There's somebody new at Trader Joe's
When I bought my home I made sure there was a Trader Joe's nearby. It was the middle class equivalent of Jergensen's (now extinct) and I wouldn't want to travel far to the nearest one (and three blocks isn't really that far). As far as I know, Trader Joe's stores are only in Blue States.
The chain has changed continuously since Joe Coulomb bought the failing Pronto Markets that employed him (he sold out and retired many years ago), but I note a shift in the scale of deals which indicates someone new on the negotiating team.
For just a couple weeks Traders sold Gordon Biersch beer (they're a craft brewery / restaurant chain) at a price so inexplicably low I bought plenty - then it went up in price - then disappeared.
Suddenly there's a "Trader Joe'a Brewery" and mountains of 6-packs of "craft brews" at $4.99 - and everything about it just screams "Gordon Biersch" (OK, so the color coded caps with a G|B in the same font and colors as T|J is just a little bit of a tip-off - as is the "two" brewries being both in San José).
Now I realize the "moral values majority" prefer Pabst Blue Ribbon and wouldn't appreciate the domaneering flavors of GB/TJ brewery, but I appreciate having this sort of thing for two bucks a 6-pack less than with G|B on the cap - but then, I live in one of the bluest of Blue States.
So also I've notice wine. Traders has long had wine bottled under the "Trader Joe's" label (and they have a winery license so they can blend their own stuff), but I noticed an M.Ray cabernet with fine print on the back label "made exclusively for Trader Joe's". I bought. I don't remember what I paid, but I know I'm not buying anything over $6.00 (that's probably a New York $14 or higher), and it's damned good stuff (and I'm writing under it's influence right now). I'll buy more.
So somebody with bigger, brassier balls is wheeling and dealing at Traders, and this is a "good thing". Unfortunately, the "good old days" will never come again, because the chain is now way too big for the stunning "desperation deals" they used to pull off (two bottles per store just isn't going to hack it). Today the watchword has to be "steady supply".
NOTE: If you find wine of particular value at Traders, you buy NOW. Resturanteurs in Los Angeles visit Traders and buy sample bottles. They go out to their cars in the parking lot and taste them. If it's a deal, they lock the open bottle in their trunk (in compliance with California law), go back in and buy it out - then visit as many of the other stores as they can get to before some other resturanteur gets there first. They aren't going to be serving it at "cost plus 10" either.
