I work 3 minutes away from the country's largest WF (or so it was), so I go there once in awhile. Dry beans, grain, rice, weird molecular gastronomy stuff, meat if I have to. Never fish (it sucks and is expensive) and the produce is expensive and not that great. Cheese is good but pricy. Wine and liquor is not bad.
I have maybe 4 TJ's within 5 miles and have zero use for them. There's literally nothing in them except one particular snack cracker that interests me.
This pretty much sums up my feelings as well.
I occasionally shop at WF because it's across the street from where I work and super convenient to swing in and grab something to take home if I know there's nothing much in the fridge. However, I'll also add that if it weren't in a convenient location, I probably wouldn't shop there often. Because... well... prices. I'm hoping Amazon turns that around.
I also eat lunch at WF once or twice a week because they do have a pretty nice selection of hot foods, soups, and a salad bar -- and the price is reasonable. Certainly cheaper than eating in other restaurants around that part of town (fast food aside).
TJ's is a different story. There's one about 1/4 mile from my office, but it has more down sides than positives - at least for me. To begin with, it's really hard to get in and out of. There's one entrance for parking, and it's always clogged up because it's situated in such a way that everyone going in or out has to wait for pedestrians coming out of the store. So there's always kind of a permanent bottleneck.
I could overlook that, though, if I actually liked shopping there. But I've been there twice now, and it was the same story both times: I walk in, grab a basket, and then sort of meander about looking at things, but not putting anything in the basket. The produce and meat selections are sort of okay, but nothing I can't get at the little grocer down the street from where I live (and usually at a better price). They have a lot of jarred and canned items, but I'm not familiar with the brands - plus I just don't buy a lot of those things anyway. So then I put the basket away and leave without buying anything. Like I said, twice I've done that.
TJ's wine is ok at best. I drink wine daily, so I'll be the first to admit I'm kind of picky. I don't think I'm a snob, though, and there's a difference between that and being picky. I actually drink a lot of $10-20 wines. But what I've found with TJ's is that the quality is very inconsistent. There has been some I've liked, but others have been all over the map. The one example I can think of is with their Charles Shaw Chardonnay. I bought a bottle one time, and thought it was pretty good. Much better than you would expect for the price. So I went back a couple months later and bought 3 more bottles of the same wine. This time it was absolute crap, and nothing like the first bottle I had bought. I did use it for cooking, but it wasn't anything I enjoyed drinking.
There's a Total Wine next door to the TJ's that's close to me. They have some down sides, too, but honestly I'd rather shop there for wine.
