Want fair trade chocolate, without paying for shipping? Try Wild Oats. Their fair trade certified chocolate offerings:
Endangered Species Baby Bars: I found the Organic Snow Leopard and Organic Giraffe baby bars at the Wild Oats on Wilshire and 5th in Santa Monica, but hopefully the store’ll start carrying all six — 10% of profits support endangered species recovery. Totally affordable, at $1.49 each.
Green & Black’s Maya Gold: Also organic :) You can read the story of how this bar came to be, here. $3.69 each.
You can get fair trade bananas at Wild Oats too, along with a good selection of fair trade coffees and teas –
Hoping Trader Joe’s will follow suit. I’ve asked the nice employees a couple times about it while complimenting them on their fair trade coffee and tea products, but no fair trade chocolate bars there as of yet.
Trader Joe’s does, however, offer a fair trade cocoa powder. You know, for those cold winter nights in SoCal when it drops below 70 –
Yum :)
Filed in: chocolate fairtrade wildoats traderjoes banana cocoa california santamonica
I put this link on Gundog99
thought it applied to your interests as well
it is a Starbucks Store Delocator
http://www.delocator.net/index.php
gotta roll
just put my sons to sleep
don’t want my blogging to keep them up
Comment by gwadzilla — November 13, 2005 @ 5:36 pm
Delocator IS a great tool — I wrote about it here. It does, however, have a lot of kinks right now — The distance function’s messed up, so when I put in my zip, I get Starbucks that are located like a good 60 miles from me, not 5 miles. Hoping xtine, who works on this, can get it fixed soon…
Comment by Siel — November 13, 2005 @ 8:40 pm
When I lived in London I used to get Green and Black’s at the Sainsbury around the corner. It was pretty good stuff. They have an orange flavored one that is really tasty.
Comment by J. Otto Pohl — November 13, 2005 @ 8:56 pm
hi,
you might want to check this link out ;o)
http://www.newint.org/features/wrong-label/index.html
Comment by aussie — November 14, 2005 @ 8:48 am
Thanks for posting about these issues. I’ve enjoyed reading about the Starbucks Challenge but haven’t participated because I typically brew my shade-grown, organic, fair trade coffee from Trader Joe’s at home. However, your post about TJ’s not carrying fair trade chocolate bars motivated me to write a letter to their customer service branch today. I couldn’t find an email address for customer service on the TJ’s site, but the addresses they give for customer service are the following if anyone is interesting in writing to them too:
For West Coast:
PO Box 5049
Monrovia, CA 91017
For East Coast:
117 Kendrick Street, Suite 700
Needham, MA 02494
Comment by Lauren — November 14, 2005 @ 1:07 pm
Excellent idea, Lauren. I too will send a letter — Below’s the text, for anyone who’s interested. Feel free to copy and paste any or all of it for your own letters :)
Dear Trader Joe’s:
As a long time Trader Joe’s shopper, I’ve been excited to see that you’ve been expanding your fair trade certified offerings. I love your selection of fair trade certified coffees and teas — and your fair trade cocoa!
I do, however, wish I didn’t have to make a special trip to Wild Oats for my fair trade chocolate bars. I’ve suggested to some of the associates at my local Trader Joe’s — the Culver City location — that fair trade chocolate bars would be an excellent — and much beloved — addition to Trader Joe’s current chocolate offerings. While the associates have always been friendly, helpful, and attentive, I’m still sad that no fair trade chocolate can be found at my favorite grocery store.
As you are probably already aware, a lot of chocolate currently on the market is produced through child labor. I, and many other consumers concerned about this issue, do not want to have an unwitting hand in perpetuating such labor practices, have chosen not to purchase non-fair-trade chocolate.
In addition, fair trade certified chocolate is not necessarily expensive! The Endangered Species Baby Bars (http://www.chocolatebar.com/) cost only $1.49 each! And I can personally vouch for their yumminess! I would also love for Trader Joe’s to develop its own fair trade certified chocolate bar(s).
I hope you’ll consider making fair trade certified chocolate avaliable to your customers in the near future. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Siel
P.S.: I love the organic Spanish wines!
Comment by Siel — November 15, 2005 @ 9:57 am
Great! Here’s the text of the letter that I wrote Trader Joe’s:
To Whom It May Concern:
Thank you for carrying so many great products at prices that make eating healthy, tasty food and using environmentally-friendly personal care products affordable for the average person. In addition to your selection of organic products, I was pleased to find that you offer fair-trade coffee. My husband and I have been enjoying the Café Parajo blend. In choosing the kind of coffee that I purchase, I look for a blend that is shade-grown, organic and fair-trade certified. Thank you for carrying a delicious coffee that meets all of these sustainable criteria.
I am writing to encourage you to carry other fair-trade certified products. In particular, having a Trader Joe’s house brand of fair-trade certified chocolate or carrying an existing brand such as chocolate bars from the Endangered Species Chocolate Company, Equal Exchange, Divine Chocolate or Green & Black’s would be great and would certainly appeal to the many customers who currently purchase your fair-trade coffee and espresso blends. Both of the other local stores where my family shops for food, Whole Foods and Harvest Co-op, carry a selection of chocolate bars from these brands.
Through its sale of some fair-trade products, such as coffee and cocoa, Trader Joe’s has convinced me that it is a store that takes into account the effect of its purchasing power on the farmers who grow the foods that are sold at its stores. Adding fair-trade chocolate bars would be another step towards creating a sustainable economy and would offer customers another delicious product at your stores.
Thanks for your time.
Comment by lauren — November 15, 2005 @ 11:21 am
Oooh, see, I have yet to find that cocoa at my TJ’s (I shop at the one on Palms and Sepulveda) but will make a note to ask about it the next time I go in.
Thanks, you! My palate, happy to be ethical, thanks you.
Btw - TJ’s Next to Godliness laundry soap gets two thumbs WAY up. Much better than the ECOS brand. Thanks for the recommendation.
Comment by Will Pillage For Yarn — November 16, 2005 @ 3:21 pm
Glad the laundry soap worked for ya :) Odd about your not being able to find the cocoa — Some of the stores have slightly different selections, I find, mostly depending on the size of the place. But maybe a nice Trader Joe’s employee can point you to it :)
Comment by Siel — November 17, 2005 @ 11:09 pm