Results tagged “grocerystore”

This Trader Joe's-inpsired cookbook has been out since 2008, but when spotted on a bookstore shelf last night, we got a bit giddy inside. It's L.A.'s favorite grocery store (based on the amount of comments Trader Joe's posts receive), so maybe this will be our favorite cookbook. So far, we're loving it.

       

It was Sunday night when a friend of LAist texted us an invite to a small ad hoc fundraiser at Handmade Galleries in Sherman Oaks. "Come by," he wrote, "vegan sri lanka food." Having enjoyed Tara's Himalayan Cuisine on Venice Boulevard in the past, this opportunity for a new food couldn't be passed.

This unofficial commercial will surely bring a smile, a few good-hearted laughs and maybe that warm fuzzy feeling to any Trader Joe's shopper. Good times, good times.

Prabhat Gautam, owner of Positive Television and a local vegan gadfly (also, a former LAist contributor), is a very energetic guy. This month, he set out to accomplish the goal of 30 straight days of vegan events. "A lot of people said it could never be done, but lots of people stepped up," he wrote in an e-mail. And so it began last Tuesday night at SunPower Natural Cafe and continue throughout September.

You (hopefully) heard it here first: The Fresh & Easy Hollywood store will begin to stock beer and wine starting Monday.

Bad news for residents of the Hollywood Entertainment Distirct. Whole Foods today told Racked LA that the storefront "planned for the southeast corner of Selma and Vine is on hold until the market takes a better turn." That location is near the mixed apartment complex and the currently under construction W Hotel.

Times are tough, and if you've found yourself scrimping and pinching from the former bounty in your entertainment budget, you might have also found yourself spending more time at home (unless you're out heeding the wisdom of our own Recession Obsession, that is). But being at home doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself, right?

An article in today's Telegraph.co.uk touts the recent adoption of Twitter by British-based Tesco's Fresh & Easy grocery stores. Although the article focuses on the rarity of a Brit business using what's more popular with American businesses, F&E's web-watchers Fresh & Easy Buzz point out that the Tweets are coming from California, not England:

Fresh & Easy's presence on Twitter.com isn't being maintained by a Tesco Fresh & Easy company employee based out of its Southern California headquarters or by a Tesco PLC employee in the UK. Rather, the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Twitter site is maintained on a regular basis by SallieB, who is a social marketing expert with Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's public relation's firm, ABCO International.

Though perhaps not gripping correspondence, Twitter does help to establish loyalty by giving customers an active way of communicating with the company's management. [...]

Continue reading "Does Your Favorite Grocery Store Use Twitter? Should They?"

    

Okay, so this is not exactly new to the world--it's been around for over a year now--but for some reason Ralph's just made us notice this past weekend and we had to try the novelty that is the Organic Batter Blaster. It's pancake batter in a Easy Cheese-like spray can that is organic. Whole Foods had it on their shelves at one point, so it met their standards, but TreeHugger called it "UnTreeHugger." It's actually pretty tasty and would be convenient for camping, but once the fun wears off and you realize you're that guy, being that lazy, it's really not all that.

What recession? Of all places, the little village that could is getting a little more useful and livable. Trader Joe's at Weyburn and Glendon already had its grand opening last month, but wait, the kids were preoccupied with finals/undie run/winter break meaning no matter how much you love the joe, it's just wasn't not good timing. Solutions? Ahem. Have another grand opening, reports the Daily Bruin. Next door It’s a Grind Coffee House should open mid January and New Jersey based sandwich shop Jersey Mike’s is expected to open tomorrow.

Yesterday Health Magazine (via iVillage/MSNBC) released their list of the nation's top ten healthiest grocery chains. The list was compiled based on the findings of six experts selected by the publication in comparing the top 35 grocery retailers, and revealed that your neighborhood big name big box can actually be good for you. Criteria for ranking included "the freshness of produce and taste of prepared foods to the healthiness of packaged goods and availability of supplemental nutritional information."

Venice it getting a Whole Foods tomorrow. It makes for one less reason to leave the gridlocked, non public transit friendly area. And if you add in a Trader Joes and a Target to neighborhood, Yo Venice's Keri "will never have to leave." The new store is located at 225 Lincoln Blvd. at Rose Ave.

A Southern California Democrat in the State Assembly introduced a bill last month to ban the sale of alcohol at stores that only have self-checkout lanes. That, of course, singles out Fresh & Easy, who appears to be the only major food retailer in the state with only these types of lanes and no full-service lanes with employees operating them.

      

Oh, you've got to love rumors, especially those that both anger and please people, depending on who you're speaking with. This rumor comes via a report during the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council* meeting last Monday night. During a Land Use Committee report, someone asked what the status was on the old Ventura Club building at Colbath and Ventura (just East of Hazeltine). Originally it was slated as a Walgreens, but after that got scrapped, the building sat abandoned. But now there a lot of construction going on inside as well as substantial parking lot additions. One member said he heard it was supposed to be "that English grocery store chain." Right then, the room was abuzz with "Tesco" and "Fresh & Easy," and how the Van Nuys location is not working out. No one could confirm any of this and calls to corporate late yesterday afternoon were not immediately returned, but upon a site visit, whatever's being built at the location is looking to be rather large in size (photos below)

Trader Joes, based here in Southern California in Monrovia, made a big announcement today regarding imported food from China:

Garlic, frozen organic spinach and other "single ingredient" food items from mainland China will be phased out by April 1, although products that include ingredients from both China and other sources will remain.

Continue reading "Trader Joe's Says 'No' to Some Chinese Foods "