I love TJ's. Love love love, and I don't care what y'all think. :P
My husband introduced me to TJ's kettle corn on our first date - we snuck a bag into a movie theater - and I tell people that's one reason I fell for him. When they opened one in our current city a couple of years ago, we were just about counting down the days.
We get some basics there because they're cheaper and (imo) tastier than other local grocery stores. Sometimes I go through sales for other stores, combine with coupons, etc., and yeah, I can get things cheaper that way, but if I don't have the time or don't want the hassle, I don't feel bad shopping at TJ's because their prices are better than non-sale prices anywhere else.
Husband loves their beer & wine. I'm not much of a drinker, and am pregnant right now anyway, but I do like their wine when I'm in the mood.
Someone above mentioned their ketchup. They have the best ketchup. Ever. It's one of those things where you'd think it's all the same, but it's not, and TJ's organic ketchup is absolutely the best I've had.
We do like the convenience foods. It's cheaper for us to buy snack food at TJ's than for me to get things at the work cafeteria or Husband to stop at a gas station on his way to work every day, as we tend to do. I recently discovered their graham crackers, and it's like the ketchup - you think a graham cracker is just a graham cracker, but these are far and away better than any others I've had. I mentioned the kettle corn. The frozen meals (OMG their mac & cheese!) and things like Asian noodle boxes are more expensive than making our own from scratch, but we've accepted that we're just not going to cook from scratch all the time, especially for work, and this is less expensive than buying food at work - which, again, we will do otherwise. It's not perfect, but it's an improvement over our former habits. We both work 12-hour overnight shifts, and it's worth it to us to pay a little extra for the convenience.
Like someone else mentioned, I appreciate that they're not huge. I can go in, find what I need easily, and get out. If I forget something in one aisle, it's not going to take me 5 minutes to make my way back and find it again.
My 8-year-old loves the samples (okay, we ALL love the samples), and the "hidden" stuffed animal to find. (For those without kids: they take a stuffed animal, different for every location - here it's a seahawk bc that's our local college mascot - and put it in a different place every day. Kids are supposed to look for it, and then they can tell the customer service desk where they found it and get a prize like a piece of candy or some stickers. It's fun and keeps him occupied while I'm shopping.)
So yes, shameless TJ's love here, and that's not going to change. Maybe I'm just a hipster or a sucka or whatever, but they have food I love at reasonable prices. I'm pretty sure when Baby Tofu arrives (in approx 5 weeks), we're going to be eating a lot more of their frozen meals, bc I won't be cooking and Husband doesn't care to, and this doesn't bother me in the least.
These are the basics we get at TJ's:
- nuts & seeds
- dried fruit
- frozen fruit & veg
- canned tomatoes
- spices
- olive & coconut oils
- bagged salads
- coffee
- yogurt
- almond milk
- steel-cut oats
- frozen chicken breast
- ground beef
- maple syrup
- honey
- baking soda & powder
- whole wheat cinnamon raisin english muffins
- salsa
- other condiments/sauces (the sweet chili sauce is great, also curry simmer sauce, peanut sauce, etc)
- hummus
- tofu
favorite novelty/convenience foods:
- graham crackers
- flavored cream cheese (pumpkin! peanut butter!)
- kettlecorn
- tortilla chips
- single-serve frozen meals (mac & cheese, ethnic dishes)
- Asian noodle boxes
- veggie straws
- chocolate in all forms
- frozen waffles
I also like their flowers. I like to have a vase of fresh flowers on the table, and their cheapest ones are $2.99, which I don't mind spending for a weekly bouquet.