Trader Joe's
Encyclopedia
Trader Joe's is a privately held
chain of specialty grocery store
s headquartered in Monrovia, California
. , Trader Joe's had a total of 365 stores. Approximately half of its stores are in California
, with the heaviest concentration in Southern California
, but the company also has locations in 30 other states and Washington, D.C.
Trader Joe's was founded by Joe Coulombe
and is owned, since 1979, by a family trust set up by the late German
businessman Theo Albrecht
, one of the two brothers behind the German discount supermarket
chain Aldi Nord
.
Trader Joe's is named after its founder, Joe Coulombe
. The chain began in 1958 as a Greater Los Angeles area
chain of "Pronto Market" convenience store
s. The original Pronto Markets were similar to 7-Eleven
stores, so similar Coulombe felt the competition with 7-Eleven would be ruinous. He is said to have developed the idea of the Trader Joe South Seas motif while on vacation in the Caribbean
. He had noticed that Americans were traveling more and returning home with tastes for food and wine they had trouble satisfying in supermarkets of the time. The first store named "Trader Joe's" opened its doors in 1967. This store, on Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena, California
, remains in operation. In response to competition from 7-Eleven, the chain differentiated its stores' offerings and doubled the floor space in 1967. In the first few decades of operation, some of the stores offered fresh meats provided by butchers who leased space in the stores. Trader Joe's at one time had sandwich shops, freshly cut cheese, and fresh squeezed orange juice. Aldi Nord
bought the company in 1979. Coulombe was succeeded by John Shields
in 1987; under his leadership the company expanded beyond California, moving into Arizona in 1993 and the Pacific Northwest
two years later. In 1996, the company opened its first stores on the East Coast, in
Brookline and Cambridge, both outside Boston
. Shields retired in 2001, turning the reins over to Dan Bane
. Shields still does consulting for the company.
A Business Week article about the store noted that, between 1990 and 2001, the chain quintupled the store number and increased its profits by ten times. Supermarket News estimates that Trader Joe's total sales for 2009 were $8 billion, which gave it a ranking of No. 21 on the list of "SN's Top 75 Retailers for 2011." As of 2010, Trader Joe's sells what Fortune
magazine estimated to be $1,750 in merchandise per square foot, more than double the sales generated by Whole Foods Market
.
The May 2009 issue of Consumer Reports
ranked Trader Joe's the second-best supermarket chain in the nation, after Wegmans
. In June 2009 MSN Money
released its third annual Customer Service Hall of Fame survey results. Trader Joe's ranks second in customer service. Ethisphere Magazine named Trader Joe's one of the most ethical companies in the United States in 2008, 2009, and 2010.
and Needham, Massachusetts
.
Trader Joe's describes itself as "your neighborhood grocery store" or "your unique grocery store". Products sold include gourmet
foods, organic food
s, vegetarian food
, unusual frozen food
s, imported foods, domestic and imported wine
and beer
(where local law permits), "alternative" food items, and staples
like bread, cereal, eggs, dairy, coffee and produce. Non-food items include personal hygiene
products, household cleaners, vitamins, pet food, plants, and flowers.
Many of the company's products are environmentally friendly
. In October 2007, Trader Joe's began to phase out foods imported from China amid concerns that standards on "organic" products from the country are not as stringent as they should be. Between February 2008 and April 2008, Trader Joe's phased out single-ingredient products from China due to concerns over tainted goods.
Trader Joe's maintains low prices by having smaller and plainer stores and carrying a smaller variety of products and getting more turnaround on products they do carry, which enables the purchase of larger quantities of perishable items closer to the expiration date at better prices, knowing that they can be sold within shelf-life limits. Individual products are also discontinued more often than at larger grocery chains, due to increased costs, poor sales, or to free up space for new items.
Trader Joe's sells many items under its own private labels
, requiring their sometimes brand-name suppliers not to publicize this business relationship, and offers these products at a significant discount to brand-name equivalents. Their labels are sometimes named in accordance to the ethnicity of the food in question, such as Trader Jose's (Mexican food), Trader Ming's (Chinese food), Baker Josef's (flour and bagels), Trader Giotto's (Italian food), Trader Joe-San (Japanese food), Arabian Joe's (Middle Eastern food), Pilgrim Joe's (New England specialties, like clam chowder), JosephsBrau (beer), Trader Johann's (lip balm
), Trader Jacques (imported French soaps and candy), Joe's Diner (certain frozen entrees), Joe's Kids (children food), and Trader Darwin's (vitamins and health supplements). By selling almost all of its products under its own label, Trader Joe's "skips the middle man
" and buys directly from both local and international small-time vendors.
