Costco, Trader Joe's, and Grocery Outlet

[bbqboy]

I went searching for the Grocery Outlet thread started on the Chains board only to find it had been moved
to Seattle.
Just wondering why a chain that is in several Western States is treated differently than the others.
Should every board in California , Mountain States and Pacific Northwest have their own threads?
If it is OK with you guys I guess it is OK with me.
Thanks.

[The Chowhound Team]

While Costco and Trader Joe's have some differences store-to-store most things are largely consistent; our understanding is that the Grocery Outlet stock varies considerably from place to place. The goal of Chains isn't to shunt off all conversation about chains to a no man's land, but to centralize discussion that's of interest to a large number of hounds from diverse regions -- Costco and Trader Joe's benefit from that, but Grocery Outlet apparently would not.

[bbqboy]

you're wrong, but it doesn't matter. All grocery outlets have about 80% same items. The rest is ordered in according to what the locals want. They cover a large swath of he Western US.

[rworange]

Not true.

I follow four local stores regularily and it is totally different than what goes on in Costco or TJ's.

While there are a number of common items, price and what is offered is siginificantly different ... especially wine. The SF thread regularily gets comments from SoCAL and Nevada saying they wished they had the variety in the Bay Area.

[Melanie Wong]

Which GO's do you shop? I've been to 17 of them in Northern California, and they are quite variable. The Oakland store often has things that none of the other stores carry. The three stores in Sonoma County carry more organic items than the others. Yes, there are items that are common across the stores, for example, I overheard a suit in the Berkeley store next to corporate headquarters remark that the Harris Ranch 5# ground beef was the no. 2 top-selling SKU chain wide. But those items are rarely the ones of interest to 'hounds.

[paulj]

There is some discussion on the pros/cons of regional threads about GO. It comes down to the question whether the GO offerings differ enough by region and store.

[bbqboy]

Isn't the same true of TJ's and Costco though?

[paulj]

While there are some TJ items that a regional (e.g. artisan breads), most things that are discussed are familiar, regardless of whether the poster is in Boston or LA. TJ treads only become regional when someone compares current stores with the original South Pasadena store.

I have browsed a few of the San Francisco GO threads, and seen only a few familiar items. Part of the problem is that the choicest items may be in any one store for only a week or two. Some items are around longer, and in most stores, such as Best Foods mayo near its pull date.

I don't know if the regional threads will work better or worse than a 'chains' one. Or we could just stick with the one thread on San Francisco. It's anyone's guess as to which would generate most traffic.

[bbqboy]

Yeah, I don't really disagree. Its just so lonely on the PNW board since Seattle and PDX got their own boards that I feel like the Maytag repairman. I miss discussing stuff with our Western brethren. :)