I took the photo below late this afternoon (Jan. 31, 10). With most of the shelves stocked and the carts lined up outside, I wouldn't doubt if TJ's planned a soft opening before their scheduled Feb. 12th Corvallis debut.
In case you missed it, here's a couple news articles from local papers.
http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/article_725f5fc4-1546-11df-89d8-001cc4c002e0.html
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20090706/UPDATE/90706015
This doesn't mean that there will never be a TJ's in Salem.
Yay! Stay away Trader Joes!!!!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree Dsperin! Let's support our locally owned stores and not bring in yet another chain!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I'm to a point that I don't give a rip if Trader Joe's comes to Salem. I'll continue doing business with Life Source. They're awesome and local. FU TJ.
ReplyDeleteCorvallis will allow TJs but not a big box store. FU C.
Long live Salem, Oregon!
Yeah! I'm glad to hear other people with that sentiment. TJ's has some good products, but not necessarily better than what we already have in town. Plus, in the end, it's a chain that can't/won't support the local economy in the same way the local shops do. I say keep TJ's in Lake Oswego where it belongs.
ReplyDeleteI never shop at Wal-Mart, Costco, Target, Safeway..etc. I don't eat at any chains. I spend 98% of my money at local places.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Trader Joes carries a lot of great products. We stop every time we go to Portland and drop $200 stocking up.
IF you could get good tasting, unique products locally - I would vote with my dollars. But you just can't. The grocers around here all have the same generic blah products. Roth's is the only decent grocer.
Don't get me started on Lifesource. I think they have a "de-flavorizer" laser in back they hit their products with. Very generic blah food. (the salad bar is convenient and pretty good). Their produce is all about three levels below Roths. Meely apples, flavorless cukes and sour oranges. I have tried and tried to support them, but I just won't throw myself under the flavor bus to support them.
I'd love to have a Trader Joes locally. I am an ardent supporter of local businesses and locally sourced products, but ONLY if they deliver.
I love Trader Joe's! Great prices, delicious food... I'm all for supporting local stores but TJ's is too awesome of a store not to shop.
ReplyDeleteI love TJ's! It's about time Corvallis got one!!
ReplyDeletewhat is it about people and there local stores. All it is is a store devoloped in your town that stocks so called organic products made by kraft, phillip morris and smuckers. how it that local
ReplyDeleteI nominate the last post (Sept 10, 2009, 10:50 pm) as the least helpful post of the year.
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of Lifesource, but I know they don't carry any products from any of the three companies listed.
Nothing like lack of knowledge to go with bad grammar..
Please join us on facebook for: Put Trader Joe's in Salem.
ReplyDeleteActually, I love Lifesource, but I believe Trader Joe's has a larger selection and better prices. I'd like to think there is room for both long term.
Yeah- I love Trader Joe's. When's the Grand opening? I'll be the first one in!
ReplyDeleteseriously??? look at what you guys are saying... even life source and roths carry all things chain... did you know that roth's "kitchen fresh" items are all shipped in from different companies??? its true, i currently work there, and everything is reser's company, lol. lifesource taking out the flavor? have you tried anything they make? its so delicious i won't eat at any other deli.
ReplyDeleteanyways, trader joe's will probably carry the same produce and most of the same product, and either way whole food stores need to be more wide spread anyways. obviously many people here disagree based on price and quality, but its just another store and it just happens to hold good things and good intention, BRING IT ON =]
We shopped in Lifesource at least twice a week in the past. But after their prices have gone up like crazy, it's not even once a month now. Fred Meyer has some organic selections that are MUCH cheaper, so most of the time we shop there and go to LS only if they have discounts. So sad, isn't it? The only organic store you have in town overprice you!!! For ex: the organic broccoli in LS is about $1/lb more than FM??
ReplyDeleteThe produce at Lifesource has never been good. I am stubborn and keep going back. I really WANT to support local businesses. But their produce, really their fruit, just never is very good AND it is premium pricing. I just want a good sweet apple or pear. Is that too much to ask? Why is everything bland and mushy?
ReplyDeleteRoth's is really the best quality produce around. They do pay their employees a living wage too. That said, you will pay 20% more for a bag of groceries there, than you will at Fred Meyer. A lot of your money stays in the community and cycles back around to benefit you.
Deli - Lifesource's deli is great.
To the person above me, the pricing difference between FM and Lifesource relates heavily to the fact that FM has slashed most of their full time employees - so they can avoid benefits, like insurance. They pay poorly and you can see it in the attitude of the employees. Basing your choices on cheap pricing will destroy communities. We will only have Walmart with cheap chinese products and genetically modified garbage food - and very poor employees with no benefits (the rest of us will pay for their insurance and retirement). HOWEVER, I still don't like the fruit at Lifesource.
Whew!
Yahoo! bout time they get a Trader Joe's in Corvallis, can't wait
ReplyDeleteI love trader joes and its a great store and I am glad they are coming to Corvallis. For the people that like local so do I but I cant find everything I want so it would be nice to have like trader joes and a target. Plus Corvallis does have a lot of chain stores and places.
ReplyDeleteI love Trader Joes. I couldn't be happier. YIPPEE!!!
ReplyDeleteFor the best local produce at the best prices, I suggest the Salem Saturday Market and Salem Public Market. There's nothing better than fresh from the farm. It'll be here soon!
ReplyDeleteSalem is bigger than we think, it absolutely could support both! I live in Keizer, I love lifesource, but I also work an 8a - 5p job. How many days not counting the weekend do I want to journey from Keizer to lifesource? Not very many. It's a beast of a commute to get to especially during rush hour.