Trader Joe's is the exclusive retailer of Charles Shaw wine
, popularly known as Two Buck Chuck because of its $1.99 price tag in California; in some locales, it sells for more than $3 a bottle due to varying state liquor taxes and transportation costs. Of the wine selection at Trader Joe's, Coloumbe has 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." Along with Charles Shaw, Trader Joe's is known for stocking a very large selection of California and New-World wines.
Through its ownership by Aldi (managed by Aldi Nord; the southern division, Aldi Sud, runs Aldi markets in the United States), products branded with its name have begun to appear in ALDI MARKT (stores administered by Aldi Nord) in Europe. Products that have been made available include maple syrup
, iced tea
, salmon
, dried plum
s, raisin
s, dried fruit
, nuts
, and crispbread.
The company has stated that products with the "Trader Joe's" brand contain no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives, contain no MSG
or trans fats, and are sourced from non-genetically modified ingredients. This statement does not apply to products sold without the "Trader Joe's" brand.
Trader Joe's Vitamin Crusade High Potency multivitamin was tested by ConsumerLab.com
in their Multivitamin and Multimineral Supplements Review of 38 of the leading multivitamin/multimineral products sold in the U.S. and Canada. Testing included amounts of selected index elements, their ability to disintegrate in solution per United States Pharmacopeia
guidelines, lead contamination threshold set in California Proposition 65, and meeting U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) labeling requirements.
Trader Joe's also offers health insurance benefits (dental, vision, and medical) to part-time employees and their dependents. Part-time employees must work 900 hours per year (an average of 20 hours per week) and be employed for a minimum of three months consecutively to qualify. All part-time employees are evaluated every six months with the possibility of a pay increase. They also receive a 10 percent discount on items bought at the store.
Instead of public address
systems, Trader Joe's uses a bell system to communicate. One bell means that assistance is needed at the checkout stand by any available employee. Two bells means that any possible help is needed. Three bells notifies any manager of assistance needed.
, with more stores being added regularly. One thing that makes Trader Joe's unique is the size of its stores—most locations average between 8,000 and 12000 sq ft (1,114.8 m²). In February 2008, Businessweek
reported that the company has the highest sales per square foot of any grocer in the U.S.; two-and-a-half years later, Fortune
magazine estimated sales to be $1,750 in merchandise per square foot, more than double the sales generated by Whole Foods
.
In November 2001 Trader Joe's pledged to drop all genetically modified food
from its product line. In 2009, Trader Joe's pledged to use the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Seafood Watch
program to inform its purchasing decisions regarding sustainable seafood and to offer only sustainable seafood in stores by December 31, 2012.
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
chain of specialty grocery store
Grocery store
A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...
s headquartered in Monrovia, California
Monrovia, California
Monrovia is a city located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 36,590 at the 2010 census, down from 36,929 at the 2000 census...
. , Trader Joe's had a total of 365 stores. Approximately half of its stores are in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, with the heaviest concentration in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
, but the company also has locations in 30 other states and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Trader Joe's was founded by Joe Coulombe
Joe Coulombe
Joe Coulombe is an American entrepreneur. He is a graduate of Stanford University and is a member of Alpha Kappa Lambda. He founded the grocery store chain Trader Joe's in 1967....
and is owned, since 1979, by a family trust set up by the late German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
businessman Theo Albrecht
Theo Albrecht
Theodor Paul Albrecht , generally known as Theo Albrecht, was a German entrepreneur, who in 2010 was ranked by Forbes as the 31st richest person in the world, with a net worth of $16.7 billion. He owned and was the CEO of the Aldi Nord discount supermarket chain. In the US he owned the Trader Joe's...
, one of the two brothers behind the German discount supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
chain Aldi Nord
ALDI
ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG, doing business as ', short for "Albrecht Discount", is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany...
.
History
Joe Coulombe
Joe Coulombe is an American entrepreneur. He is a graduate of Stanford University and is a member of Alpha Kappa Lambda. He founded the grocery store chain Trader Joe's in 1967....
