Well, there was no way this wasn't going to be one of the first. Not only was it one of the first things I raved about after moving here (back when no one on the East Coast had heard of even Two Buck Chuck), but it all started with a chain of stores around Los Angeles called Pronto Market owned by Joe Coulombe. In fact, I just discovered that a store in Pasadena I use all the time was in fact the first store with the Trader Joe's name. They are still headquartered in L.A., out in Monrovia although the chain was bought by a German outfit that also owns Aldi back in '79.
Back when I first started going there in about '92, there was no produce or meat sections. I mostly went for the dried fruit, smoothies, fresh juice and whatever ridiculously cheap gourmet items they had gotten a deal on in Eastern Europe (the Aldi angle makes that more clear now). These days, whenever I get a big paycheck, I reward myself by heading to either the wine or scotch section for a bottle to splurge on. The new one in Hollywood is one of my favorites because it has free parking and makes for a cheap eats when I have work in that area.
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