Cost Plus World Market’s House Brands Compete with Trader Joe’s
I love Trader Joe’s. Despite my attempts at locavorism, I have a hard time resisting the low-priced imported gourmet goodies at Trader Joe’s. I’ve found a way to keep me out of their stores, though - I moved half an hour away from the nearest TJ’s. With gas prices being what they are, there’s really not much savings if I’m making a special trip to stock up at Trader Joe’s.
I do, however, live near a Cost Plus World Market. While I’ve always been a fan of their Pier One-meets-gourmet-shop concept, there’s recently been something else drawing me to their store. Among the imported food goodies, World Market has taken on the Trader Joe’s idea of selling imported gourmet basics under their own label, sometimes with minimal packaging. World Market doesn’t offer the fresh and frozen items that you’ll find at Trader Joe’s, but they’re definitely creating some competition in the realm of dry goods.
A recent trip to an Illinois suburban World Market yielded such store-branded goodies as veggie chips for $2.29, 24-ounce bags of whole bean coffee for $7.99, varietal gourmet chocolate bars for $1.99, 3-litre bottles of imported olive oil for $22.99, quarts of Gravenstein apple juice for $1.99, and tubs of cookies for $3.69. All of these items have similarly-priced counterparts in the St. Louis-area Trader Joe’s stores without the extra commute.
World Market, always a good source of good-quality, inexpensive wines, has also introduced their own bargain line of wine to compete with TJ’s Charles Shaw (or “Three-Buck Chuck” to the TJ die-hards). Their Foodies line contains easy-drinking Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet. Alas, they’re priced twice as high as good ol’ Chuck. Regardless, it’s still good to have an alternative closer to home, especially when World Market regularly offers 10% off coupons to their online newsletter subscribers.