. The chain began in 1958 as a Greater Los Angeles area
Greater Los Angeles Area
The Greater Los Angeles Area, or the Southland, is a term used for the Combined Statistical Area sprawled over five counties in the southern part of California, namely Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County and Ventura County...
chain of "Pronto Market" convenience store
Convenience store
A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
s. The original Pronto Markets were similar to 7-Eleven
7-Eleven
7-Eleven is part of an international chain of convenience stores, operating under Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd, which in turn is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co...
stores, so similar Coulombe felt the competition with 7-Eleven would be ruinous. He is said to have developed the idea of the Trader Joe South Seas motif while on vacation in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. He had noticed that Americans were traveling more and returning home with tastes for food and wine they had trouble satisfying in supermarkets of the time. The first store named "Trader Joe's" opened its doors in 1967. This store, on Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
, remains in operation. In response to competition from 7-Eleven, the chain differentiated its stores' offerings and doubled the floor space in 1967. In the first few decades of operation, some of the stores offered fresh meats provided by butchers who leased space in the stores. Trader Joe's at one time had sandwich shops, freshly cut cheese, and fresh squeezed orange juice. Aldi Nord
Theo Albrecht
Theodor Paul Albrecht , generally known as Theo Albrecht, was a German entrepreneur, who in 2010 was ranked by Forbes as the 31st richest person in the world, with a net worth of $16.7 billion. He owned and was the CEO of the Aldi Nord discount supermarket chain. In the US he owned the Trader Joe's...
bought the company in 1979. Coulombe was succeeded by John Shields
John V. Shields
John Shields is an American businessman who was the CEO of the American grocery store chain Trader Joe's from 1988 to 2001. Shields was voted the Master Entrepreneur of the Los Angeles Area in 1993....
in 1987; under his leadership the company expanded beyond California, moving into Arizona in 1993 and the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
two years later. In 1996, the company opened its first stores on the East Coast, in
Brookline and Cambridge, both outside Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. Shields retired in 2001, turning the reins over to Dan Bane
Dan Bane
Dan Bane is the Chairman and CEO of Trader Joe's. Bane graduated in 1969 from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. While at USC he was a member of the National Champion Trojan baseball team...
. Shields still does consulting for the company.
A Business Week article about the store noted that, between 1990 and 2001, the chain quintupled the store number and increased its profits by ten times. Supermarket News estimates that Trader Joe's total sales for 2009 were $8 billion, which gave it a ranking of No. 21 on the list of "SN's Top 75 Retailers for 2011." As of 2010, Trader Joe's sells what Fortune
Fortune (magazine)
Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...
magazine estimated to be $1,750 in merchandise per square foot, more than double the sales generated by Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market is a foods supermarket chain based in Austin, Texas which emphasizes "natural and organic products." The company has been ranked among the most socially responsible businesses and placed third on the U.S...
.
The May 2009 issue of Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports is an American magazine published monthly by Consumers Union since 1936. It publishes reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from its in-house testing laboratory. It also publishes cleaning and general buying guides...
ranked Trader Joe's the second-best supermarket chain in the nation, after Wegmans
Wegmans Food Markets
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a family-owned U.S. regional supermarket chain headquartered in Gates, New York, near Rochester. Wegmans has more than 75 stores spread across the mid-Atlantic region, in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts...
. In June 2009 MSN Money
MSN Money
MSN Money, a service of MSN, is a website about business news, that is edited in association with CNBC. It provides stock exchange prices and financial information on companies. Information on stock and share options is also provided. Stock prices are also supplied through msnbc.com.The site also...
released its third annual Customer Service Hall of Fame survey results. Trader Joe's ranks second in customer service. Ethisphere Magazine named Trader Joe's one of the most ethical companies in the United States in 2008, 2009, and 2010.
Corporate affairs
The chain has offices in Monrovia, CaliforniaMonrovia, California
Monrovia is a city located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 36,590 at the 2010 census, down from 36,929 at the 2000 census...
and Needham, Massachusetts
Needham, Massachusetts
Needham is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 28,886 at the 2010 census.- History :...
.
