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- Trader Joe’s has developed a cult following for its wide selection of relatively affordable products.
- The grocery chain has launched a new podcast where executives talk about a number of topics, including why many of its products are private label, how its wines are so cheap, and why it sells bananas individually instead of by the pound.
Fans of Trader Joe’s praise the grocery chain for its wide selection of private-label products, cheap wines, and approachable, nautical theme. At peak hours, people often wait in long lines just to get in to the store — and that’s before they even do their shopping and then get in line to check out.
Trader Joe’s knows how obsessed people are — in response to questions and comments from fans wanting to know more about the brand, it launched a podcast to give shoppers an inside look at the company. The podcast is hosted by Marketing Director Tara Miller and Vice President of Marketing Product Matt Sloan, who cover topics like Trader Joe’s products and values, the history of the chain, why it calls its employees crew members, and its famously cheap wines.
Here are some of the most interesting facts you may not know about the chain:
There is an actual Joe behind Trader Joe’s. Joe Coulombe launched the Pronto Market convenience stores in the Los Angeles area in 1958, which became Trader Joe’s in 1967. The original store is in Pasadena, California.
Jessica Tyler/Business Insider
In its early days, the store had a deli counter-style experience. Trader Joe’s made sandwiches, sliced cheese, and prepared food for customers. That evolved into today’s Tasting Point.
Jessica Tyler/Business Insider
There’s a reason bananas are sold individually instead of by the pound. CEO Dan Bane explained that he once saw an elderly woman walk past the bananas without buying anything. He explain in the podcast, “I asked her, I said, ‘Ma’am, if you don’t mind me asking, I saw you looking at the bananas but you didn’t, you didn’t put anything in your cart.’ And she says to me, ‘Sonny…I may not live to that fourth banana.'”
Jessica Tyler/Business Insider
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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SEE ALSO: 16 time- and money-saving hacks you should know before your next trip to Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s execs are revealing the grocery chain’s secrets in a new podcast — here are 11 of the most surprising facts
By Jessica Tyler
May 12, 2018 at 05:18PM
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