20 Facts About Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California.

Trader Joe's began in 1958 as a Greater Los Angeles area chain known as Pronto Market convenience stores.

The Tiki culture craze was still widespread in the United States in the 1960s, so in a direct nod to the fad, the Trader Joe's name itself was a spoof on Trader Vic's, the famous tiki-themed restaurant that had opened its first location in the Beverly Hilton in 1955.

In 2004, BusinessWeek reported that Trader Joe's quintupled its number of stores between 1990 and 2001 and increased its profits tenfold.

Trader Joe's sells many items under its own private labels, at a significant discount to brand-name equivalents, and requires its brand-name suppliers not to publicize this business relationship.

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In February 2016, because of customer feedback, Trader Joe's announced their goal "to have all the eggs [they] sell in western states come from cage-free suppliers by 2020 and all the eggs [they] sell nationally to come from cage-free suppliers by 2025".

Trader Joe's is the exclusive retailer of Charles Shaw wine, popularly known as "Two Buck Chuck" because of its original $1.

Trader Joe's has been taking steps to make its products more environmentally friendly.

In 2021, as part of an ongoing effort to improve packaging, Trader Joe's stated that it had improved over 200 products by eliminating excess components, and increasing the amount of recycled and sustainably sourced materials.

Trader Joe's removed over 4 million pounds of plastic packaging from their products in 2021.

In October 2007, amid customer concerns, Trader Joe's began to phase out foods imported from China, and from February to April 2008, Trader Joe's phased out single-ingredient products from China because of customer concerns.

Between 2012 and 2013, Trader Joe's moved from 15th on Greenpeace's CATO scale to third by removing six unsustainable species of fish from its shelves and getting involved in efforts to protect the Bering Sea Canyons.

Trader Joe's ranked number 23 among the 2019 Glassdoor best places to work in the US, and number 14 in 2020.

Trader Joe's ranked poorly in a 2013 Greenpeace report on sustainable food.

Trader Joe's 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.

In September 2013, in response to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, 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 medical insurance .

Trader Joe's has been accused of union busting when a store in Hadley, Massachusetts organized for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board.

Company reacted by stating that it was already in the process of reverting a number of international foods back to Trader Joe's branding, and that this decision had already been made several years earlier.

Conversely, Trader Joe's has faced opposition for contributing to gentrification.

In 2014, Trader Joe's agreed to halt plans to open a store in a historically black neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, following protests led by the Portland African American Leadership Forum.