Trader Joe's is an American
grocery store
A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday US usage, however, "grocery store" is a synon ...
chain headquartered in
Monrovia, California
Monrovia is a city in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Monrovia is the fourth-oldest General-law municipality, general-law city in Los Angeles County and the L ...
, with 597 locations across the US.
The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder
Joe Coulombe in
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, 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 commerci ...
.
In 1979, the chain was sold to
Aldi
Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...
founder
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 wo ...
,
who owned it until his death in 2010; ownership passed to his heirs.
The company operates offices in both Monrovia, California, and
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, Massachusetts, but remains German-owned.
Trader Joe's has been accused of
union busting
Union busting is a range of activities undertaken to disrupt or weaken the power of trade unions or their attempts to grow their membership in a workplace.
Union busting tactics can refer to both legal and illegal activities, and can range anywhe ...
in numerous cases.
The company has voiced numerous complaints against the
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States that enforces United States labor law, U.S. labor law in relation to collect ...
, which enforces
U.S. labor law
United States labor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers in the US. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the " inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers, especially employers "organized in ...
in relation to
collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...
and
unfair labor practices
An unfair labor practice (ULP) in United States labor law refers to certain actions taken by employers or unions that violate the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (49 Stat. 449) (also known as the NLRA and the Wagner Act after NY Senator ...
, arguing these are unconstitutional.
History
Trader Joe's is named after its founder,
Joe Coulombe. The company began in 1958 as a
Greater Los Angeles area
Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the east, ...
chain known as Pronto Market
convenience store
A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...
s.
Coulombe believed that the original Pronto Markets were too similar to
7-Eleven
7-Eleven, Inc. is an American convenience store chain, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan, which in turn is owned by the retail holdings company Seven & I Holdings.
The chain was founde ...
, which he described as the "800-pound gorilla of convenience stores", and was concerned that the competition would be too heavy.
Coulombe developed the idea of the Trader Joe's
South Seas
Today the term South Seas, or South Sea, most commonly refers to the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. The term South Sea may also be used synonymously for Oceania, or even more narrowly for Polynesia or the Polynesian Triangle ...
motif while on vacation in the
Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
. During the 1960s, the
Tiki culture
Tiki culture is an American-originated art, music, and entertainment movement inspired by Polynesian, Melanesian, and Micronesian cultures, and by Oceanian art. Influential cultures to Tiki culture include Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia ...
craze was still widespread in the United States, so in a direct nod to the fad, the Trader Joe's name itself was a spoof on
Trader Vic's
Trader Vic's is a restaurant and tiki bar chain headquartered in Emeryville, California, United States. Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. (December 10, 1902 in San Francisco – October 11, 1984 in Hillsborough, California) founded a chain of Polynes ...
, the famous tiki-themed restaurant that had opened its first southern California location in the
Beverly Hilton
The Beverly Hilton is a hotel located on an property at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards in Beverly Hills, California, United States. The Beverly Hilton has hosted many awards shows, charity benefits, and entertainment ...
in 1955. Dining at Trader Vic's in
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...
was notoriously expensive, but the Trader Joe's in Pasadena provided an irreverent and more affordable offering of food and drink. Coulombe noted two trends in the US that informed the merchandising of his new store concept: one, the number of college-educated people was rising steadily, partly due to the
G.I. Bill
The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...
, and two, with new
jumbo jets due to premiere in 1970, international travel would be accelerating as well. A better educated, more well-traveled public were acquiring tastes they had trouble satisfying in American supermarkets at the time.
The first store branded as "Trader Joe's" opened in 1967 in
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, 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 commerci ...
; it remains in operation.
In their first few decades, some of the stores offered fresh meats provided by butchers who leased space in the stores, along with sandwiches and freshly cut
cheese
Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...
, all in-store.
In 1979, owner and
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
of
Aldi
Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...
Nord
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 wo ...
bought the company as a personal investment for his family.
Coulombe was succeeded as CEO by his Stanford roommate,
John V. Shields, in 1987. Under his leadership, the company expanded into
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
in 1993 and into the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...
two years later.
In 1996, the company opened its first stores on the
East Coast in
Brookline and
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
, both outside Boston.
In 2001, Shields retired and Dan Bane succeeded him as CEO.
Since its inception, Trader Joe's has continued to expand across the United States. In 2004, ''
BusinessWeek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...
'' reported that Trader Joe's quintupled its number of stores between 1990 and 2001 and increased its profits tenfold.
In February 2008, ''BusinessWeek'' reported that the company had the highest sales per square foot of any grocer in the United States. Two-and-a-half years later and in 2016, ''
Fortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fate
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (19 ...
'' magazine estimated sales to be $1,750 in merchandise per square foot, more than double the sales generated by
Whole Foods
Whole foods are foods that are unprocessed and unrefined. Examples of whole foods include grains such as oatmeal and rice, fruits, vegetables, dried beans, nuts, seeds, unprocessed meats, and fish.
