeout, either. And have I said I love their inexpensive-but-still-French-milled soaps? I LOOOOOOOOOVE THEM!!!!!
Love their:
– Sugar body scrub
– Frozen nan bread
– Frozen potstickers or gyoza
– Frozen jasmine rice
– Mango slices
– Ginger snaps
– Real maple syrup
Ditto to all of the above, except the mango (allergic to it
). Their ready-to-nuke rices are SO convenient– I love it that I can have perfectly-steamed brown rice in 3 minutes, and no sticky pot to clean!
What’s wrong w/ Rainbow Foods anyway?
Not a thing– but it’s a different animal altogether. I do love Rainbow’s meatless “chicken” salad, and their vegetarian pastitsio (it’s one of the few TVP-based dishes the spousal unit will eat without looking at it & sighing).
It has occurred to me more than once that, with some updating of its business model (let’s start with outdoor dining and good beer), Rainbow Foods would be a great addition if it moved into Decatur.
Okay, I just drove by the Church St location and here’s the idea. Rainbow Foods moves in. Grocery on level one. Restaurant on level two with outdoor dining with beer and wine on top. Rainbow hosts the Farmers Market (already hosted in parking lot next door) and becomes a hub for locally grown produce initiative of Mayor Floyd. Farmer’s market moves to Saturdays with live acoustic music. Support comes by making it a co-op. One time buy-in brings 5% discount, on the model of the very successful Weaver St Market in NC. http://www.weaverstreetmarket.coop/ Can you feel it?
Finally! Someone has picked up the banner!
http://www.decaturmetro.com/2008/07/28/co-op-idea-continued/
Go with it Judd! You can DO eet!
Good point, Scott! Rainbow Foods is out of my way, so I always forget about it. But, I do a lot of shopping at Sevananda. Still, I’d like to see more grocery options in walking distance (or a very short drive). Mini-Kroger doesn’t cut it.
Why don’t they go downtown and utilize a shared parking concept with one of the many decks around town? Shared parking isn’t contentious in Decatur is it?
ahhhh…Decatur…we’re urban…but not *that* urban…
I agree with a couple of the posters though…I’m a bigger fan of Whole Foods…short of being able to get three buck Chuck!!
Why don’t people like the mini Kroger by the way? I’ve been there a few times, never seemed that bad to me really. Especially if you are just buying canned/boxed foods.
Selection is limited, which is understandable for a smaller store. But freshness is also a problem which is not so understandable. We’ve had milk spoil the day we buy it. My kids won’t drink Kroger milk anymore unless I reassure them that I bought it at a different Kroger.
But agree that it’s just fine if it has what you want in canned or boxed goods.
From what I understand (from an employee), the Midtown location has performed “under the company’s expectations”, so they will likely not be opening another location locally over the next year, but if and when they do, it will be in Decatur. It never hurts to continue the web badering and making sure the store managment is aware of where your dollars are coming from when you are in that location.
I much prefer Trader Joe’s — Whole Foods is much too expensive and a little more upscale than my family and I eat on a day to day basis. Re: the parking, Suburban Plaza has LOTS of surface parking and a vacant grocery store. I hope they reconsider!
I always think this is a strange comment about Whole Foods. I only shop there (even though the owner is a nutso conservative; I am incredibly picky about meat as a recovering vegetarian and my husband, being from a foreign paradise, where pure organic fruit and vegetables line up and dance down the road, waiting to be plucked, is picky about produce) and I don’t spend anymore than I do at Publix and get better stuff. My weekly shopping for 3 people ranges from $80-$130 at Whole Foods and I buy all organic as a I can and completely antibiotic free on meat and dairy.
And don’t bring up the Farmer’s Market. It hasn’t been good since the schism between the brothers in the mid-1990s.
Yes, I must agree. The Farmer’s Market is not worth going to anymore. It smells. The produce spoils and can’t be returned. They have Nazi bag confiscators. So DO NOT SHOP THERE. EVER. But especially Saturday or Sunday morning between 9 and 11. OK? Thanks!
(Seriously, they do enough business then anyway. Don’t support them. But if you do, please don’t let your kids grab the grapes from my cart and start eating them. I know, that’s a rant for a different topic, but seriously folks, can we make YDFM kid-free for at least a few hours a week?)
Uh oh, here we go. Harping on kids and the Farmer’s Market. What’s next? how crowded the Brickstore is on Friday night?
Good call Gibbs.
If we could somehow incorporate inconsiderate motorists/cyclists into this conversation we would have the perfect storm of most mentioned DM complaints all in one thread.
Don’t forget to add “The answer is Westchester” and “If you don’t like it , you can leave Decatur”
And you can leave Decatur even quicker now that we’re red light camera free! Just watch out for the stroller moms and cyclists!
