Help bring cheap organic groceries to Chattanooga!

[Jason K]

After hearing that Trader Joe's would be coming to Nashville I've created a petition to help make Chattanooga their second location. It's getting a lot of support, but we need more to help make sure the company believes we will be a good area to build! If you are interested in cheap and great food, please sign and email to anyone you think will sign: http://www.petitiononline.com/ChattaTJ/

PS If you aren't sure what Trader Joe's is, think of Whole Foods or Greenlife but half the price. It's a hugely popular independent grocery store that is spreading quickly throughout the nation - Atlanta just got 3 last year!

[Jen N Geusse]

I love Trader Joes.(i've never been to one though?)I would love to have more organic products for cheap. Greenlife thinks that they are soooo cool with their fair trade and there support local campaign. Who cares about local, I want cheap groceries. I don't think that anyone in their right mind actually cares where their food comes from. Why don't they just buy all of their produce from out of the country like everyone else? If it were up to me, I would turn the local farms here into more roads to get around to wal-mart and stuff like that.(Go Wal-mart!)I fully support the "bring Trader Joes to Chattanooga." We need to start a support the Non-local coorperations campaign! I would much rather buy organic chimichangas and microwavable meals from china (Thanks China) for a buck'o'piece than buy a bunch of organic vegetables or "grass-fed beef" (who cares that they eat grass anyway?) I am excitedly awaiting "two-Buck Chuck" Cheap wine rules! We should throw a big party when they come to town and get wasted on cheap wine.(yeah! whoo hoo!)Lets start a bring starbucks to the down town area petition. They will run right over greyfriars, chattz and stonecup and they won't even look back. Ha ha ha. Then maybe mcdonalds.(at least Hardees) Thanks for starting this petition. I feel very important now, you know, like I'm doing something important.

[DOAT]

Yippie!, Hippy tree huggers

[mandms]

I hug my tree daily.

[Jason K]

Jen: How much of your furniture was even made in this country? If it's worth buying local, you should buy everything local, not just food, or stop being hypocritical.

Besides, no one will stop you from shopping wherever you prefer.

There are in fact many reasons to shop at both a local grocery market and a Trader Joe's. Here's just two:

"...although Trader Joe's does have some similar products to branded items in supermarkets, many of their products are unique in terms of recipes as well as packaging and sizing.

"[Also] it appears that many of Trader Joe's items are perceived as somewhat gourmet, yet at a reasonable price, thus further differentiating themselves from everyday supermarket branded and private label items"

-The New England Consulting Group

(http://www.allbusiness.com/ma rketing-advertising/channel-ma rketing/219840-1.html)

While the items aren't often local at Trader Joe's, they also aren't common. Most items aren't the same as items (see above) at other organic grocery stores, especially "local" organic grocery stores, which contain (I'm estimating) about 90% public label items that, rather than being grown or packaged locally, are in fact packaged in a variety of states and countries and are sold at most other organic groceries across the country. TJ's sells very little produce, and this would be the most obvious problem for local growers. But since it's not a large portion of Trader Joe's stock, it's not a problem at all.

So your concern for local farmers is misplaced. As for your other likely concern, local workers, ""They incentivize the heck out of their store managers," says Langenborg [see article above], noting that six-figure incomes are not unusual."

Certainly it's not the perfect company (what is?), but I believe you could do a lot worse.

Not everyone will be satisfied with a larger chain supermarket entering a small market, regardless of how friendly, interesting, cheap, etc, the new store is. But the point of my petition is that the market in Chattanooga is nowhere near saturated. Most cities with Trader Joe's already have Whole Foods, which is (for competitions' sake, at least) the same as Greenlife Grocery, as well as numerous local stores. If the store is good, it will bring customers - who in Atlanta would shop at Trader Joe's instead of Your Dekalb Farmer's Market? I'd imagine most people would shop at both, and the business at each indicates this as well.

The popularity of the petition proves only that Trader Joe's would do well here - the organic, gourmet, and ethnic niche is just barely being catered to in this town, which is very strange considering the town that it happens to be. Again, this is the point of the petition.

If there are more concerns of this type, I would be glad to hear them.

[Jen N Geusse]

Hi Jason,
Since you asked, My furniture came from Hickory ,NC. My house was built by a small local builder, my cabinets were made by a local firefighter and his dad welded together the shower.
Anyway......

Great article! I am glad to see that the billionaire brother's are doing so well! I am not being sarcastic because they are doing well for themselves. I am simply frustrated that the people of Chattanooga (the green city) are so excited and ready to jump on the bandwagon to bring in a german-owned chain superstore. I think that some of the petition signers really believe that they are going to get cheap "organic" groceries from this place. They still have hydrogenated oils in there store! Most fast food restaurants (the culinary cesspool of the world) have even jumped on the "no-hydrog" band wagon.(mcdonalds, wendy's, TB etc.) TJ's is a little behind on that one. That is an amazing fact that they private label 85% of there food.(Is that because it was previously in a different language?) Please don't tell me that they are private labeling local products because you have no idea where it is coming from. I would rather shop at a store who is not only promoting the companies that they are buying from, but they are not afraid to let us know where they are coming from. I am fully aware that no one will stop me from shopping where I want to shop,(thanks to you Jason K.) I will continue to attempt to make the responsible decision and support my community and I am sure that you will continue to help fill the off-shore accounts of the billionaire brothers. I am going to keep shopping at the local boutiques, local cheese shops, local pet food supply, shoe stores, grocery stores and so on.