Went To Trader Joe's

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The last time I was at a Trader Joe's was probably about 14 or 15 years ago in Bayshore near Milwaukee when we lived in Wisconsin. I remember being completely unimpressed by the store then, which is why it has been 14 or 15 years since we last went. But I got an itch and said, "Let's give it another look." After all, Trader Joe's gets talked up quite a bit. Maybe it's better? My impression was a tiny bit better, but not much better. I don't think it will be 14 or 15 years before the next visit, but I still found myself mostly unimpressed. It's just one of those places that is, to my mind, overpriced and quite a lot overrated. We didn't buy much. Some garlic cheesy bread sticks. A bag of Joe's Dark Coffee. A 22-ounce bag of frozen Mandarin orange chicken. A box of chicken drumellas. And an eggplant that I will make an eggplant parmigiana out of sometime in the next few days. The best purchase, I feel, was this insulated bag for $7.99. It is identical to the one we bought a few years ago from Aldi, and I had been wanting another one, so this worked out well. They are superb in the summer when you are running extended errands and need to keep cold stuff cold. All said, my total bill was $30.05. Not terrible even though I didn't get much to show for it. I'd give Trader Joe's a 2 out of 5 stars. That might be saying something since even Aldi is a 4 out of 5. The higher priced grocery store here, Schnuck's, is a 3 out of 5 and Ruler Foods is also a 4 and Walmart is a 5.