It’s Friday night and you’re hosting a dinner party for the girls…only when you open your fridge, it’s nearly bare. Where can you shop to get everything – ranging from organic vegetables to healthy frozen entrees to a big pint of ice cream – you need without breaking the bank? You go to Trader Joe’s!
Depending on where you live, a variety of names may pop into your mind, ranging from Walmart to Sprouts to Whole Foods. If Trader Joe’s isn’t on the top of that list, though, you might want to prepare to be called out by its obsessed fans. Trader Joe’s has been consistently ranked as America’s second-best supermarket (right after Wegmans) – and a 2013 survey even found that Trader Joe customers have the highest level of satisfaction (followed by Publix and Whole Foods shoppers). And its customers aren’t shy about exclaiming their love to the world, if Twitter is any indication.
First date question: what’s your favorite Trader Joe’s original food item?
— Amelia Goodman (@ameliamgoodman) January 25, 2017
whoever said the best things in life are free hasn’t been to the frozen section of trader joes
— Lauren Richmond (@LoRichmond) January 1, 2017
Why do people think Trader Joe’s is the best thing since sliced bread? ENTITY scoured recent research and chatted with Nathan M. Rodgers, blogger at “What’s Good at Trader Joe’s?”, to find out.
If you’ve ever openly talked about your love of Whole Foods, you’ve probably heard of its less-than-stellar nickname: “Whole paycheck.” In fact, studies have even shown that Trader Joe’s is 21 percent cheaper overall than Whole Foods…but that’s not the only store that Trader Joe’s is leaving in the dust when it comes to prices.
When shoppers decided to compare prices between different stores, it’s true that Trader Joe’s came out ahead most of the time. For instance:
According to Amy Graff from SF Gate, at first the price discrepancies seemed innocent…but the same 30 items cost $133.18 at Whole Foods and $109.27 at Trader Joe’s. Sure, Donald Trump may be President and we might have a wall built between the US and Mexico. But one fact that hasn’t changed in this fast moving world is that people like food…especially when it’s cheap.
If you’ve ever walked into a Whole Foods store, you know that the options can be overwhelming. Let’s say that you want potatoes. Do you buy the regular or the sweet? The fingerling or the Russet? The organic or regular? As Whole Foods’ co-CEO John Mackey explains, “At Whole Foods, the focus is premium quality and huge selection…[Trader Joe’s] has much smaller selections and not nearly as much variety to offer when it comes to fresh produce, meats, seafood, and prepared foods.”
A photo posted by Emily’s Food Adventure! (@emilys_food_adventure) on
In fact, Fortune estimates that the average grocery store boats about 50,000 items. How much does Trader Joe’s have? Around 4,000 – 80 percent of which are store-brand products. However, true Trader Joe’s fans still find ways to tout the store’s variety. “Trader Joe’s makes it very easy to get out of your comfort zone…and they make interesting international foods more accessible than other grocery stores,” says Rodgers. “I’m talking things like boeuf bourginoun, coq au vin, vegan tikka masala, or pa jeon pancakes for just a few bucks each.”
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Apparently, the question isn’t, “Is there variety or not?” It’s: “How many different country cuisines can I taste for a buck?” And that combination of worldly and wallet-friendly might be the reason why everyone and their grandma seems to shop at Trader Joe’s these days.
Come on, you have to admit it. Trader Joe’s employees are happy…almost scarily so. The next time you walk in and feel like Trader Joe’s employees are happier to see you than your own parents, though, don’t panic. It’s all part of the company’s plan. “Trader Joe’s generally believes that a happy work force creates happy customers, and the company does everything to foster this virtuous circle,” states a report by MIT Sloan Management. ” Trader Joe’s invests a significant amount into its employee relationships, making it consistently one of the most popular places to work, as evidenced by the large number of applicants for jobs there. For example, one store alone received 500 applications for just 50 openings.”
And you can’t fully understand the “cult” that is Trader Joe’s – in the words of the Eater – without seeing Trader Joe fans in their full, food-induced bonding. As Dollar Pizza’s viral video shows, nothing apparently bonds people together more than realizing you both just tried the new wasabi trail mix – and LOVED it!
If other companies want to follow in Trader Joe’s footsteps, maybe all they need are fans willing to take their love of food to the next level.
So remember how you used to have a crush on James Dean (or maybe you still do – no judgement)! There’s just something mysterious and appealing about bad boys…and Trader Joe’s marketing plans make it basically the grocery store equivalent. It doesn’t follow trends – it makes them. For instance, Trader Joe’s boasted the largest variety of California Wines and microbrewed beers before they got popular. And who can resist their…unique advertising? Instead of trying to lure customers in with sleek signs and flashy commercials, they have an old-school Tiki bar or pun-tastic signs that equate seagulls to bagels.
#Iseewhatyoudidthere. #traderjoes
A photo posted by Sarah Schwarten (@missladybug3987) on
Trader Joe’s is also known for its secrecy. Although they sale mainly brand-name products, those products are actually manufactured by a variety of other companies. For instance, Trader Joe’s pita chips are made by Stacy’s, a division of PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay, and stores on the East Coast receive their yogurt from Stonyfield Farm.
For true Trader Joe’s fans, though, the companies behind the Trader Joe’s brand apparently don’t matter. “We know that many of their products come from third parties, or they might just be a repackaging of some other company’s offering, but thanks to their in-house brand name, there’s a continuity and cohesion to everything in the store that’s very appealing,” says Rodger.
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Trader Joe’s products look and taste the part – and that seems to be all that matters to customers. (Case in point: number five.)
Okay, okay. There’s really one main reason people are tempted to join the dark side and become a Trader Joe’s addict: it’s the cookie butter. Trader Joe’s is perhaps best known for providing products that you can’t get anywhere else. Their unique offerings range from Mini Chocolate Mint Star cookies to organic riced cauliflower to candy cane green tea (a holiday special).
I love going to #TraderJoes and talking to their employees about all the awesome #cheese they have!
— Lindsay (@805Lindsay) February 3, 2017
Trader joes is my fav grocery store ta always cheap and they have unique stuff in flavors other stores don’t have so I always go back
— megu @katsucrunch (@unirobot) August 11, 2016
As Susan Porjes, a senior market analyst at Packaged Facts, explains: “Trader Joe’s is also unparalleled because it embraces a combination of gourmet, natural/organic and ethnic/multicultural foods rather than focusing on just one of these sectors.” You may never know what you’ll find when you walk into Trader Joe’s…but, as Nathan Rodgers puts it, “The Trader Joe’s brand products are the heart and soul of the store.”
Apparently, where there is cookie butter, the people will follow. (Maybe that’s the secret weapon presidential candidates should really be using during campaigns?)
READ MORE: 7 Reasons You Should Cook at Home Instead of Eating Out
The truth is, finding the right store for you is never easy, especially when you’re shopping on a budget. However, it seems like plenty of people have found their supermarket soulmate in Trader Joe’s – as intense as a relationship as it may sometimes be.
The world of Democrats vs. Republicans is so 2016. This year, it’s apparently a contest between Trader Joe’s lovers…and the rest of us.
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