I’m confused. Does this mean my kid can’t ride her bike in YDFM? Decatur’s laws allow her to ride on the sidewalk. Albeit YDFM is not in the city limits but if she could ride her bike in the store she could more stealthily nab J_T’s grapes.
Actually, I did not mind the rugrat eating the grape. It was the security bozo who threatened to kick me out because of it that riled me up. In hindsight, I should have told him that I could prevent strangers from pilfering my produce better if they let me hide it in a bag, but I’m thinking that would have gotten me banned for good. It also took a comically long time to convince him that I was not the thief’s father nor did I even know her or her mother, who suddenly hablad no ingles when the security guard started yelling. I swear, sometimes I wish they would just ban me so I don’t keep going back for more. Alas, Kroger, Publix and even Whole Foods can’t match the fruit and veggie selection, let alone the prices…
You shouda decked him. And I am sooooo glad someone else is bothered by the smell. When I didn’t eat meat and I would buy things there I could still smell the dead animal stench that permeates the place on my falafel box when i got home.
All I can say is that you must be a better shopper than I! There are only 3 of us, although one is a teen-ager, but I spend more than you do at Publix and the prices are just higher at WF. It’s not called Whole Paychecks for nothing!
Hmmmm. You must be a more careful shopper than me, chica– I’ve purchased organic produce at both TJ’s and WF, and paid more at WF every time (not to mention that nearly $5 for a loaf of fresh-baked bread, no matter how delicious, is a bit much, even for a profligate spender like moi). I can go to WF & drop $100 on 6 or 8 items; for that same amount, I come out of TJ’s with two bags full.
But hey– it’s all about choices, right? And I for one would love to have the choice of TJ’s in Decatur!
Well, Baby Nelliebelle is a BABY, not a teen! And I do have a mild obsessive disorder that forces me to plan each meal down to the last crouton. I have massive lists that I keep and I stick to them. I only buy exactly what we need and I buy giant chickens d cows that I make Mr. Nelliebelle break down into a million pieces. I am on nice pills that keep me from scrubbing the grout with my toothbrush too often….
Oh, and Rumandlimes, the new Sweetwater bread at WF is $3.25 and better than sex, drug and alcohol or any combination thereof.
I don’t understand TJ’s reluctance about the lack of parking. If anyone has ever been to any of the TJ’s in Los Angeles (the homebase), most of them have very small lots that everyone manages to deal with just fine. And that’s car-obsessed LA.
Agree. The West LA store was incredibly popular but had a pretty small parking lot. People stopped to pick up dinner or party stuff then drove on.
Old Costco news-last year I talked to a Costco representative about the North DeKalb location. Costco was ready to build but decided to hold off when the economy tanked.
I don’t particularly like what I buy on occasion at Trader Joes, but they do have a great business model. Sell prepackaged and easy to prepare food at super cheap prices and put the stores in locations (urban areas and close in suburbs) where the local sentiment is against big box stores like Wal Mart and feed into that sentiment, while giving customers what, in essence, they want – cheap and simple food – without the guilt of going to big box. And it works like a charm! People think they are supporting a liberal, environmentally sustainable place when they shop there – yet all of the food is shipped in on a truck, there is no local produce there because it would be too expensive. All of the frozen fish, etc. is foiegn. But, sshhhh, don’t ask too many questions …. it’s Trader Joes.
Seems like this sort of thing would work well in a community like Decatur – where folks like to say they are super liberal, environmentally correct, do not like to shop at big boxes, etc., but deep down want all of the convenience of it as well.
Again, seems like it would work like a charm in Decatur. Trader Joes doesn’t know what they are missing.
Do you care so much that you feel compelled to be nasty about it?
Or we could go suburban and buy Kroger’s “President’s Choice”. Real yummy stuff! Trader Joe’s brand may be pulling the wool over my eyes but it sure tastes good while it’s happening. Their ginger snaps are favored by my Mom who used to bake all her own. Their truffle brownie mix is to die for, better than Giarhelli. And they have genuine New England maple syrup, a whole level above New York or Canadian real maple syrup.
Golly. My feelings are hurt.
So I was at Trader Joe’s on Saturday and mentioned it to the cashier.. she said that Decatur is the second most requested spot for a new TJs. I think Marietta was first.
What do you all know about the meat at the DFM? The signage makes me think that a lot of it is available in the form of non-factory farmed/antibiotic and hormone free etc. Am I misreading the signs? How is the meat different then from Whole Foods? Despite the smell, the bag creeps and terrible customer service, the DFM has a huge selection of inexpensive organics (dairy, fruit, etc.).