I find the absolute oposite to be true.
The premise of Trader Joes' start was to offer premium "gourmet" type food that you would normally find at a Bread & Circus/Whole Foods or similar exclusive shops so popular in the late 80s and 90s. They were saavy enough to realize that people wanted premium food at a not so premium price and set off to negotiate prices with many manufacturers based on high volume (like a costco etc) or manufacture it themselves (or at least under the Trader Joe's name). What many don't realize is that you pay more for the advertising, mkt and overhead for these name brand items that tend to "impress". What we as a society are slowly learning in this tough economic time is that some $8 bottle of wine from a not so known winery can be just as wonderful as a $20-$30 bottle from one that is well known. Trader Joe understood this a long time ago.

mind you-their vitamins are extremely cost effective, salsa's are AMAZING, prepared foods are delightful, international foods are interesting, and their cheese selection is far beyond the super markets (at a fraction of their cost) They do tend to focus on health products as well now carrying a decent selection of low carb products. All of their health bars are the lowest price i've seen outside of a BJs or Costco. I might add-their personell is the friendliest around-especially for the Boston area.

I practically live there so sorry if this sounds like a promo-but I rarely shop anywhere else unless it's something they don't carry.
tess