With all of my side trips into LUSH-land, with stops at Kiehl’s-ville and Bigelow-burg bath wise, there remains one constant in my bathroom: Trader Joe’s Citrus Body Wash. It’s one of those unassuming things that just kind of works. At $2.99 for 16oz you can keep bottles by every sink. I even keep one in the car just in case. (Albeit decanted into an empty LUSH teensy bottle.) It’s one of those that’s easy- the light citrus (orange, lemon, and grapefruit mostly) is refreshing but doesn’t linger enough that it will interfere with something that might want to wear. Unlike, say, LUSH Rose Jam, which I love but you’d better plan on wearing something rose after. (such hardship we go through..)
The old Trader Joes (with my old car)
I’ve been going to Trader Joe’s since I moved to Los Angeles in the 80’s. At that time there was one in my ‘hood, in a little strip mall in the “rough” area of WeHo. A strip mall that also housed the (rather infamous) Yukon Mining Company, a moderately divey sort of diner known for large portions and a collection of late night patrons that were.. lively. Over time more and more TJ’s came to the neighborhood: Within walking distance was the one in the former West Hollywood City Hall on SMB at Westmount.
And it’s replacement
Then they opened one at 8000 Sunset, which became my rainy day TJ due to it having two dedicated elevators on P3 servicing the store. (Westmount has a surface lot. as does Fairfax at Santa Monica and Fairfax and Third, which came after. The most recent additions are ones in the base of a very tony apartment building at Burton Way and La Cienega, steps from Beverly Hills and where the old Fish Shanty stood. The newest is in a huge building that sits on the site of the old strip mall at SMB and Fuller.
The “rainy day” TJ’s (and my present car)
TJ’s have opened across the country- as a matter of fact the busiest is supposedly in New York on the Upper West Side, but they don’t have one every few miles, like Dunkin Donuts. Speaking of Dunkin, there’s even a TJ’s that serves my old hometown, hanging like a limpet on the semi-defunct Hampshire Mall in Hadley while Whole Foods is in the former “Dead” Mountain Farms Mall.
The one at the old City Hall
I really started to treat TJ’s as a grocery store a couple of decades ago when we had a grocery store strike. The strike started coinciding with a trip I took back East and I smugly thought it would be over by the time I got back. Nope. It lasted four months and I don’t cross picket lines, so Trader Joe’s became my defacto grocery store. And I kind of never went back. Now I still go to my local Ralph’s since it doesn’t stop stocking things seemingly on a whim, but it also doesn’t have some of the things that TJ’s does. Like citrus body wash for $2.99.
One of those seasonal items…
Are you a Trader Joe’s addict? Do you have one near you? Any favorite items? Find it annoying that things get discontinues or are “seasonal”? Discuss in the comments.
My bottle of body wash was purchased at Trader Joe’s. I didn’t get one of the trick-or-treat bags, even though they are cute because they’re a little silly.
Images: My iPhone, Pexels, and Wikimedia Commons
No TJ’s in the UK. It does sound like somewhere I would shop from time to time.
My shopping gets done all over, from Cannon Hall Farm Shop (of TV’s On the Farm Fame), to Aldi (DH works there) & the local market that has had a Charter & continuously traded since 1249.
I wish I could find good citrus bath goo that well priced
Heya Tom,
We don’t have Trader Joe’s in Oz but I’ve been to a couple of them in LA. The thing I remember most was that there was Pumpkin Spice everything. Like, EVERYTHING.
Portia xx
That’s because you were here in the fall. It’s Pumpkin Spice everything then, Including body wash. Maybe even gasoline.
Grocery stores and grocery shopping do not interest me. As long as the place is decent and has what I want and need, it’s ok. I try to get natural and healthy food. I do like TJs and Whole Foods. Periodically I get bored with eating well and have a day or two indulging. That I enjoy and do very well!
I am certainly not going to tell anyone they shouldn’t indulge in a little indulgence..
🙂
I love TJs for so many things but overall grocery shopping is NOT one of those things. But the body washes/body creams are phenomenal. As is the mango kefir (I brought 4 bottles back from Santa Fe on the train because TRAIN! And Mango Kefir).
I am nowhere near a TJs so I have to plan accordingly.
I’ve found that for a lot of staples like milk and produce they are a lot less expensive than some of the local markets. And since Fairfax has gentrified all the little mom n pop grocery stores out for designer sneaker places I tend to do weekly shopping there. It is annoying when they stop carrying things though..
The closest Trader Joe’s to me is about 45 minutes away for me and 10 minutes away from that is Whole Foods. I might have been to Trader Joe’s once many years ago. The closest thing that might be comparable is Heinen’s, which I have been going to a little more than usual. My local Giant Eagle doesn’t carry marrow bones nor the soup base that I use. The soap that I mostly, you can get anywhere is the Dial antibacterial.
Yeah, I am lucky to have many of them close by,
I’ve got two Trader Joe’s near me. One less than a mile east, and one less than a mile west. They both seem to be thriving. I go to TJs on a sporadic basis. No real favorites since I don’t go often enough. My son-in-law who is vegan loves their offerings. We have the opposite of a food desert in my area. I count eight grocery stores in my immediate area, and that’s not counting the Asian, Hispanic, Halal, and other ethnic markets in the area. I haven’t tried the citrus wash…yet!
It’s fabulous! Not sweet (in fact, a bit acrid) . I love it – it imparts that ‘clean’ smell without the laundry musk accord.
Yes! And thank goodness for that!
We have the same deal. But for some reason (price mostly, then accessibility) I tend to do the shopping at TJ’s
And they don’t have self–checkout, which I hate.
This sounds so worthwhile. I can’t eat grapefruit any longer but I love the sharper citrus vs the generally sweeter orange flavoured stuff.
We do not have Trader Joes and it is a real sadness on my part as they didn’t exist (as far as I know) when I lived in the US. When people describe them they sound like places to spend hours.
I think they were still SoCal based when you were here. It’s just been since 2000 they have really expanded.
I live in a TJs wasteland of sorts, there’s like 4 in my entire state. The one that’s “mine” is just a few blocks from Notre Dame’s campus and is always packed. I have tried the citrus body wash and really liked it and they had a moisturizer I really liked, too.
It is almost comical how many we have. And each one vied to outdo the last in size. The one in Pasadena is so big I am surprised it doesn’t have it’s own zip code.
WELL. I didn’t discover TJs until the early 2000s when we moved back to DC from Santa Fe. It was love at first sight; my joke was that if TJ didn’t have it we didn’t need it. I could shop for 7 people and be out in less than 30 minutes. My next joke was that I couldn’t move back to Santa Fe because they didn’t have a TJs. Well, they solved that in 2016(ish) and … here I am. My housing search to move here involved being walking distance (or a 5 minute drive) to TJ. Soooooo you could say I’m a fan. We had that TJ citrus wash in all the bathrooms for YEARS because it was cheap, smelled nice, didn’t bother anyone’s skin, and was thick enough they couldn’t use up a bottle in a week.
I admit that I used to use the Bigelow citrus but pretty much stopped after trying the TJ one.
I also admit riving 99% of the time to them. I love Tejava unsweetened iced tea and buy 6 0r 8 at a time since you never know when they will run out. They have it for $1 a bottle less than Gelson’s