dianeseattle
Member
So Joe Coulombe the real Trader Joe, died today at 89.
I'm really glad the store has had so much success, even though it's like Yuppie city in there nowadays. I'd hate for it to go back to being a store you had to drive 30 miles to find, like it used to be up here.
I don't mind plugging the store because I can't imagine how I would have been able to recover from RYGB surgery without it. There were so many products that worked for me, like Better than Peanut Butter, a dozen different roasts of coffee, plus nonfat creamer, nuts and olives and pasta i could afford, as well as dumplings, dipping sauce & sweet chili sauce. He had about a dozen different salsas, really good juices i'd mix with seltzer (i can drink carbonated water but newbies must avoid it) and it was the only place I could find Ezekiel Bread for a long time, not to mention their sweet little sourdough boules, which i used for everything except hollowing it out to contain fattening creamy soup.
The produce was never that good, and in fact, I'd say it's usually bad and overpriced. But TJ's used to be across the street from West Seattle Produce, so it was heaven for me. I'd buy a dollar bag of good (but bruised) produce & then go to TJ's to find what I wanted to cook with it.
It was the only place I could ever afford to buy cheese, which is so freaking overpriced at the chain stores, you'd think it was gold. It pretty much only carried TJ brand stuff, so you couldn't make an entire shopping trip there if you needed local beer or a bunch of other things, but after surgery, that's where i bought all my protein bars because they were about 2/3 the price of other stores for the same brand. I bought TJ's protein powder, and I buy all my vitamins and minerals there to this day. Everyone thought it was an expensive place, but it goes a long way for someone on food stamps, and the food is just better.
I just came from the store & they had the flag at half mast, which I thought was really cool.
Joe was 89 and opened his first store in the Sixties, and I'm sure at least Bill shopped there back in the day. I didn't know about TJ's when I lived in LA, but was so hyped when the first one showed up in my neck of the woods, which was Bellevue, way out on the edge of the city limits. I've taken a bus to Bellingham in order to shop there, at the largest TJs in the state. I've bought their reusable shopping bags and filled them up with TJ merchandise to give my family for Christmas (yer welcome, ya ingrates). A lot of people make pilgrimages to buy TJ food and stash it.
Maybe the best thing about TJs was Two-Buck Chuck, the wine you used to be able to buy for under $2 and it was always really great. Even today it's not much over $2, but it's the only wine I ever buy.
I'm sure he had a great life & went out with a smile on his lips. I'm eternally grateful to him!
I'm really glad the store has had so much success, even though it's like Yuppie city in there nowadays. I'd hate for it to go back to being a store you had to drive 30 miles to find, like it used to be up here.
I don't mind plugging the store because I can't imagine how I would have been able to recover from RYGB surgery without it. There were so many products that worked for me, like Better than Peanut Butter, a dozen different roasts of coffee, plus nonfat creamer, nuts and olives and pasta i could afford, as well as dumplings, dipping sauce & sweet chili sauce. He had about a dozen different salsas, really good juices i'd mix with seltzer (i can drink carbonated water but newbies must avoid it) and it was the only place I could find Ezekiel Bread for a long time, not to mention their sweet little sourdough boules, which i used for everything except hollowing it out to contain fattening creamy soup.
The produce was never that good, and in fact, I'd say it's usually bad and overpriced. But TJ's used to be across the street from West Seattle Produce, so it was heaven for me. I'd buy a dollar bag of good (but bruised) produce & then go to TJ's to find what I wanted to cook with it.
It was the only place I could ever afford to buy cheese, which is so freaking overpriced at the chain stores, you'd think it was gold. It pretty much only carried TJ brand stuff, so you couldn't make an entire shopping trip there if you needed local beer or a bunch of other things, but after surgery, that's where i bought all my protein bars because they were about 2/3 the price of other stores for the same brand. I bought TJ's protein powder, and I buy all my vitamins and minerals there to this day. Everyone thought it was an expensive place, but it goes a long way for someone on food stamps, and the food is just better.
I just came from the store & they had the flag at half mast, which I thought was really cool.
Joe was 89 and opened his first store in the Sixties, and I'm sure at least Bill shopped there back in the day. I didn't know about TJ's when I lived in LA, but was so hyped when the first one showed up in my neck of the woods, which was Bellevue, way out on the edge of the city limits. I've taken a bus to Bellingham in order to shop there, at the largest TJs in the state. I've bought their reusable shopping bags and filled them up with TJ merchandise to give my family for Christmas (yer welcome, ya ingrates). A lot of people make pilgrimages to buy TJ food and stash it.
Maybe the best thing about TJs was Two-Buck Chuck, the wine you used to be able to buy for under $2 and it was always really great. Even today it's not much over $2, but it's the only wine I ever buy.
I'm sure he had a great life & went out with a smile on his lips. I'm eternally grateful to him!