Depending on the context this may sometimes refe ...
.
Joe Coulombe, the namesake of the brand, died in 2020. Dan Bane retired as the CEO in July 2023 and was succeeded by Bryan Palbaum, previously the company's COO and president. At the same time, the company named Jon Basalone as vice-CEO and president, taking over from Palbaum in the latter role.
Locations

, Trader Joe's had 593 stores across 43 states as well as the
District of Columbia
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
in the United States with stores being added regularly. Most locations averaged between and . California has the largest number of stores with 193 open in the state.
The chain's busiest location is its 72nd & Broadway store on the
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...
of
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
. The smallest Trader Joe's location is in the
Back Bay
Back Bay is an officially recognized Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on Land reclamation, reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the ...
neighborhood of
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
on Boylston St.
Each location is designed to represent its respective area, with staff members creating murals along store walls to represent the surrounding neighborhood. Some store locations have their own "find the mascot", and children can obtain stickers and lollipops when they tell a staff member where it is "hiding”. Crew members typically hide the mascot in the stores.
Economic exclusivity and gentrification
Despite being known as a "neighborhood store" with affordable options, Trader Joe's locations are mostly in well-off neighborhoods.
In 2022, the typical Trader Joe's customer was a married person living in an urban area, between 25 and 44 years old, earning at least $80,000. When deciding where to open locations, the chain typically looks for areas where the
median household income
The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of und ...
is over $100,000.
Conversely, Trader Joe's has also faced opposition for contributing to
gentrification
Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...
. Between 1997 and 2014,
Zillow
Zillow Group, Inc., or simply Zillow, is an American tech real-estate marketplace company that was founded in 2006 by co-executive chairmen Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink, former Microsoft executives and founders of Microsoft spin-off Expedia; Spen ...
found that homes grow more rapidly in value if they are closer to a Trader Joe's or
Whole Foods
Whole foods are foods that are unprocessed and unrefined. Examples of whole foods include grains such as oatmeal and rice, fruits, vegetables, dried beans, nuts, seeds, unprocessed meats, and fish.
Depending on the context this may sometimes refe ...
, with such homes consistently being worth more than the mean U.S. home. In 2014, Trader Joe's agreed to halt plans to open a store in a historically black neighborhood in
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
, following protests led by the Portland African American Leadership Forum.
The organization objected to the $2.4 million subsidy offered by the city to Trader Joe's and emphasized that they were not against Trader Joe's but instead were pushing back against the city's
history of displacing African Americans.
In 2015, along with a proposal to build new
affordable housing
Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median, as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on ...
, the city announced that a different store,
Natural Grocers, would be built on the vacant lot.
Products
Private label
Trader Joe's sells many items under its own
private label
A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...
s, at a significant discount to name-brand equivalents, and requires its name-brand suppliers not to publicize this business relationship.
By selling almost all of its products under its own labels, Trader Joe's "
skips the middle man" and buys directly from both local and international vendors. The company has been criticized for allegedly copying products from vendors after soliciting partnerships and requesting sample products for their private labels.
While a typical grocery store may carry 50,000 items, Trader Joe's stocks about 4,000 items, 80% of which bear one of its
brand name
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...
s.
Products include
gourmet
Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by their high level of refined and elaborate food preparation techniques and displays of balanced meals that have ...
foods,
organic food
Organic food, also known as ecological or biological food, refers to foods and beverages produced using methods that comply with the standards of organic farming. Standards vary worldwide, but organic farming features practices that cycle resou ...
s,
vegan
Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...
and
vegetarian foods,
frozen food
Freezing food Food preservation, preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved grains and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing foo ...
s, imported foods, and domestic and imported wine and beer (where local law permits).
In 1977, the company began introducing international-sounding variants of its brand for some of its private label ethnic food items, such as "Trader José", "Trader Joe San", and "Trader Giotto" for Mexican, Japanese, and Italian products respectively. The company also referenced other cultures with branding like "Trader Ming's", "Arabian Joe's", and "Pilgrim Joe" for Chinese, Middle Eastern, and
Thanksgiving-themed American products.
In July 2020, during the
George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests, riots, and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as Reactions to the mu ...
, an online petition signed by 5,300 people asked the company to rename these products, criticized their labeling as "
racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
" and accusing the company of promoting "a narrative of exoticism that perpetuates harmful stereotypes".
The company reacted by stating that it was already in the process of reverting a number of international foods to Trader Joe's branding and that this decision had already been made several years earlier. Trader Joe's later clarified that some branding referenced in the petition will remain, stating, "We disagree that any of these labels are racist. We do not make decisions based on petitions."