Products
Unlike typical grocery stores, which may carry 50,000 items (or SKUs), Trader Joe's stocks about 4,000 items, 80% of which bear one of its own brand names.Trader Joe's describes itself as "your neighborhood grocery store" or "your unique grocery store". Products sold include gourmet
Gourmet
Gourmet is a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterised by elaborate preparations and presentations of large meals of small, often quite rich courses...
foods, organic food
Organic food
Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...
s, vegetarian food
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
, unusual frozen food
Frozen food
Freezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved their game and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing food slows down decomposition by turning water to ice, making it...
s, imported foods, domestic and imported wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
and beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
(where local law permits), "alternative" food items, and staples
Staple food
A staple food is one that is eaten regularly and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a diet, and that supplies a high proportion of energy and nutrient needs. Most people live on a diet based on one or more staples...
like bread, cereal, eggs, dairy, coffee and produce. Non-food items include personal hygiene
Hygiene
Hygiene refers to the set of practices perceived by a community to be associated with the preservation of health and healthy living. While in modern medical sciences there is a set of standards of hygiene recommended for different situations, what is considered hygienic or not can vary between...
products, household cleaners, vitamins, pet food, plants, and flowers.
Environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly are terms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment....
. In October 2007, Trader Joe's began to phase out foods imported from China amid concerns that standards on "organic" products from the country are not as stringent as they should be. Between February 2008 and April 2008, Trader Joe's phased out single-ingredient products from China due to concerns over tainted goods.
Trader Joe's maintains low prices by having smaller and plainer stores and carrying a smaller variety of products and getting more turnaround on products they do carry, which enables the purchase of larger quantities of perishable items closer to the expiration date at better prices, knowing that they can be sold within shelf-life limits. Individual products are also discontinued more often than at larger grocery chains, due to increased costs, poor sales, or to free up space for new items.
Trader Joe's sells many items under its own private labels
Store brand
Store brands are a line of products sold by a retailer under a single marketing identity. They bear a similarity to the concept of House brands, Private label brands in the United States, own brands in the UK, and home brands in Australia and generic brands...
, requiring their sometimes brand-name suppliers not to publicize this business relationship, and offers these products at a significant discount to brand-name equivalents. Their labels are sometimes named in accordance to the ethnicity of the food in question, such as Trader Jose's (Mexican food), Trader Ming's (Chinese food), Baker Josef's (flour and bagels), Trader Giotto's (Italian food), Trader Joe-San (Japanese food), Arabian Joe's (Middle Eastern food), Pilgrim Joe's (New England specialties, like clam chowder), JosephsBrau (beer), Trader Johann's (lip balm
Lip balm
Lip balm or lip salve is a wax-like substance applied topically to the lips of the mouth to relieve chapped or dry lips, angular cheilitis, stomatitis, or cold sores. Lip balm often contains beeswax or carnauba wax, camphor, cetyl alcohol, lanolin, paraffin, and petrolatum, among other ingredients...
), Trader Jacques (imported French soaps and candy), Joe's Diner (certain frozen entrees), Joe's Kids (children food), and Trader Darwin's (vitamins and health supplements). By selling almost all of its products under its own label, Trader Joe's "skips the middle man
Disintermediation
In economics, disintermediation is the removal of intermediaries in a supply chain: "cutting out the middleman". Instead of going through traditional distribution channels, which had some type of intermediate , companies may now deal with every customer directly, for example via the Internet...
" and buys directly from both local and international small-time vendors.
Trader Joe's is the exclusive retailer of Charles Shaw wine
Charles Shaw wine
Charles Shaw is a brand of "extreme value" wine . Largely made from California grapes, Charles Shaw wines currently include Cabernet Sauvignon, White Zinfandel, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Valdiguie in the style of Beaujolais nouveau, and limited quantities of Pinot Grigio...
, popularly known as Two Buck Chuck because of its $1.99 price tag in California; in some locales, it sells for more than $3 a bottle due to varying state liquor taxes and transportation costs. Of the wine selection at Trader Joe's, Coloumbe has 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." Along with Charles Shaw, Trader Joe's is known for stocking a very large selection of California and New-World wines.
Through its ownership by Aldi (managed by Aldi Nord; the southern division, Aldi Sud, runs Aldi markets in the United States), products branded with its name have begun to appear in ALDI MARKT (stores administered by Aldi Nord) in Europe. Products that have been made available include maple syrup
Maple syrup
Maple syrup is a syrup usually made from the xylem sap of sugar maple, red maple, or black maple trees, although it can also be made from other maple species such as the bigleaf maple. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before the winter; the starch is then...
