Courier-Journal Breaks My Heart: Trader Joe's Spurns Our Advances

By Michelle on November 26, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (10) | Food

The Courier-Journal's money blog reports that Trader Joe's does not have Louisville in their plans for at least the next two years.

Allison Mochizuki, a company spokeswoman in Monrovia, Calif., tells me that Louisville is not included in the chain's two-year plan. I hopefully asked if the company might be in the 19th month of the two-year plan, but she says the plan pretty much stretches out 24 months from now.

Translation: Despite my deep affection and desire Trader Joe's is not coming to Louisville. Way to ruin Thanksgiving CJ money blogger guy Alex Davis.

10 Comments

Matt

Bummer.

But at least I'll be able to pick up some Trader Joe's stuff when I go home to New Jersey for the holidays.

November 26, 2008 8:36 AM

Janelle

Heartbreakingly sad.

November 26, 2008 9:47 AM

Dianna

Dang! Double dang.

Should we mount a campaign to get their attention? Have a little demonstration (get out the posters and paintbrushes now people) to show them that we want them here?

November 26, 2008 11:02 AM

MaryLiz

Awful public transportation. Nowhere to shop for clothes, household items or food downtown. No Trader Joe's. Beginning to wonder what it is I love about this city.

November 26, 2008 11:16 AM

PJ Chmiel

I find it sad when people judge the worth of a city by which national chain stores it does or doesn't attract (Ikea, Trader Joes, H&M, et al). I used to live a few blocks from a Trader Joe's in Chicago, and shopped there at times (and Whole Foods most of the rest of the time, because all of the smaller healthfood stores had already been put out of business by the chains before I moved there, same with Starbucks and coffee), but I'm glad that Louisville is a city where we still have so many independent businesses and several wonderful locally-owned healthfood stores and specialty shops. I'd much rather keep my money circulating in *this* town and deal with people on a more personal scale, than push a cart around a giant, crowded store and be the recipient of feigned chipperness from a clown in a "nonconformist, kinda zany!" uniform of a Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants.

I'm with MaryLiz on public transit and the neglected downtown, Louisville is far from perfect...but please realize that chain stores don't "make" cool cities, they ruin them. If Bardstown Rd or Frankfort Ave looked like your average vapid commercial strip (Bardstown already has way too many chains, and that godawful Mall), nobody would care about living near them. It's the quirky vibe and walkable, pedestrian scale that make that magic, big-box stores with giant parking lots are the antithesis of "livable."

NOTE: I think yuppies generally like TJ's primarily for the $3 wine, most shoppers I saw there had at least a few bottles of it in their cart...since I don't drink I can't help you there, though if you want to get drunk you might find Kentucky Gentleman "bourbon" an even better value for your money, available at any of the 5,000 liquor stores in this city.

November 26, 2008 9:28 PM

Dave

Fortunately, Cincinnati isn't toooo far away. You can always make the hike if you have to get your fix. While you're there you can stop by Jungle Jim's ! =)

November 27, 2008 9:49 AM

Michelle

I don't know that anyone is judging Louisville's worth based on whether or not we have a Trader Joe's PJ. I'm certainly not. Trader Joe's offers a lot of items I personally want to purchase, at prices that are agreeable to me. Thus I want them to come to town. I can get some, but not all of those items, at stores here in town and most of the time the prices are far more expensive. I love supporting local and independent businesses but my economic reality doesn't make it possible to buy most of my groceries at independent health stores.

I'll love Louisville immensely whether Trader Joe's ever comes or not. Just if Trader Joe's does come I'll be able to buy generic veggie burgers and fake chicken as well as pumpkin butter that doesn't contain HFCS and the bulk candies that my family loves to receive as gifts.

And I don't drink wine so does that mean I'm safe from the yuppie label?

November 27, 2008 10:35 AM

PJ Chmiel

I will grant that TJ's has a lot of items at more affordable prices, especially things like storebranded organic / convenience foods (with silly names). And while I miss some of that convenience, I guess I've just rearranged my priorities and "needs" in such a way that if I can't buy it at Amazing Grace, the corner store near my house, or once-in-a-while a Kroger, I just don't buy it. Wherever Whole Foods is here (out in some soul-crushing commercial strip) is too far away for me to bother, I've only been there once in the 2 years that I've lived here (which is a relief, since I hated going to them in Chicago).

Most things come down to a compromise of sorts; I've decided to live with less cheap convenience foods and "gourmet" items in favor of living more locally, and sometimes, economically (buying bulk food items and cooking more from scratch, which I think everyone could agree is better than consuming more packaged convenience stuff...check out thestoryofstuff.com if you've never seen it, very clever and eye-opening). And for what it's worth, since moving here I'm only making about 60% as much I was making at my job in Chicago (mostly by choice, as I now work less hours too), so I appreciate tight budgets as much as anyone...but again I'm just re-prioritizing what's important in my life. And I think local businesses are important, even with their higher prices and shortcomings of stock.

As far as the yuppie comment, I think it would be hard to argue that yuppies weren't the base demographic of places like Trader Joe's and Whole Paycheck. Michelle, I think you and I would, superficially at least, both be considered yuppies by a lot of people in this country, (we are basically young, urban and professional, even if not extremely so). Of course nobody considers themself a yuppie, it's not a label that most would "claim." And while I wouldn't want to hang out at length with most people I consider yuppies, it's not necessarily an evil term, either.

November 27, 2008 2:03 PM

john

Wow, I guess PJ must have burnt his tofurkey today.

November 27, 2008 8:15 PM

Carole C.

I am very depressed about this news too; I have gone onto TJ's website and pleaded Louisville's case in the past. No doubt they have been dissuaded by the state law that prohibits sales of wine and liquor in grocery stores. Even the effort earlier this year to change that had a square footage minimum for a store to sell liquor that I doubt TJ's would satisfy, and which seemed intended to favor big box stores and maybe Kroger. Happily, I am headed to Cincy this weekend and TJ's is on the itinerary.