The petition itself has been criticized on social media for promoting
cancel culture
Cancel culture is a cultural phenomenon in which an individual thought to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner is ostracized, boycotted, shunned or fired, often aided by social media. This shunning may extend to social or professio ...
and for "wasting time on a trivial issue".
Aldi Nord
Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and T ...
uses the brand as one of the company's
private labels in its stores in Europe, predominately for snack foods.
Product availability and discontinued products
Trader Joe's discontinues individual products more often than larger grocery chains. A product may be discontinued because of a variety of reasons: it may be a seasonal product; the cost of producing the item may have increased, thereby also increasing its cost; or the item was not selling strongly enough. New items are introduced every week, so Trader Joe's may remove current items to make room for new products on its shelves.
In recent years, loyal Trader Joe's customers have gained a new obsession with the holiday products. Stores have a hard time keeping their shelves with the holiday products full during these seasons. Stores often have a "new items" case with 10 to 15 products (that can also be found in the rest of the store), indicating an intentional high turnover of products.
Product selection and prices may also differ from state to state. For freshly-prepared items (e.g., deli, bakery, dairy and juice), Trader Joe's tries to source products as close to the stores as possible, which may result in variations with recipes and prices. State laws, taxes, deposit requirements, and distribution costs can also influence how products are priced in each location.
In February 2008, Trader Joe's announced that it would phase out single-ingredient products from China by April 2008, because of unspecified customer concerns.
Cage-free eggs
In February 2016, because of customer feedback, Trader Joe's announced their goal "to have all the eggs
heysell in western states (
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
,
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
,
Washington
Washington most commonly refers to:
* George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States
* Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A ...
,
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
,
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
and
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
) come from
cage-free suppliers by 2020 and all the eggs
heysell nationally to come from cage-free suppliers by 2025".
In March 2018, a consumer protection lawsuit was filed by the
Animal Legal Defense Fund
The Animal Legal Defense Fund is an American animal law advocacy organization. Its stated mission is to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. It accomplishes this by filing high-impact lawsuits to pr ...
against Trader Joe's on behalf of an egg purchaser. The lawsuit sought to stop Trader Joe's from deceptively and misleadingly labeling its cage-free eggs. The consumer argued that Trader Joe's was violating multiple California consumer protection laws by selling cage-free eggs in cartons with representations of hens foraging in pastures, when the eggs were actually from industrial hen houses, where hens do not have access to the outdoors. The case reached a settlement in June 2018, in which Trader Joe's agreed to pull the packaging not only in
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
but nationwide.
Wine
Trader Joe's is the exclusive retailer of
Charles Shaw wine, popularly known as "Two Buck Chuck" because of its original $1.99 price tag in California (local prices vary). Of the wine selection at Trader Joe's, Coulombe said, "We built Trader Joe's on wine first, then food. I tasted 100,000 wines, and most weren't wonderful. They were submitted to us by desperate vintners". Upon the death of
Fred Franzia of the
Charles Shaw label in September 2022, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reported Trader Joe's had sold over one billion bottles. The company leaves names of wineries off the labels on purpose, although many are from
Bronco Wine, the company behind Charles Shaw.
Most popular items
The company produces a list of its most popular items each year. The fourteenth year of the survey, results for which were reported in January 2023, showed Chili & Lime Flavored Rolled Tortilla Chips as the top overall product and the favorite snack; the Sparkling Honeycrisp Apple Juice as the favorite beverage; Trader Joe's Cheddar Cheese with Caramelized Onions as the favorite cheese; Trader Joe's Butter Chicken as the favorite entrée; seasonal candles as the favorite household item; bananas as the favorite produce item; Hold the Cone! Mini Ice Cream Cones as the favorite dessert; and the Cashew & Basil Pesto as the favorite vegan/vegetarian item. Some winners from years past were retired and put into the firm's Product Hall of Fame.
Sustainability
Trader Joe's states that "a continuing focus of
heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...
sustainability initiatives is maintaining product integrity and preventing food waste".
The retailer has been characterized as "notoriously secretive" and it has also been criticized for a lack of transparency by management about the sources of products such as
organic milk.
Trader Joe's scores the lowest on
Green America's chocolate scorecard, as the retailer shares very little about addressing child labor or
deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...
caused by the chocolate it sells.
In 2016, Trader Joe's agreed to a settlement with the
Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations:
* Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia
* Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana)
* Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland)
* Environmenta ...
and
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
, due to allegations the company had violated the
Clean Air Act by emitting high
global warming potential
Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere over a specific time period, relative to carbon dioxide (). It is expressed as a multiple of warming caused by the same mass of carbon dioxide ( ...
(GWP) and ozone-depleting refrigerants. The company was tasked with reducing its emissions and creating a process to track and repair refrigerants, and was required to use refrigerants with an ultra-low GWP in 15 stores. Since then, the company has not shared its progress to reduce leak rates or publicly report its climate emissions.