, iced tea
Iced tea
Iced tea is a form of cold tea, often served in a glass with ice. It may or may not be sweetened. Iced tea is also a popular packaged drink. It can be mixed with flavored syrup, with common flavors including lemon, peach, raspberry, lime, passion fruit, and cherry...
, salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
, dried plum
Plum
A plum or gage is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds , the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one...
s, raisin
Raisin
Raisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world. Raisins may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking and brewing...
s, dried fruit
Dried fruit
Dried fruit is fruit where the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to the fourth millennium BC in Mesopotamia, and is prized...
, nuts
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
, and crispbread.
The company has stated that products with the "Trader Joe's" brand contain no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives, contain no MSG
Monosodium glutamate
Monosodium glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate or MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, one of the most abundant naturally occurring non-essential amino acids....
or trans fats, and are sourced from non-genetically modified ingredients. This statement does not apply to products sold without the "Trader Joe's" brand.
Trader Joe's Vitamin Crusade High Potency multivitamin was tested by ConsumerLab.com
ConsumerLab.com
ConsumerLab.com is a provider of independent test results and information to help consumers and healthcare professionals evaluate health, wellness, and nutrition products. ConsumerLab.com was founded in 1999. It is subscription fee based....
in their Multivitamin and Multimineral Supplements Review of 38 of the leading multivitamin/multimineral products sold in the U.S. and Canada. Testing included amounts of selected index elements, their ability to disintegrate in solution per United States Pharmacopeia
United States Pharmacopeia
The United States Pharmacopeia is the official pharmacopeia of the United States, published dually with the National Formulary as the USP-NF. The United States Pharmacopeial Convention is the nonprofit organization that owns the trademark and copyright to the USP-NF and publishes it every year...
guidelines, lead contamination threshold set in California Proposition 65, and meeting U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
(FDA) labeling requirements.
Employees
Trader Joe's pays above-union wages: , full-time crew members starting at $40–60,000 per year and store managers earning in the "low six figures." It contributes to an employee's standard 401(k) plan. , pay for entry-level part-timers was $8 to $10 an hour.Trader Joe's also offers health insurance benefits (dental, vision, and medical) to part-time employees and their dependents. Part-time employees must work 900 hours per year (an average of 20 hours per week) and be employed for a minimum of three months consecutively to qualify. All part-time employees are evaluated every six months with the possibility of a pay increase. They also receive a 10 percent discount on items bought at the store.
Instead of public address
Public address
A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...
systems, Trader Joe's uses a bell system to communicate. One bell means that assistance is needed at the checkout stand by any available employee. Two bells means that any possible help is needed. Three bells notifies any manager of assistance needed.
Locations
, Trader Joe's has a total of 365 stores in 31 states and Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, with more stores being added regularly. One thing that makes Trader Joe's unique is the size of its stores—most locations average between 8,000 and 12000 sq ft (1,114.8 m²). In February 2008, Businessweek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
reported that the company has the highest sales per square foot of any grocer in the U.S.; two-and-a-half years later, Fortune
Fortune (magazine)
Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...
magazine estimated sales to be $1,750 in merchandise per square foot, more than double the sales generated by Whole Foods
Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market is a foods supermarket chain based in Austin, Texas which emphasizes "natural and organic products." The company has been ranked among the most socially responsible businesses and placed third on the U.S...
.
Environmental initiatives
At some locations, there is a weekly or monthly drawing for a gift certificate or bag of groceries for customers who bring in their own bags. Reusable bags are offered at many Trader Joe's locations to promote recycling.In November 2001 Trader Joe's pledged to drop all genetically modified food
Genetically modified food
Genetically modified foods are foods derived from genetically modified organisms . Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering techniques...
from its product line. In 2009, Trader Joe's pledged to use the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Monterey Bay Aquarium
The Monterey Bay Aquarium is located on the former site of a sardine cannery on Cannery Row of the Pacific Ocean shoreline in Monterey, California. It has an annual attendance of 1.8 million visitors. It holds thousands of plants and animals, representing 623 separate named species on display...
Seafood Watch
Seafood Watch
Seafood Watch is one of the best known sustainable seafood advisory lists, and has influenced similar programs around the world. It is a program designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources...
program to inform its purchasing decisions regarding sustainable seafood and to offer only sustainable seafood in stores by December 31, 2012.
External links
- Trader Joe's official website
- Trader Joe's Company History (FundingUniverse)
- Meet the original Joe - Fortune Magazine. Cable News Network. August 23, 2010.