These are comments about Trader Joe's from 2005 and 2006. They include material about Davis politics that ties into possible sites for Trader Joe's (or did in the minds of the editors responsible).
Well, there isn't a Trader Joe's in Davis... yet. Some have said they would never come to a town like Davis. Others wish they would replace Food Fair or the former Harvest Market (now Cost Plus). The concern is that they would take business from our beloved Davis Food Co-op. We do miss the inexpensive, upscale variety of TJ's though. For these reasons, a TJ's in far East or West Davis would be welcome. The West end has Village Homes to feed it, the East end may have the population (especially if Covell Village goes through). The Davis Wish List shows there are many who would like one. KenBloom said he's read "actual plans" to build one at 8th & Pole Line. If Covell Village was approved (Measure X), it would gave definitely included a Trader Joe's. The lease had been signed. AaAa claims that Trader Joe's denies this and has recently asked the developers to stop using their name in the Measure X campaign. Trader Joe's would be within walking distance for the residents.
But even though Covell Village did not pass, Davis will likely still get a Trader Joe's. Covell Village is not Davis' only chance at securing a Trader Joe's. TJ was already in negotions with two locations in Davis. Alhambra Center at Mace & Alhambra which has not yet been approved and with the Interland/South Davis Center which has been approved and is nearing construction. Also, rumor has it that if the Second Street Crossing (Target) is approved by the City Council in May of 2006, then a Trader Joe's may be built at that shopping center at the corner of Mace and Second Street (hardly walking distance for most of Davis but certainly bussing distance). If this plan goes through it would be completed by 2008.
2005-10-23 10:18:07 I'd be ok with the Trader Joe's giving the Co-op some competition. Trader Joe's also takes in products from local farmers. —ApolloStumpy
I heard that none of Trader Joe's produce is local. In fact, it was almost all from abroad. Is this true? —JackHaskel
- According to Trader Joes this statement is FALSE. Trader Joes does sell some local produce, I do not know how much, but I here it is a significant amount. In response to a customer who aked why the prices were different in her local trader joes in california vs. the one in another state, Trader Joes responded by saying
"Trader Joe's has stores in many states and regions and we try to source goods locally where we can. Because of this, we have a selection of fresh deli products, breads, dairy and juices that will vary in most states." — MattHh
TJ's outlines its many organic items in this brochure, but they don't say anything specific about using local produce. —CraigBrozinsky
Either way, they treat their employees better and offer better selection. If the co-op can't compete, then it should get out of town. —ApolloStumpy
Mindless Capitalism, 101: three cheers for products over people! Unconscious consumerism for all! Social Darwinism is the ultimate measure of man! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! —ZacharyNorwood
How much does the co-op pay its workers and managers compared to Trader Joe's? Oh, I get it...they don't deal with money there...workers get warm fuzzies, and that pays all the bills in this high rent town. Trader Joe's also buys plenty of fair trade products...so maybe it's not the farmer in Solano who benefits as much, but some indy produce maker is benefiting, and probably more of them too, thanks to Trader Joe's better management and leverage. —ApolloStumpy
You have to analyze things case by case. I'm a fan of TJ's, but when its corporate expansion starts scheming with development projects, I take time to re-evaluate their motives and overall, comparative worth. Star Bucks has fair trade coffee, but I wouldn't call them advocates of fair-trade. The benifits of a TJ's are insignificant, by the way—they're frivolous benifits. "Ohhh, now I can get TJ's beef jerky—wow, my life is better." And my position is not co-op vs. TJ's, btw (but you seem to bend logic to your liking). —ZacharyNorwood
2005-10-23 20:20:57 And my position is not abject capitalism. You started with the idiot logic and now when challenged, you can't even show how the co-op is a more humane business than Trader Joe's. From Businessweek :
One place where TJ's has never stinted is with its employees. Besides above-union wages and generous bonuses (pay for entry-level part-timers starts at $8 to $12 an hour; first-year supervisors average more than $40,000 a year), TJ's contributes an additional 15.4% of each worker's gross pay into a company-funded retirement plan. Remind me, what does the co-op offer? 11% off of their exoborant prices? Oh boy! —ApolloStumpy
