Why Is Trader Joes Not Following Whole Foods In Prince George's County? (Columbia: buyers, college)

[dkf747]

I don't understand it either. When I lived in Beltsville and College Park it sure would have been nice to have a TJ's there.

[DistrictSonic]

Trader Joes and Aldi are owned by two brothers, they target different demographic slices using many of the same suppliers and products, but with different in store labels. Trader joes targets middle and upper middle income areas, while aldi targets lower middle and working class neighborhoods. Even then you have to have a sufficient concentration of affluence for trader joes to enter a market. If you do a map, Aldi has several stores in PG county. Trader Joes will not move into PG county as a result. This is the agreement between the brothers. They never compete with each other.

Most people do not know this, but this is the case with many retailers, they target income demographics when determining to build stores.

[Mos82]

Originally Posted by Chriz Brown

PG county is getting more ghetto by the minute. That's probably the main reason.

Lets he how long Whole Foods stays.

oh Please Ghetto how? I'm sure they will do just as fine as the Wegmens is doing fine. Foggy Bottom/Georgetown area had to shell out 1 million dollars to get Trader Joes to even look in that area so I guess TJ thought of them as Ghetto too

[Khemistry]

I love the Trader Joe's off U Street in NW Washington. It's kind of small but it's well-stocked. The prices are pretty reasonable and the selection of food is to my liking (in general). It makes no sense why there isn't one in PG County because, as mentioned, several other chains with a higher price point are in the county. As far as "cachet" goes, Wegman's, Whole Foods, and I'd even argue Harris-Teeter, holds more of that than TJ's amd yet PG County has or will have the aforementioned. So their reluctance of TJ's to come to PG County can quickly turn into the classic (1) we've eliminated an income issue, (2) we've eliminated a lack of market issue, (3) we've eliminated the idea of too much competition, so (4) is it something else "obvious" about the county that TJ's isn't satisfied with??

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by DistrictSonic

Trader Joes and Aldi are owned by two brothers, they target different demographic slices using many of the same suppliers and products, but with different in store labels. Trader joes targets middle and upper middle income areas, while aldi targets lower middle and working class neighborhoods. Even then you have to have a sufficient concentration of affluence for trader joes to enter a market. If you do a map, Aldi has several stores in PG county. Trader Joes will not move into PG county as a result. This is the agreement between the brothers. They never compete with each other.

Most people do not know this, but this is the case with many retailers, they target income demographics when determining to build stores.

But you do have to ask yourself, why are they targeting affluent neighborhoods with a store that has Giant and Safeway prices? In addition, the produce section is a joke. More than half of their product mix is packaged food. I mean really. You don't need to make 90k/yr to shop at TJs. The only reason I have for going there is for their bone-in thick-cut pork chops. Perfect for grilling by the way.

With their product mix, any college town would be a no-brainer. All the packaged food is great for dorm life; College Park, Bowie, Catholic U., hello? I don't buy the affluence requirement. And their food selection is not necessarily unique given the rich diversification of ethnicity in the area. There is not a case of less educated people not wanting to try new foods in College Park, Hyattsville, Laurel (With a Harris Teeter) , or Bowie.

If you look at a map with Aldi's and Trader Joe's, it's pretty F'ed up. I mean TJs is no Balduccis or Dean & Deluca. It's no MOMs or Yes! Organic either. It's not a Whole Foods or Harris Teeter. Yet, they want to play the role by choosing neighborhoods as if they were rocking $7 orange juice (Yes! Organic) or $6 for a half pint of strawberries (Whole Foods). lol

From the looks of it, it may be true that they don't like to mix markets. But that's just F'ed up because it goes against what TJs said they look for in a neighborhood. I mean Bowie has been asking for 10 years. And they have the affluence. That's jacked up.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by Mos82

oh Please Ghetto how? I'm sure they will do just as fine as the Wegmens is doing fine. Foggy Bottom/Georgetown area had to shell out 1 million dollars to get Trader Joes to even look in that area so I guess TJ thought of them as Ghetto too

No joke? see? That's what I don't get. TJs is NOT expensive food. They have quirky food that has a cult following. Maybe Californians who tout its product mix. But $1 million for a glorified convenience store? lol

They can keep Trader Joes then. Maybe that's why they aren't in the county. PGC probably said hell no. You are not all that.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by Khemistry

I love the Trader Joe's off U Street in NW Washington. It's kind of small but it's well-stocked. The prices are pretty reasonable and the selection of food is to my liking (in general). It makes no sense why there isn't one in PG County because, as mentioned, several other chains with a higher price point are in the county. As far as "cachet" goes, Wegman's, Whole Foods, and I'd even argue Harris-Teeter, holds more of that than TJ's amd yet PG County has or will have the aforementioned. So their reluctance of TJ's to come to PG County can quickly turn into the classic (1) we've eliminated an income issue, (2) we've eliminated a lack of market issue, (3) we've eliminated the idea of too much competition, so (4) is it something else "obvious" about the county that TJ's isn't satisfied with??

According to Mos82, their shakedown of neighborhoods to locate there. $1 million to locate in Foggy Bottom/Georgetown could be an issue. For a store no bigger than 20k sqft. Ha!

[CBMD]

Originally Posted by DistrictSonic

Trader Joes and Aldi are owned by two brothers, they target different demographic slices using many of the same suppliers and products, but with different in store labels. Trader joes targets middle and upper middle income areas, while aldi targets lower middle and working class neighborhoods. Even then you have to have a sufficient concentration of affluence for trader joes to enter a market. If you do a map, Aldi has several stores in PG county. Trader Joes will not move into PG county as a result. This is the agreement between the brothers. They never compete with each other.

Most people do not know this, but this is the case with many retailers, they target income demographics when determining to build stores.

Wha ??? Aldi and TJ both have multiple stores in MoCo.

Well i never.....

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by CBMD

Wha ??? Aldi and TJ both have multiple stores in MoCo.

Well i never.....

Nope. Aldi's has ONE store in all of Montgomery County. And that store is even on the Prince George's County line in Takoma Park.

My bad. Google Fail. Montgomery County has three Aldi's and four Trader Joe's.

[Lubina]

Aldi's has ONE store in all of Montgomery County.

Buh? Aldi's has a fairly new store in Gaithersburg and one in Germantown that's been there awhile.