Improving packaging
Trader Joe's has been taking steps to make its products more
environmentally friendly
Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that c ...
. In 2019,
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...
delivered a petition of 100,000 signatures for Trader Joe's to phase out
single-use
A disposable (also called disposable product) is a product designed for a single use after which it is recycled or is disposed as solid waste. The term is also sometimes used for products that may last several months (e.g. disposable air filter ...
plastics.
In response to customer pressure, Trader Joe's committed to stop offering single-use carryout bags nationwide, replace its produce bags with biodegradable and compostable options, replace styrofoam trays, and sell more loose, unwrapped produce.
In 2021, as part of an ongoing effort to improve
packaging
Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a coo ...
, Trader Joe's stated that it had improved over 200 products by eliminating excess components, and increasing the amount of
recycled
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...
and
sustainably sourced materials.
The company also removed over 4 million pounds of plastic packaging from their products in 2021. Examples of improvements include removing plastic
mesh
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a comprehensive controlled vocabulary for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. It serves as a thesaurus of index terms that facilitates searching. Created and updated by th ...
packaging from produce, converting
plastic clamshells for produce to sealed fiber trays, and increasing the number of frozen entrees in a plastic tray with a compostable option.
Phasing out unsustainable foods
Between 2012 and 2013, Trader Joe's moved from 15th on Greenpeace's CATO (Carting Away the Oceans) scale to third by removing six unsustainable species of fish from its shelves and getting involved in efforts to protect the
Bering Sea Canyons.
[Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...]
Trader Joe's said that in 2021, approximately 99.5% of all products were sold in stores, donated to food recovery partners, or
ed.
Through its "Neighborhood Shares Program", Trader Joe's donates 100% of the unsold products to local food recovery organizations With that system set in place, the Salem, Oregon store was able to donate all their frozen products during a 31-hour power outage before they went to waste. In 2021, the total volume donated amounted to more than $349 million worth of products to
partners, and nearly 63 million meals served to local communities, while in 2023, they were able to donate $469 million more worth of products to their communities, representing "104 million pounds of nutritious food".
'' ranked Trader Joe's the second-best supermarket chain in the United States (after
). In June 2009, ''
'' released its annual Customer Service Hall of Fame survey results, in which Trader Joe's ranked second in
. From 2008 to 2010, ''
'' magazine listed Trader Joe's among its most ethical companies in the United States, but it did not make the list in 2011. In 2014, ''Consumer Reports'' again ranked Trader Joe's a top-scoring supermarket chain. The company ranked number 23 among the 2019
best places to work in the US, and number 14 in 2020.
(ACA), Trader Joe's stated that it would require part-time employees to work an average of 30 hours per week in order to qualify for
(with free coverage for basic dental and vision care still being available for all crew members who work an average of 15 hours or more per week). Part-time employees who were not qualifying for medical insurance would now be eligible for plans which were available under the ACA (but they would only be made available to those employees whose employers do not offer them an insurance plan). Those employees who were working full-time were unaffected. Maeg Yosef, a union organizer who has worked for 18 years at the Hadley, Massachusetts store, said the company cut contributions to employee retirement plans from the equivalent of 15% of an employee's annual pay down to nothing since she started there. Workers at the Trader Joe's grocery store in Hadley announced in an open letter dated May 14, 2022, to the company's CEO their intent to push for unionization, citing stagnant wages and a desire for better pay, benefits and workplace conditions.
Trader Joe's has been accused of
in numerous cases.
in 2022.
On April 20, 2023, crew members at the Trader Joe's location in the
, voted 73–53 to unionize.
In January 2024, at an administrative law hearing in Connecticut, a Trader Joe’s lawyer amended the company’s answer to include an additional
to be unconstitutional.
. Trader Joe's "hoped to preserve the issue for future briefing and argument," while continuing with the case before an administrative law judge for the NLRB.
.
in both the United States and increasingly, abroad. The grocery store chain sells small and large canvas
. Given the trend of carrying a canvas tote bag in metropolitan areas, the Trader Joe's tote bag has been popularized by young city dwellers as far as
. The tote bag, released in limited edition colors, has been recorded as reselling, from its original price of $2.99, at upwards of $250 each on Ebay.
Trader Joe's is referenced in American social media content. Instagram
are known to parody the friendly attitude of their cashiers. Also notable are
pages dedicated to product reviews and promotion for the grocery store.
There have been references to the grocery store in movies, television and music. In Jonathan Levine's 2017 action-comedy, ''
. In 2018, Brooklyn rapper
released a single entitled ''Trader Joe's,'' later re-released on her EP, ''JP3''.
'', November 28, 2018 podcast about choice architecture, efficiency, frugality, collaboration, and team spirit
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