Joseph Hardin Coulombe (June 3, 1930 – February 28, 2020) was an American entrepreneur. He founded the grocery store chain

Trader Joe's Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. The chain has over 569 stores across the United States. The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, California ...

in 1967 and ran it until his retirement in 1988.He Brought Trader Joe's to Main Street
February 2006

Early life and education

Coulombe was born in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and grew up on an avocado farm in nearby

Del Mar Del Mar is Spanish for "of the sea" or "from the sea". It may refer to: Places in the United States * Del Mar, California * Del Mar High School, located in San Jose, California * Del Mar racetrack, located in Del Mar, California * Del Mar Fai ...

. After serving a year in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, he attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1952 and a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree in 1954. Coulombe was a member of

Alpha Kappa Lambda Alpha Kappa Lambda (), commonly known as AKL or Alpha Kapp, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1914. Today, it operates approximately 30 active chapters and has approximately 28,000 li ...

Career

Coulombe started his career at

Rexall Rexall was a chain of American drugstores, and the name of their store-branded products. The stores, having roots in the federation of United Drug Stores starting in 1903, licensed the Rexall brand name to as many as 12,000 drug stores across th ...

, a chain of American drugstores. In 1958, he was asked to test the launch of Pronto Markets, a store brand to compete against

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...

. After running six Pronto Markets in the Los Angeles area, Rexall asked Coulombe to liquidate them; he decided to buy them out instead. In 1967, Coulombe changed the name Pronto Markets to

. He led the chain to success and sold it in 1979 to German billionaire

Theo Albrecht Theodor Paul Albrecht (; 28 March 1922 – 24 July 2010) was a German entrepreneur. He established the discount supermarket chain Aldi with his brother Karl Albrecht. In 2010, Theo was ranked by ''Forbes'' as the 31st richest person in the worl ...

, co-founder of the

Aldi Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...

supermarket chain. Coulombe continued with Trader Joe's as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

until retiring in 1988. Coulombe served on the corporate boards of

Cost Plus World Market World Market, formerly Cost Plus World Market until 2021, is an American chain of specialty/import retail stores, selling home furniture, decor, curtains, rugs, gifts, apparel, coffee, wine, craft beer, and international food products. The bran ...

Bristol Farms Bristol Farms Inc. is an upscale grocery store chain in California, United States. Founded in Los Angeles County, Bristol Farms operates 19 stores: 14 as Bristol Farm locations and 5 branded as Lazy Acres Markets throughout Southern California. ...

, True Religion, and Imperial Bank.

Personal life and death

In 1952, Coulombe married Alice Steere, whom he met at a party while they were students at Stanford. Alice served on the board and is a life trustee of the

Los Angeles Opera The Los Angeles Opera is an American opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth-largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center. Leadersh ...

. They had three children, Joe, Charlotte, and Madeleine. Coulombe and his family lived in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

, California. Coulombe was a board member of the

Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927) and Arabella Huntington (c.1851–1924) in San Mar ...

, the

Colburn School The Colburn School is a private music school in Los Angeles with a focus on music and dance. It consists of four divisions: the Conservatory of Music, Music Academy, Community School of Performing Arts and the Dance Academy. It is located adjace ...

, and the Los Angeles Opera. On February 28, 2020, Coulombe died at his home in Pasadena. He was 89 years old.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coulombe, Joe 1930 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople American food industry business executives American grocers Businesspeople from San Diego People from Pasadena, California Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni Stanford University alumni Trader Joe's United States Air Force airmen