According to the U.S. Department of Commerce Retail Indicator Division, total retail sales in this country for 2021 were $6.6 trillion. That’s a lot of money. And the supermarkets and grocery stores industry is the third largest component of the retail industry by market size, generating over $811 billion in sales. Which if we do some quick math using the 334 million people in this country, means every woman, man and child in the United States buys over $2,400 worth of groceries a year – or $200 a month.
Now, depending on where you buy your groceries, and what you buy, that may seem like a lot, or very little. $200 buys a lot of ramen noodles. But not so many steaks.
However, what that $811 billion in sales does signify is that we spend a lot of money and time in supermarkets and grocery stores. Which is why at this thankful time of year I am grateful that Trader Joe’s celebrated 10 years of existence in State College last month.
When I was a kid growing up in Williamsport, my mom always went to the Weis supermarket. When I came to college in Happy Valley, there was a Weis conveniently located downtown and I used that when stocking up on ramen noodles and toilet paper. When my wife and I were in Orlando for years, I was a Publix diehard. Then when we moved to Yardley, in Bucks County, I frequented a Giant and a local McCaffrey’s. And when we finally ended back up in Happy Valley, I primarily used Giant.
Then 10 years ago on these pages, a column heralded the arrival of a new grocery store to State College: Trader Joe’s.
Having spent over a decade early in my career in the retail industry, I’ve always been interested in retailing in general, and while shopping I probably spend more time critiquing stores than I should — that light bulb is out, that shelf needs to be replaced, that floor needs to be cleaned, etc. Yes, the “you’ve become your parents” commercials are true.
Point being, my interest was piqued by the arrival of this place called Trader Joe’s. In reading about this new grocery-shopping option for Happy Valley, I was initially surprised that it was to be only 12,500 square feet in size. That may sound like a lot, but when you realize that the average supermarket in this country is over 50,000 square feet – four times the size of this place – I wondered how they could possibly provide a decent selection. I thought we might try it once after it had been open for a few months and worked out the “new-store” kinks, but I couldn’t imagine how it would become anything other than a novelty for “I’m in the area” purchases.
How wrong I was.
It was a while before we made our first visit to Trader Joe’s, but once we did, we were hooked. Pun intended. Most weeks on Sunday morning you will find us making our rounds up and down the six or seven aisles in Trader Joe’s with our list in hand (on my wife’s phone), buying pretty much everything we’ll need for that week as far as food is concerned. We are now believers. We love Trader Joe’s.
Now, the first thing to point out is in the preceding paragraph I used the pronouns “we,” “us,” and “our.” Those are plural – meaning, in this case, the two of us. My wife and I. Several paragraphs above when I identified where I previously grocery-shopped, it was a singular pronoun – me – doing the shopping. My wife has traditionally hated the idea of grocery shopping, or most shopping really.
Trader Joe’s has changed that. Which, if I’m somehow only allowed to say one great thing about Trader Joe’s to convince others about how wonderful it is, I would say that. My wife not only enjoys shopping there, she initiates the process of shopping there. That’s how good the place is.
Luckily, I’m not limited to saying one great thing about Trader Joe’s. So here is a holiday grateful list of things my wife and I appreciate about Trader Joe’s:
• Customer service. It’s off-the-charts. For any store. But for a grocery store it’s otherworldly. The folks there genuinely seem to enjoy working there. They say hi, ask how you’re doing, and have conversations with you. They’ll happily find things for you, look up when products are arriving, and special-order items for you. And in the ultimate nod to customer service, there are no self-service checkout lines. Which we not only find we don’t miss (because I can’t remember the last time I didn’t use self-service in a regular grocery store), but we enjoy the conversations we have with the cashiers as we check out. One even checked out the scores of our son’s college football games so we could talk about them!
• It’s a great size store. It turns out that 12,500 square feet is just perfect. Because Trader Joe’s mostly stocks its own brand of products, there aren’t four brands of ketchup, potato chips, cereal, salsa, toilet paper, etc. to stock. And, shock of shocks, when you only carry one brand rather than four, you only need one-quarter the space to stock it. Granted, I don’t get 1,000 steps when I’m in there, but it allows me the time to get them outside in the fresh air because I’m in and out more quickly.
• Quality and price. You may be thinking that if they mostly carry only their own brand of products that the quality might suffer and they might charge more for it. In our experience both thoughts are totally wrong. The quality of Trader Joe’s products has always been equal to or better than the products we used to buy in regular grocery stores, and early on I did some comparison pricing between similar products and the TJ’s products saved us money. We trust the Trader Joe’s brand.
• Seasonal and special items. They always have something special on their end-of-the-aisle displays or near the entrance that either amazes you with the price or the uniqueness. I’ve completed entire holiday giving lists with TJ’s products.
• Music. Sometimes it’s great, and sometimes my wife finds the taste a little outside her favorites, but it’s always something different and interesting. Definitely not your traditional Muzak.
• Cards. The deal of deals. A great selection for any and every occasion, or blank ones to fill in any unknown needs. All at an amazing price. These cards invite you to bring back the possibly lost tradition of mailing a physical object containing your own handwriting to your friends and loved ones when you are thinking about them. Imagine that concept spreading!
• Grocery bags. Good quality, just-the-right-size, paper bags that serve plenty of other uses (taking them to Wegmans if you ever shop there), or are easily recycled. Or they have a supply of reusable bags for sale.
• Parking places. The only grocery store in State College that has a few parking places directly in front of the store that don’t require walking across a driving lane to get in the store. Especially the handicapped spaces for those in need.
• Travel. Trader Joe’s in State College has so ingrained us with the TJ’s mojo that when we travel we make it a point to search out Trader Joe’s. We’ve been to stores in many other states, from one coast to the other and north to south. And we’ve always been pleased with our experience. Even when the stores were extremely crowded. It seems that the powers that be at Trader Joe’s believe in the same company mindset as Herb Kelleher, the late co-founder and CEO of Southwest Airlines: that attitude and personality are crucial when hiring. Experience, education and expertise aren’t critical. You can train people and you can teach them how to lead. But you can’t change their DNA or a rotten attitude.
• Lastly, we have a dear friend who has worked in the retail industry her entire life, is now semi-retired, and working at a Trader Joe’s near her home. She tells us that as amazing as the store is from the point of view of the consumer, the inside workings are just as amazing. That Trader Joe’s does retailing the opposite of what she was taught and did for 40 years.
I understand this sounds like one long commercial, and as I’ve said in the past I have no relationship with Trader Joe’s beyond that of a customer. If you go to their company website you can read their ideas about what they are and what they stand for, and a quick internet search will turn up dozens of articles about their history and other interesting facts about the company – such as how the signage in Trader Joe’s is painted by a real life working artist who was paid for their effort, not mass-printed and shipped out. Which is why the store has such a local flavor.
But my primary purpose here, after years of being a customer of theirs, is to commend what this company is doing and how they are doing it. To take a moment during this season of thanks to show my gratitude for the way they do business, and to wish them good cheer in continuing to maintain that quality. Thanks, Trader Joe’s, for 10 years of happy shopping, and we look forward to years more!