ReplyDeleteI usually head south to Corvallis or north to Portland at least 2 times a month to stock up on good healthy food. There are multiple stores, with much more selection, especially now with Trader Joes! Lifesource, you are good for the immediate needs, however, for me, you are not practical to get too unless I feel like driving and thick traffic.
TJ's is great for things like cereal, seriously overpriced at most other stores. I can't believe anyone actually eats their produce though, it is terrible. Try looking into a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture program). There are many in Salem. We get all our produce from a local farm, delivered to 2 locations in Salem, and our meat from a local farmer, Abundant Life Farm out of Dallas, OR. Also delivered to Salem. And it tastes amazing, and is cheaper than Lifesource.
ReplyDeleteWe got a CSA box this year and it was great. It really opened our eyes to some veggies we never would have gotten at the market - that turned out to be great.
ReplyDeleteWe ate more veggies this summer than ever before - you have to because you get so much good stuff.
Ironically we have been healthier than ever this year. Doctor was right about eating more veggies.
CSA is a great option. Still, we will truck to TJ's (in pdx) once a month to get unique and good foods.
The real problem in Salem is the lack of national chains (restaurants and grocers). Only fools keep going back to our mediocre restaurants just because they are “locally owned.” You drive past The Olive Garden to eat at Michelangelo’s?? If we had Macaroni’s, California Pizza Kitchen, El Torito, Acapulco, etc, we would have better local restaurants. The locals would have to improve or go out of business. (Wouldn’t it be unique for Salem to have an Italian restaurant actually run by someone who has at least been to Italy!!)
ReplyDeleteFrankly we don’t eat out much in Salem. I have to say that the best food in Salem is found at Mucho Gracias -- this says a lot about Salem!
I can't believe you just said that Salem doesn't have enough CHAINS. Where have you been lately? Chains are about all we've got.
ReplyDeleteAnd our local economy sucks because of it!
I don't want my food shipped from hundreds of miles away. We NEED a LOCAL LARRY'S, not a TJ.
ReplyDelete"I can't believe you just said that Salem doesn't have enough CHAINS."
ReplyDeleteYes, Salem has too many FAST FOOD chains. We need some higher-end chains. Actually it's not that I want chains, but I think that is the only way that the local joints will improve.
Now, Salem's economy "sucks" not because of chain restaurants, but because it is a company town. State jobs are secure and state workers don't have much desire or need to become entrepreneurs. The list of major industries in Salem is about the same length as our fine restaurants. What do we produce besides paperwork? I understand that other state capitals have the same problems.
Chains = Mediocre + Bad for you + Bad for the local economy.
ReplyDelete"Chains = Mediocre + Bad for you + Bad for the local economy."
ReplyDeleteSuch a simple blanket statement! Have "chains" prospered because they are mediocre and "bad for you?" Have you ever been to a Sweet Tomatoes (or Soup Plantation)? Is Spaghetti Warehouse better than The Old Spaghetti Factory?
I would advise you to read comments about Salem's local restaurants on Chowhound.com.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love some good local restaurants, but I think that won't happen until there is some outside competition.
I'm hearing "blanket statements" in both arguments.
ReplyDeleteSaying that Salem is a "company town" and that all occupants are state employees? Only mentioning the local restaurants that need improvement as a comparison to the chains?
Neither are fair to either the rest of Salem's population and to the great local restaurants we have. I don't think a city needs "some outside competition" to offer quality. What it needs is a population willing to support them when they do it right and tell them when they do it wrong.
Sometimes simple blanket statements hit the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteLook at the nutritional content of the food you get at McDonalds, Sherry's, Applebees, Olive Garden..etc. Take out the fat and the salt and see what is left.
Take a look around at those restaurants. Full of obsese unhealthy folks.
ECONOMICS
If you spend $10 at a local restaurant that sources it's ingredients locally, about $8.50 of that stays in the community. It gets respent and respent. Creating taxable income, generating revenues over and over and income tax that support the police, fire, schools..etc locally. That $10 spent locally (if respent locally) creates an impressive economic effect in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
If you spend $10 at McDonalds, approx $2 stays locally. Plus you are supporting low wage, low education jobs. The rest of the money leaves the state and there is no further benefit.
Bottom line, there is simply no way that chain restaurants aren't bad for the local economy. If your school is overcrowded. If someone you know is unemployed. etc etc....many of these social ills are created by out of state chains leaching money out of our local economy.
Micro-econonmics 101
Also to answer the question above, most chains have prospered because they offer salty, fatty foods (naturally taste good, but very bad for you) at ridiculously low prices. Try buying hamburger from a farmer and buns and condiments and see if you can sell it for $1. And pay someone to do it. You can't.
ReplyDeleteThey prosper because they take short cuts and pay employees very low wages and poor benefits. The burger patty at most chains comes heavily processed with "all meat" filler - from factories.
People don't really think of these things when they see $1 Value Menu.
I'm just happy a Trader's is finally open closer to Salem then PORTAND or EUGENE. I do like LifeSource, and unlike some here find their deli "yummy" and shopping at Trader's wont suddenly stop me for going there. But if I did all my shopping at LIfeSource, well they could make Roth's look like a discount market easily. Trader's won't likely hurt LifeSource, since LS is a speciality market not a grocery store.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Roth's a chain? I see them everywhere I go in Oregon. I like Roth's organic vegies and they do carry some local produce. I await the opening of the farmers mks. soon. I go into shock when I see the prices for organics in Life Source., One thing we can do is eat at home. take your own lunch and start raising some of our own vegies.
ReplyDeleteI find quite a few things at lower prices at TJ's and that is the reason I shop there. I just wish they had organic instant coffee!! And some other things on my regular list. I love the Mediteranean Humus to put on the southern greens. That needs to be organic too.
ReplyDelete