15 Facts Every Trader Joe’s Junkie Should Know

How much do you really know about your favorite grocery store? Test your knowledge with these interesting Trader Joe's facts!

The store’s popular two-buck Chuck wine has sold over 600 million bottles.

Okay, so it’s technically $2.49 or $3.69 now (it varies depending on your U.S. location). But still, it’s the best wine you can get for a few dollars.

Unsurprisingly, the Triple Ginger Snaps are Trader Joe’s most popular item.

They’re so delicious, how could they not be? Coming in second place, according to Business Insider, is the yummy Speculoos Cookie Butter. 

Free samples are just the beginning.

Employees will willingly open ANYTHING in the store if you want to try it before you buy. However, take advantage of this in moderation! Don’t be that person who gets a free sample of everything and doesn’t buy any of it.

There’s no annoying speaker system.

Instead, Trader Joe’s uses bells to communicate among employees. One bell means a new register needs to open. Two bells means a cashier needs assistance at the register. Three bells means assistance from the manager is requested.

They have lots of awesome products that are limited-run.

Pros to this: there’s a constantly rotating selection of products to satisfy your cravings. Cons to this: They also discontinue some products, so your favorite treat might be gone too soon.

All stores are company-owned.

So if that sort of stuff matters to you, you can feel good about shopping there.

There are not a lot of weekly specials or sales.

This is so the store is able to keep prices relatively low across the board at all times throughout the year. So you can shop smarter!

They have a great return policy.

You probably don’t think of return policies as being important at grocery stores, but you never know! Trader Joe’s has a pretty great one: no questions asked on any product. Can’t beat that.

The employees love working there.

As far as treatment of retail employees goes, Trader Joe’s is doing it right. Part-timers can earn up to $20 an hour with full benefits, while store managers can rack up to $130,000 a year. Ka-ching!

They have a deliberately scaled down strategy. 

Typical supermarkets sell up to 50,000 different items in stores. A normal Trader Joe’s sells only 4,000 items, 80 percent of which are part of the Trader Joe’s brand name. The result is no company debt and a lot of in-house growth. 

Trader Joe’s was a California-only store until 1993.

The stores weren’t even located on the East Coast until 1996. Today, 418 individual locations exist, making up a $12 billion empire that more than 10,000 employees call home.

Each store has its own artist. 

Ever wonder who does those awesome chalkboard illustrations?  Each store has its own in-house artist! 

There’s a plastic lobster somewhere in every store.

According to Business Insider, no one knows where this tradition originated, but believe it or not, every Trader Joe’s in the U.S. has a plastic lobster hanging somewhere.

Trader Joe is a real guy!

Joe Coulombe opened the first Trader Joe’s store way back in 1967.

Employees often wear Hawaiian shirts because of the company’s Caribbean roots.

According to company legend, the original Trader Joe came up with the idea for a tropical-inspired grocery store while vacationing there. He owned convenience stores and was struggling to compete against 7-Eleven, which is why he turned his sights onto the idea of Trader Joe’s. Thank goodness he did!