Okay so yesterday I got this wild craving for Tradewinds juice, you know that bottled stuff? Was specifically thinking about their Tropical Green Tea flavor. Figured hey, it should be easy to find, right? Yeah, not so much. Here’s what actually went down.
The Starting Point
First thing I did was what anyone would do: I jumped in my sedan and drove straight to my usual grocery spot, Market Basket. Wandered up and down every single aisle – juice section, tea section, bottled drinks aisle, even international foods. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Found every other brand under the sun, but no Tradewinds bottles anywhere. Asked a guy restocking shelves. He just kinda shrugged and said, “Nope, haven’t seen those here in ages.” Great start.
Widening The Search Net
Fine. Local supermarket strikeout. Next logical step? Hit up the drugstores and convenience stores nearby. Pulled into CVS first. Scanned their cold drinks section. Nothing. Asked the lady at the counter. She looked at me like I was asking for moon rocks. “Trade-whats? Sorry, hun, don’t think we carry that.” Duane Reade across the street? Same story. Couple smaller corner stores by my place? They mostly had the big soda brands and energy drinks. Getting seriously annoyed now.
Getting Resourceful
Okay, scratch local stores. Maybe I needed bigger chain coverage? Drove out to the Target a few miles away. Figured big store, tons of choices. Searched the entire beverage corner. Found rows of Snapple, Lipton, Arizona… but no Tradewinds bottles. Chatted up a manager. He actually knew the brand! “Yeah, we used to stock those,” he said, “but stopped a while back. Can’t seem to keep it moving off the shelves consistently. Check Walmart maybe?”
That was the lead I needed. Headed straight to the huge Walmart Supercenter nearby. Finally! Hidden near the back of one aisle, I spotted those familiar labels. Grabbed the Tropical Green Tea AND a Peach Mango. Victory felt sweet. Mostly.
The Online Angle
But okay, driving all over creation every time I crave this? Nope. Not happening. Gotta see if I can get it delivered or something. Booted up my laptop. Tried Instacart first – search results were messy. Found listings for Tradewinds… but clicking through showed “Currently Unavailable” at my local stores. Useless. Then checked Amazon Fresh. It popped up! Added a 6-pack to my cart like it was nothing. Only catch? Gotta spend over a certain amount for free delivery. Fine, I’ll throw in some bananas.
Quickly compared:
- Walmart: Got it! But gotta drive. Price was okay, about what I expected.
- Amazon Fresh: Got it! But gotta buy more stuff. Convenient if you’re already getting groceries.
- Target, CVS, Local Spots: Big flop. Not worth the gas.
So yeah, figured this out the hard way. Waste of time hitting the small stores or Target for this. If you’re dead set on finding Tradewinds today, haul your butt to Walmart. But honestly, if you can wait and need groceries anyway, just adding it to your Amazon Fresh order is way less hassle. Problem solved. Next time I’m craving it, I know exactly where my options sit.
