Trader Joe's is an American grocery store chain headquartered in Monrovia, California , with locations across the US. Trader Joe's has been accused of union busting in numerous cases. Trader Joe's is named after its founder, Joe Coulombe. The company began in [ 12 ] as a Greater Los Angeles area chain known as Pronto Market convenience stores.
Dining at Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills was notoriously expensive, but the Trader Joe's in Pasadena provided an irreverent and more affordable offering of food and drink. Bill , and two, with new jumbo jets due to premiere in , international travel would be accelerating as well. A better educated, more well-traveled public were acquiring tastes they had trouble satisfying in American supermarkets at the time. The first store branded as "Trader Joe's" opened in in Pasadena, California ; it remains in operation.
Shields , in Since its inception, Trader Joe's has continued to expand across the United States. In , BusinessWeek reported that Trader Joe's quintupled its number of stores between and and increased its profits tenfold. Joe Coulombe, the namesake of the brand, died in As of January 1, [update] , Trader Joe's had stores across 43 states as well as the District of Columbia in the United States with stores being added regularly.
California has the largest number of stores with open in the state. Each location is designed to represent its respective area, with staff members creating murals along store walls to represent the surrounding neighborhood. Crew members typically hide the mascot in the stores. Despite being known as a "neighborhood store" [ 32 ] with affordable options, Trader Joe's locations are mostly in well-off neighborhoods.
Conversely, Trader Joe's has also faced opposition for contributing to gentrification. Between and , Zillow found that homes grow more rapidly in value if they are closer to a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods , with such homes consistently being worth more than the mean U. Trader Joe's sells many items under its own private labels , at a significant discount to name-brand equivalents, and requires its name-brand suppliers not to publicize this business relationship.
