I hear you. But Tj is actually known for selling flowers at cost or even at a loss to attract customers.

I did not know that about TJ flowers. It must work because once in TJ, can't just get flowers. The cart always gets full.

Beautiful flowers, lisa!

Those are gorgeous, Lisa! DS's gf likes flowers, and TJ is his go-to, as well. One of my favorites is the eucalyptus, which then dries nicely right in the vase. One of the employees suggested I hang it in the shower and let the scent release in the steam. I haven't tried that yet.

What a beautiful bargain. I agree, flowers must be a loss leader for TJs. I almost always get a bunch plus a bunch of other stuff every time I go. Theres a new TJs in the same location as my hairdresser, so I go in there at least every six weeks.

I am so conflicted on this, especially as the cyclospora event continues. At $6/ 9 stems no field portapotties are being installed (fortunately we don’t consume glads).

I do love the eucalyptis as well we’ll, Feathers.

At Christmas, I grabbed a couple of small packages of boughs at TJs, thinking I could put them on my mantle. When I checked out, they were $15 each which surprised me but, oh well. I brought them home and the red berries were falling off all over the place.

I checked online about them and read that the berries are poisonous My toddler grandson was visiting the next day so I threw everything in the trash. Adios, $30. I guess my point is that not everything in that section is a loss leader!

I just bought some flowers-the Jumbo size-at TJ's yesterday. There was a cabbage plant included in the arrangement and I guess I'm just wishing my life away for Fall, so I bought it! I buy flowers at least every two weeks there and have wondered how they do it so cheaply also.

TJ’s terrible history with fair trade and unions is one of many reasons I do not shop there. It is an issue worse than their over use of plastic and their over processed foods.

Those are gorgeous flowers. I didn’t know that about TJs either. i have to slap my own hand every time i go in there to keep from adding any to my cart. They have had a pretty good variety of succulents and they work nicely in a terrarium.

Our Ingles grocery store has a very fine floral department that is affordable but not cheap. The orchids lately have gone up in price quite a bit but the cut flowers have not. Now that there is a TJs in DD’s town I could go regularly but I have not liked any of their prepared or frozen foods and am very happy with our local Aldi’s for produce. I knew nothing about their checkered history of labor relations but am not surprised as the entire food industry is plagued by low wages, from growing and processing and selling retail all the way to serving it on plates in restaurants.

kswl, Aldi’s, even though owned by the same parent company, scores highest among large grocery chains on Green America‘s rankings. While TJ’s ranks in the bottom even under walmart. It does not get the same negative consumer scrutiny as walmart I believe because most of us well off liberals love it so the negatives are left out of the media or under the radar. It is a shameful company that has duped many well intended people in my opinion.

https://www.climatefriendlysupermarkets.org/scorecard

Thank you for that link, Roarah. I guess the regional Ingles company is too small to make the list but I’d love to know where they fall on that scale.

Roarah, I find that scorecard rather misleading. While I'm not inclined to defend Trader Joe's, the report indicates the company didn't provide enough information for the scorecard, and the TJ rating appears to be due to lack of transparency, rather than factually known information. Take that as you will.

But TJ's does rank consistently well in employee satisfaction surveys (there are various ones out there). And it's the only store near me that hasn't replaced employees with self-checkouts stations. I've come to appreciate that they aren't cutting their labor pool. While I also shop at Aldi, I can get in and out of Aldi without ever even seeing an employee. All of the other grocery stores near me (including Costco) have self-checkout, and often only 1 or 2 employees at the other checkout lanes. While I don't shop at TJ's because I'm a duped, well-off liberal (I actually only fit one of those labels), there are many reasons I do.

Trader Joe’s has long been accused of union busting so not sure how employee focused they really are. They are also known to purposely open stores in very gentrified upper middleclass neighborhoods and have been accused of packaging racist named product like Trader Jose and trader ming. I just find it so ironic it is so adored by so many who at the same time disparage Walmart and amazon. If one also likes walmart i have zero issues with you shopping at TJs but it is no better ethically, environmentally nor healthier than Walmart. https://www.epi.org/publication/corporate-union-busting/

I try not to judge people by where they shop, including walmart and amazon. I find that when I do, I tend to distort the responsibility of individuals over corporations and elected officials. TJs pays higher wages than standard grocery stores. Its employees seem happy and aren't being replaced by self-checkout. If the company is known for union-busting, then that is unfortunate. But, imo, there are other segments of laborers in the country that would benefit from union representation.