Did you know there actually was a Joe behind Trader Joe’s? We didn’t, though we’ve been shopping at the founder’s quirky yet beloved grocery stores for years. That inspired us to take a closer look into the Trader Joe’s story. Read on for a sampling of tidbits we learned about the Aldi-owned chain of nearly 550 stores where employees wear Hawaiian shirts (and, yes, we’ll tell you why that is).
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The Joe behind Trader Joe’s was Joe Coulombe, whose “national chain of neighborhood grocery stores” began in 1967 in Pasadena, California. Coulombe (1930-2020) had been running a small group of markets in the Los Angeles area, eventually buying them from the parent company before launching Trader Joe’s. The original Trader Joe’s on Arroyo Avenue in Pasadena remains open to this day.
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Coulombe offered a hand-picked selection of products “for overeducated and underpaid people, for all the classical musicians, museum curators, journalists,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2011.
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Trader Joe’s selection is curated, with fewer products than a traditional grocery store and a heavy emphasis on private-label offerings, from Trader Joe’s to Trader Ming’s or Trader José’s, depending on the region of origin. Its first private-label product? Granola.
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Trader Joe’s apparel was a short-lived foray from the early years. Though the stores sell items beyond food and drink, now it’s just such staples as greeting cards and flowers, household essentials such as laundry detergent, and goods such as Coconut Body Butter or a Peppermint & Tea Tree Shampoo Bar.
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The chain’s South Seas/nautical theme reaches all the way back to its roots, when Coulombe saw his offerings as distinctive, adventurous — and exotic. The shops still stock ingredients, cuisines, and traditions from across the globe.
The store’s 1960s fascination with tiki culture extends to employees, called “crew members” like on a ship and with ranks such as crew, mate, merchant, or captain that reflect their responsibilities. “Vibrant, bold shirts are the ‘uniform’ worn by our crew of adventurous traders on the culinary seas,” TJ’s site says.
Further adding to the nautical theme, Trader Joe’s shoppers will sometimes hear clanging bells — like on a ship. These avoid the need for an intrusive PA system by signaling everything from it being time to open a new register to a crew member needing a manager’s input.
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In our nearest Trader Joe’s, there’s a little table near the back where the store often offers samples of products (some stores are still not offering samples due to pandemic restrictions). But shoppers may reportedly ask any employee to let them sample a product before deciding to buy.
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When TJ’s launches a product, the food world takes note. The stuff you toss into your basket without a thought is chewed over quickly without fail by media such as Bon Appétit and the “Today” show, which race to be first to report what’s new on store shelves.
Reusable bags are everywhere now, but Trader Joe’s has been offering them since the late 1970s — with a “save-a-tree” canvas bag that pretty much started it all in this country. The company offers several designs and types, even collectible, regionally themed designs.
You can buy Trader Joe’s items online — from a Trader Joe’s “black market” that often means significant markups. Trader Joe’s itself doesn’t sell online and says: “We neither condone nor support the reselling of our products and do all we can to stop the practice.”
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From podcasts to blogs, Facebook to Instagram, Pinterest to X (formerly Twitter), Trader Joe’s keeps in touch with its customers about its products and their stories. (One podcast episode, “Trader Joe’s Noodles Around with Pasta and Olives,” included a chat with an Italian pasta supplier and a harvest-to-table segment on extra virgin olive oil.)
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Don’t look for weekly specials, coupons, membership cards, or promotions. “‘Sale’ is a four-letter word to us,” the company says, pointing instead to a focus on everyday low prices.
The company remains committed to sustainability, even during the pandemic. It composted more than 17.5 million pounds of organic materials last year and improved packaging, such as by switching to cardboard boxes for its cherry tomatoes from wasteful plastic clamshells.
Trader Joe’s has Neighborhood Shares Programs for each location to “donate 100% of products that go unsold but remain fit to be enjoyed.” The stuff goes to local food recovery agencies — in 2023 to the tune of nearly $469 million in food and beverages.
This will be a surprise only in states that don’t allow Trader Joe’s to sell alcohol — but everyone else gets beer, wine, and sometimes liquor. (We’ve all heard of the famed “Two Buck Chuck,” the Charles Shaw wine first introduced in 2002 and sold for $2.) No matter where you are, though, you can take advantage of Trader Joe’s Guides offering such tips as “The Palate-Pleasing Partnership of Pinot Grigio & Potato Chips.”
It’s said that each store has a plastic lobster on display somewhere and a hidden stuffed animal, so kids can look while their parents shop. Kids who find the fuzzy get a reward, Taste of Home says.
Trader Joe’s has over 500 recipes ranging from appetizers to side dishes, breakfast items to desserts, beverages to lunch and dinner entrees. You’d have to make more than one a day to get through the options in a year.
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Even if you don’t take a taste, buy with confidence — you can return products without a quibble. “If you don't [like an item], bring it back for a refund or exchange,” is the chain’s simple policy.
There’s a Trader Joe’s in an old movie house in Houston and another in a former armory in Media, Pennsylvania. One in Brooklyn, New York, is in a stately ex-bank.
The Trader Joe’s site not only offers recipes, facts and figures, and blogs — but allows you to create a shopping list via categories such as “What’s New,” ingredients, and meals, while filtering results by options ranging from kosher to organic, Fair Trade to gluten-free.
Unlike some chains, expansion plans are not secret. In addition to a detailed list of current store locations, Trader Joe’s promotes its upcoming stores, which now include College Park, Maryland and Draper, Utah.
If you have a bit of a drive to hit the nearest Trader Joe’s, you can ask for a store closer to home. The company takes suggestions for new locations.