It reminds me of selecting which restaurant to go to. There’s that great place downtown which has *amazing* food—most of the time—and *great* service—usually, but sometimes not...but since you don’t know if you’ll get those tonight, you decide to go to the fallback place instead...because the food is consistently acceptable, as is the service, i.e. you know what you’re gonna get.
i used to drive 2.5 hours across the arizona desert with a cooler in the back of the car in order to go on a TJ’s shopping spree. i’m very glad to have one only a quarter of a mile from my home now.
i agree, though. they stop carrying things too fast, and can’t be counted on to have the things we need at any given time. it’s a real crisis when they’re out of dog food, because theirs is the kind we feed barca and everyone knows you shouldn’t switch up a dog’s food too often.
i really miss their yummy lentil stew. i got the last 5 jars that my store had, gathering dust in the back room.
And the Trader Joe’s that I drive a half hour to reach was out of coconut milk and doesn’t stock organic unsweetened cocoa powder because “it’s out of season.” WTF?
Sadly the main problem with TJ’s is that it is so popular their stock is quickly wiped out soon after restocking. My son used to only eat strawberry cereal bars for breakfast, and he would not eat the store brands other than TJ’s, so when I could not get those I would be really frustrated. For the last two months there were no kosher dill pickles, but this week I finally scored and noticed some jars on hold for other customers. The beer selection has disappointed me too, no more Red Nectar. I know that store you frequent and I expect it has more traffic than most TJ’s. Our closest TJ’s has similar lack of stock, but not so much as I try to get in there on a weekday morning rather than a weekend or after work hours when traffic is at its worst. I like that if I ask about something, the staff always check, and I know you can ask to have them hold requested items for you. Our local TJ’s has the mini bagels, the great white bread and the freezer section is rarely so bare bones, and the parking is ample. Perhaps you could try for a different time or outlet and see if it is any better...SF could probably use another TJ’s or two, fill out those questionnaires and complain. Yeah, the days of bragging about it are gone, but I can’t imagine shopping anywhere else for 95% of our food.