Help bring cheap organic groceries to Chattanooga! (appointed, neighborhood)

[luminus]

After hearing that Nashville will be getting a Trader Joe's or two, I am certain that we can convince TJ's that Chattanooga should be the 2nd TN city for them to enter.

(If you are unaware of Trader Joe's, it's basically an upscale Aldi's full of organic and otherwise exotic and ethnic foods and frozen entrees. Everything in Trader Joe's is fairly cheaper than at most grocery stores - think Whole Foods (or Greenlife) without the high prices. It is a very successful company who handpicks all their foods and who also donates significantly into local charities and organizations, with recent entries into Atlanta and elsewhere in the South. They also happen to sell a $3-4 wine ("Two buck chuck") that is popular throughout the country.)

To help bring them here, please go to Bring Trader Joe's to Chattanooga! Petition to sign the petition I have created if you are interested. This helped Nashville get a Trader Joe's.

If you have the time, you can also help by contacting the company through their website Location request form: Welcome to Trader Joe's - Your Neighborhood Grocery Store - Contact Us:Location Requests (http://www.traderjoes.com/location_requests_form.aspx - broken link).

Thanks to all who sign - I promise that if we can bring them here, you won't be disappointed! Also please ask if you have any other questions about the company - I am originally from Columbus, and shopped there almost exclusively until moving to Atlanta, which Trader Joe's entered soon after I arrived. Now having moved here, I'm definitely hoping I can continue the trend!

[jkmewright]

Done ............

[Jon F Moss]

bring on the two-buck chuck!

[beachbyrd]

I loooooove Trader Joes!! Trader Joes was talked about here:

//www.city-data.com/forum/chatt...ry-stores.html

That would be awesome =)

[Katsmeeyow]

Done!

[luminus]

I posted this thread into the other. Thanks for signing everyone! BTW, please email the petition of you feel that you have friends / relatives who would sign. Nashville only had about 3000 signatures. We can beat that!

[etta]

I Love Trader Joe's!

[Richard Hertz]

I really want to see our "local" organic grocery store feel the sting of defeat when this much larger company rolls right over them! I don't personally care for local produce. (it tastes more like dirt than china's organic stuff) What is up with the "local" guys and the expensive fair-trade stuff? Who cares if its fair trade? I'm fine with slave labor, unfair wages and low-bawling american grown products. There is an organic frozen pizza that comes from china that is really good at TJ's! The grapes from the ivory coast that were to die for. (no pun intended) Is this really the right direction for Chattanooga? If you want 2$ wine, why not switch to drinking 40 oz malt liqour?

[Jon F Moss]

me detect slight hint of sarcasm

Originally Posted by Richard Hertz

I really want to see our "local" organic grocery store feel the sting of defeat when this much larger company rolls right over them! I don't personally care for local produce. (it tastes more like dirt than china's organic stuff) What is up with the "local" guys and the expensive fair-trade stuff? Who cares if its fair trade? I'm fine with slave labor, unfair wages and low-bawling american grown products. There is an organic frozen pizza that comes from china that is really good at TJ's! The grapes from the ivory coast that were to die for. (no pun intended) Is this really the right direction for Chattanooga? If you want 2$ wine, why not switch to drinking 40 oz malt liqour?

[beachbyrd]

Originally Posted by Richard Hertz

I really want to see our "local" organic grocery store feel the sting of defeat when this much larger company rolls right over them! I don't personally care for local produce. (it tastes more like dirt than china's organic stuff) What is up with the "local" guys and the expensive fair-trade stuff? Who cares if its fair trade? I'm fine with slave labor, unfair wages and low-bawling american grown products. There is an organic frozen pizza that comes from china that is really good at TJ's! The grapes from the ivory coast that were to die for. (no pun intended) Is this really the right direction for Chattanooga? If you want 2$ wine, why not switch to drinking 40 oz malt liqour?

Have you ever been to Trader Joes? Do you know how they do business? They are not that type of business. Go to their website and read for yourself. When I was in Los Angeles working at a youth agency, Trader Joes was the first place we called to help out when we needed donations of food and stuff. They are very active in the community, are privately owned and they often buy locally. They feel like a local market, because they act like one. Trader Joes is not the type of store that would roll over Greenlife. It would not be like bringing in a Whole Foods. It is not the type of store you buy everything at anyway, as they are fairly small and somewhat eclectic.

Financially, I can only do very limited shopping at Greenlife anyway. I go for very specific items and only a couple of times a month. I think many people are in the same boat. It would be nice to have more acces to and choices for organic, healthy foods.

We support the Chattanooga Market, we shop at Greenlife when we can, we try to frequent local stores, but that does not mean I would not like Trader Joes to come to town.

PS---2 buck chuck was just overproduction by a CA vineyard, that they cleverly packaged as Charles Shaw and sold cheap, because there was such an abundance. It was not made in China. While I cannot guarantee it, I do not believe you would find products made in China at Trader Joe's.