Cloudy Thinking

If you either LOVE Trader Joe’s — or don’t know what this Left Coast phenomena is all about, read An Insider’s Guide to Trader Joe’s For curious New Yorkers by Andy Bowers in Slate.

[tease]

Here in Los Angeles, TJ’s (as it has been unavoidably nicknamed) is an institution, and as such it’s both loved and, to a much lesser extent, disdained. It began in the 1950s as the Pronto Market chain of convenience stores. In the ’60s, founder Joe Coulombe renamed the stores after himself, introduced the endearingly goofy nautical theme and Hawaiian shirts for all employees, and started stocking more upscale foods and wines. TJ’s made its name by carrying only items that had run the gantlet of its tasters. In recent years, the company has expanded to more than 200 stores across the country, but it remains privately held.

One member of my family buys groceries from only two sources: CostCo, and Trader Joe’s. How prankle is that?

[via reddit]

This entry was posted on Friday, March 17th, 2006 at 7:09 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.