An excellent store, with a huge range of authentic ingredients for world cooking, many of which are from Fair Trade or organic sources. It is a lovely shop just to wander around in, and the displays of fruit and veg are excellent (and beats the average supermarket hands down).

I have not found any problems with staff as others have, but the till arrangement is a bit irritating - you queue up as if to a counter, which is pain if you have a lot of stuff. But it’s nice to have a supermarket which is a bit different.

I read the review posted by ReedSue, which was quite disturbing. Although i've never had such a bad experience there, I have found the counter staff to be a bit "stand-offish" and unfriendly. I always smiled and tried to engage in pleasant banter, but was always shrugged off. Oh well. In saying that, i still love the store itself and think the produce is impressive, to say the least. Fruits and veggies are beautiful and the range of products for vegetarians is to be commended. I also appreciate the fact that a great many of the products are organic and appeal to people with special dietary needs. I think this store is a blessing to be honest. It's so much nicer than the commercial supermarkets that we're all so used to. It's actually nice to go and wander down the aisles. I discovered something new each time I went. Sadly, I've left Brighton and this is one of the places I miss most!

In the St. James Street Taj store today, after politely pointing out that I'd been given the wrong change (I gave a £20 note; they said 10), I was subjected to a humiliating 45 minute wait stood at a middle till as I was initially told I'd "have to come back tomorrow" by the person in charge, then after much argument the till float was eventually counted (20 minutes) by another member of staff and I was told once again that I was mistaken; not even a hint of the 'benefit of the doubt'. After overhearing that the till was actually out (despite what they told me) I asked if they could check security camera footage and they said, once again, that it would take "at least until tomorrow and there's nothing we can do about that, you'll have to come back". Having insisted on waiting ( I wasn't going to be in town tomorrow), all the time being made to feel that I was somehow trying to rip off the store, with people queueing around and behind me, three of the staff eventually came to the checkout and discovered that, exactly as I'd said, I had in fact been short changed. Rather than apologise, the man who had counted the till gave me the ten pounds that was owed and said "Yeah, it's okay"! When I pointed out that he wasn't actually doing me a favour by returning my money after wasting my time and humiliating me, his exact comment, rather than an apology, was "Well it's just tough innit? That's life mate"! Sadly, that does seems to be the case more and more in my experience; the commercial world seems geared towards making the consumer feel priveleged to be a customer, even when the system wrongs them. What can you do apart from not patronise stores staffed by rude people who take their own ineptitude out on their customers?

As many Brightonians will know just a few years ago Taj was one of those tucked away gems that not that many people knew about, now they have their supermarket on Western Road and have recently opened up another at the bottom of St James street.
The stores are both a pleasure to be in and have obviously had alot of thought put in to them. They have a fantastic range of organic and fair trade products and also a good range of fresh food from the deli counter.
Their staff have always been incredibly efficient and helpfull and I've always felt since they first expanded that few people deserve to do well as much as these guys did.

Situated opposite Waitrose on Western Road, this is a great little supermarket, focusing on asian cuisine, with the emphasis on natural, organic and fairly-traded produce.

The array of exotic fresh herbs and spices is amazing, but they also do an impressive range of fresh fruit and vegetables and dairy products, which are as locally sourced as possible. They also have an extensive range of special diet products - for example, gluten free, vegan and vegetarian products, and organic baby food.