- Hehe—okay, let me explain things to you explicitly, since your awareness of logic (and by this I mean informal logic, of course) isn't too keen: (a) by not supporting TJ's, it does not follow, necessarily, that one supports the co-op (these positions are not mutually exclusive, yet you conflate the two nonetheless) and (b) it does not necessarily follow that if a company gives its employees comparatively better wages that it is a superior company, in every other way, or that it is a necessary addition to society. Is that clear enough?— ZN
- My comments have solely been about Trader Joe's and Co-op competing with each other. If you want to bring in trader joe's agreement with the Covell Village, then start your own comment thread. Instead, you bash me for being a mindless capitalist just because I'm cool with Trader Joe's being competitive with co-op. —ApolloStumpy
- Don't forget the logic bashing, too! That's important. Good day.—ZN
2005-12-19 19:57:02 It was amazing how the school newspaper turned the prop X debate into pro or con trader joes and ignored the real issue of having a housing development there. Trader Joes was like the developer's Trojan Horse. —DudeNude
2006-06-05 16:12:11 I'd be happy to see Trader Joe's in the U-Mall, but am dubious of the "can handle the loss of spaces" comment in the article. Would they build into the existing mall? Outside across from Cost Plus? The lot always looks pretty crowded whenever I'm there. But Bike City, USA, right? So no problem! —KevinChin
2006-06-05 16:32:54 After reading the article, I was about to post the same thing that Kevin said...that parking lot is terrible! If they reallocate the spaces...then maybe it could be better, but otherwise, with both Cost Plus AND Trader Joe's...I fear that parking will be impossible. —KarlaFung
2006-06-05 16:42:14 I can't imagine any configuration of that parking lot that would work with a Trader Joe's plopped into the middle of it. It's a nice location in theory (increased traffic on Russell notwithstanding), but personally I'd much rather Trader Joe's just usurp Cost Plus's space. Maybe they can carve out an Old Teahouse sized plot and call it the Trader Joe's Express —TravisGrathwell
2006-06-05 18:34:25 Where Food Fair was would be absolutely ideal. Even if it used only half or a quarter of the building. That shopping center kinda sucks, might help revitalize it. Parking wouldn't be a problem at all. But YAY on Trader Joes no matter where it is, since people will go. —ES
2006-06-05 22:49:44 From what I heard (through the downtown grapevine) they are going to shuffle some of the businesses around inside the University Mall to create most of the space. I, personally would have preferred to see Traders Joes downtown - in the parking lot behind Kinko's. They're planning to build a 3 story parking structure there eventually anyway. Or anywhere downtown. It would provide a great boost to downtown businesses. The Food Fair location is too far outside of the center. It will probably be converted to office space. —JonFenske
2006-06-05 23:13:22 Nah, it's not far at all, I think everyone would definitely still make the trip by bike, bus, or car. West Davis doesn't have a nice shopping center, just that ghostlike one. I meant if Trader Joe's comes, it might revamp it and maybe some other small and nice things will lease there too. Turn it into a respectable shopping center worth going to rather then a block of junk space and a couple restaurants. —ES
2006-06-06 09:30:53 If TJ's ends up in the U-Mall, is there any concern that it will take buisness away from Cost Plus? Cost Plus has a large selection of dry goods and wine. TJ's surely will impact Cost Plus' food sales. —DaveBanister
2006-06-06 11:10:40 Please, please, I urge everyone not to find reasons to protest this store coming to Davis. The location is fine. The neighboring students will benefit having more food options close by. Cost Plus will not suffer. In fact, they will benefit. People coming to Trader Joe's will drop in to their store while they are there, and vice versa. —SharlaDaly
2006-06-06 11:32:36 In my home town, TJ's and Cost Plus are right across the parking lot from each other and have been for quite a few years now. I don't think one has ruined the other's business. However, I still say that the location although ideal, given the circumstances of parking, traffic flow, etc....will suck ultimately. —KarlaFung
2006-06-06 11:46:16 I'm shocked, SHOCKED! This has to be stopped! Think of the traffic in the neighborhood! Where will all the customers park? Think of the crime! It will destroy downtown businesses! Davis is a small, charming village and corporate despoilers are coming! Think of the poor tenants in University Commons Apartments and Sycamore Lane Apartments. When they signed their leases I'm sure they didn't anticipate having to live next door to THIS! Join DON'T (Davisites Opposed to New Trader joes) Website coming soon. —PaulThober
