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Love: Trader Joe's, Whole Foods. Both have found a viable niche in the overcrowded grocery market (quirky house brands / high-end and organics), both offer good products that are hard to find elsewhere, and both have employees who genuinely look like they know what they're talking about AND enjoy being there. Shit, if I could get paid anything close to what I make where I work now, I'd consider looking into jobs with one or the other. (Hint: I can't.)
Hate: Safeway. They took two perfectly good grocery chains (Genuardi's and Zagara's) and fucked them both up.
Love: IKEA. A good idea (decent few-frills furniture and housewares, DIY to keep costs down, done with a little style) that's held up well over the years. Nearly impossible to leave with an empty cart.
Hate: Best Buy. A big pile of electronics and housewares with the worst customer service known to mankind.
Love: Rockstar Games/Take Two. They continue to respond to criticism of their games' content by making the next ones push the taste envelope even harder. This is a good thing.
Hate: Electronic Arts. Once a great company, now a corporate predator coasting on name recognition.
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