I’m going to start a Trader Joe’s Meta-Meta-Discussion Thread that consists entirely of squabbling about whether particular comments belong in the current Trader Joe’s Yay or Nay thread or the Trader Joe’s Meta-Discussion Thread. That just sounds fascinating to me.
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Well, this thread wasn’t really a meta-discussion anyway, in the common usage of the word being a discussion about a discussion. At best, your proposed new thread would be its own discussion about how anal retentive OT flaggerism is or shouldn’t be.
Sure. 
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just what we need, a tjs meta-meta-meta discussion!
With any luck, we will have a Singularity: one unifying thread that encompasses everything, where nothing is OT.
870 posts. Enjoy.
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Regarding aisle obstructors, I don’t find this a problem at the TJ’s I most frequent. OTOH, my Costco, which has extremely wide aisles, seems to encourage families strolling along four or five abreast so no one can get past.
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Then you’ll want to avoid TJ locations like Bellingham, WA, where the frozen food aisle is frequently gridlocked.
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Ha! Happens on every thread.
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As someone who is disabled- first confined to a wheelchair and then “improving” to a walker, my perspective may be more focussed. I was given a gift subscription to Costco. The food sizes were not ideal for me, but the constant threat of being rundown by oversized shopping carts was completely off-putting. The problem of blocked aisles at TJ’s is also more of a societal problem. The aisles of any store but especially relatively small stores should not be used as private telephone booths ! Do your shopping and move on. No need to stop and call to ask if it is the white bag or blue bag of chips that we want to buy.
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True that. My local Walmart, while huge, suffered from very narrow aisles, which were further cluttered by in-aisle displays. A remodel has mostly resolved that, how I don’t know, but it’s now possible not to sideswipe everyone you pass.
I think that’s a feature of every TJs I’ve even been to. Not fun.
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I must be lucky in that it’s either busy or not, and then it doesn’t really matter which aisle one happens to be in 
But now that the students have left everything’s much better.
The TJs I frequent is close by a lot of student apartments. However, the shopping mix does not appear to be predominantly students. At my old University I see that a TJs opened in the neighborhood. Very needed.
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The frozen food aisle at my store (Masonic, SF) is extra-wide, so gridlock is less of a problem than it might be. The worst aisle seems to be the pasta/sauces/condiments/etc. aisle.
(And I always go right at opening time, but so do lots of other people, alas. It’s better than it would be later, but it’s not great.)
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Just saw this video from the Holderness Family - “How Trader Joe’s Was Made.” I mean, they’re not wrong… 
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!!! I remember them from The Amazing Race. And they’re not wrong.
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That’s great! The TJ’s by me is at a busy intersection with a tiny parking lot (that they share with a church), so I never go.
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I’ve been watching them for years, since their Christmas Jammies video. They live in Raleigh, I think - somewhere in the Triangle for sure. Keep an eye out for them!
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