2006-06-06 13:42:36 I wrote to Trader Joe’s two years ago and warned them about Davis and the ridiculous hostility they would face if they tried to develop a store in the community. They would be much better off building stores elsewhere. At least they figured a reasonably good location – in the middle of the student population (the normal people) and generally away from everyone else. —SteveHayes
2006-06-06 15:17:13 I read Sharla's comment and laughed. I've been waiting for a TJ's for so long I almost edited my comment after I wrote it. But ultimately I'd still take one anywhere in town (any City Councillors listening? I haven't voted yet, you know!). Even at the U-Mall it'll mean that I'll have one less reason to drive to Sac, and that's worth the bike ride over. Mmmm. . . I can just taste the Monteblue & Populet now. . . —KevinChin
- Was alerted to the City Council Meeting packet on Trader Joe's, and have to admit that I forgot entirely about the parking on the west side. The link also has a map of the site plan around p. 15 of the pdf. -K
2006-06-06 19:12:02 If there's a Trader Joes in Davis, and CostCo and (a bigger and nicer) Target in Woodland, I think I can even live without a Target in Davis. Of course, I figure there's a lot more reason to have a Target than all those damn car dealerships... —JaimeRaba
Clearly it is ridiculous to compare building a target in Davis and building a trader Joe’s. Target is a one stop shopping super center while trader Joes is more like a grocery store. the people who are against trader Joes because they are a corporation that will hurt small business must have been against Safeway, Albertsons, rite aid, longs, and other stores of similar size or they are acting like hypocrites. This area of Davis lacks a grocery store near buy. Students living at the dorms result to buying junk food at rite aid and the DC food stores. Students deserve access to produce and other health items. Remember that students at the dorms are not aloud a car, so Safeway and Albertsons are terribly inconvenient for them (biking provides a challenge for caring back groceries if you don’t have a large basket. Secondly target clearly PLANS on taking business away from a lot of stores including grocery stores and drug stores. They can afford to offer below cost food items to get people to come there to shop for appliances and clothing ect. Target will put other stores out of business. Target would not move here if they planned not to, it just wouldn’t be profitable. Simply taking sales that would otherwise go to the woodland target or other outside big box stores would cause target as a company to lose a lot of money, because all they would be doing is increasing cost by a lot and only increasing total sales as a corporation by very little. the only way they can make money by moving a target to Davis is by taking business from other stores or getting the public to spend more money. And most people are on at least a semi fixed income so the former seems way more likely. Trader Joe’s would be catering to students living in the dorms which is a somewhat untapped market. The co-op would still exist because the people who shop at the co-op are not concerned about price anyway or else they would shop at other grocery stores. —MattHh
2006-08-08 13:39:52 Parking would not be too much of a problem if U Mall were able to prevent students from parking there as a substitute for parking on campus. A security guard patrolling for this kind of parking misuse would free us as much parking as TJ's would remove. Also, the parking lot is at its capacity when the grad is full, but most of the other business are closed anyway, including TJ's. I think it could work. And I think Davis is big enough for TJ's and the Co-Op, and it might prompt the Co-Op to improve to compete. Competition is good for consumers, and in a competitive market, the customer is king. Let consumers vote with their dollars, not lobby the city council. —MatthewPearson
Less parking is a good thing. fewer parking spots = turn to alternative transportation = less traffic. PhilCameron
2006-10-15 22:29:44 Yesterday I saw a Trader Joe's coming soon sign on the kiosk in front of the old Food Fair —RobiPochapin
2006-10-15 23:36:53 I saw the same thing as Robi on Saturday. A sign at the small shopping cneter in West Davis. —JoAnnaRich
2006-10-16 04:16:50 I have also seen the same sign, though there is nothing posted on their site. —JamesKrause
2006-10-16 15:56:28 As of Mon. afternoon the official looking but fishy seeming sign has been removed from the kiosk at Westlake shopping center. I spoke with Steve at the Stonegate club and learned that the management of Westlake said something like "Huh?" when asked "what's up?". We'll just keep our fingers crossed here in the Far West —RobiPochapin
