Trader Joe's
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Trader Joe's | |
 |
|
| Type | Private equity |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1958 Greater Los Angeles Area |
| Headquarters | Monrovia, California |
| Key people | Joe Coulombe, Founder Dan Bane, Chairman & CEO |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Supermarket |
| Revenue | $5.0 billion (2006)[1] |
| Website | www.traderjoes.com |
Trader Joe's is a privately held chain of specialty grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. As of March 2007, Trader Joe's has a total of 278 stores.[2] Its stores are located most densely in Southern California, but the grocery company has locations in 22 other states and Washington, D.C. Trader Joe's was founded by Joe Coulombe and is currently owned by a family trust set up by German billionaire Theo Albrecht, one of the two brothers behind Aldi.[3]
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[edit] History
Trader Joe's is named for its founder, Joe Coulombe. The chain began in 1958 as a Greater Los Angeles area chain of "Pronto Market" convenience stores. The original Pronto Markets were similar to 7-Eleven stores. Coulombe felt that the competition with 7-Eleven would be fatal.[4] He is said to have envisioned the Trader Joe South Seas motif while on vacation in the Caribbean.[5] He had noticed that Americans were traveling more and returning home with tastes for food and wine they had trouble satisfying in supermarkets of the time. The first store named "Trader Joe's" opened in Pasadena, California in 1966. This store, on Arroyo Parkway, is still in operation. In response to strong competition from 7-Eleven, the chain differentiated its stores' offerings and doubled the floor space in 1967. In the first few decades of operation, some of the stores offered fresh meats provided by butchers who leased space in the stores. Trader Joe's at one time had sandwich shops and freshly cut cheese and fresh squeezed orange juice. Albrecht bought the company in 1979. Coulombe continued running the company for ten years. He was succeeded by John Shields in 1989. Shields retired in 2001, turning the reins over to Dan Bane. Shields still does consulting for the company.
A Business Week article about the store noted that between 1990 and 2001, the chain quintupled its store count while increasing its profits tenfold.[3] Supermarket News estimates that Trader Joe's total sales for 2006 was $5.0 billion, which gave it a ranking of No. 27 on the list of "2007 Top 75 North American Food Retailers".[1] The October 2006 issue of Consumer Reports ranked Trader Joe's the second-best supermarket chain in the nation, after Wegmans.[6][7] Based on 2005 revenue, Trader Joe's is the fifty-seventh largest retailer in the United States.[8]
[edit] Products
Trader Joe's describes itself as "your unique grocery store". Products sold at "TJ's" include gourmet foods, organic foods, vegetarian food, unusual frozen foods, imported foods, domestic and imported wine, and "alternative" food items as well as basics like bread, cereal, and eggs. Some non-food items, including personal hygiene products, household cleaners, vitamins, pet food, and a selection of plants and flowers are also available. Many of the company's products are considered environmentally friendly.[9]
Trader Joe's sells many items from any of several of its own private labels. Such labels are quirkily named by the ethnicity of the food in question, such as Trader Jose's (Mexican food), Trader Ming's (Chinese food), Baker Josef's (bagels), Trader Giotto's (Italian food), Trader Joe-San (Japanese food), and Trader Darwin (vitamins).
Trader Joe's is also known as the exclusive retailer of Charles Shaw wine, popularly known as Two Buck Chuck[9] because of its $1.99 a bottle price (although in some locales it sells for as much as $3.99 a bottle, due to varying state liquor taxes and transportation costs).
[edit] Employees
According to Business Week, Trader Joe's pays better-than-union wages, generous bonuses, and contributes an additional 15.4% of each worker's gross pay into a company-funded retirement plan. As of 2004, pay for entry-level part-timers was $8 to $12 an hour; first-year supervisors average more than $40,000 a year.[3]
Trader Joe's also offers health insurance benefits (dental, medical, and vision) to part-time employees and their dependents. Part-time employees must work 900 hours per year (an average of 20 hours per week) to qualify. All part-time employees are evaluated every 90 days with the possibility of a pay increase. They also get a 10-percent discount for items bought at TJ's.[10]
Employees are referred to in the company as "crew members", and positions within the store are references to merchant and naval seagoing ranks: the store's manager is called the Captain, while the assistant manager is the First Mate. Until their probation ends, new captains are called Commanders and new assistant managers are called Second Mates.[11]
Part-time crew members usually work up to 35 hours a week and do not supervise other crew members. Newly promoted full-time crew members are known as Novitiates, work 47.5+ hours per week, and are entry-level supervisors. They are promoted to Specialists and then Merchants. Merchants are normally considered promotable to store management positions. Captains are eligible for promotion to Regional Vice Presidents. Full-time crew members have the opportunity to be promoted into management positions, while part-time crew members may train to become full-time crew members. Part-time crew members may stay at their chosen store and can relocate to other stores with management permission if they choose. Full-time employees are generally transferred after about two years in a store. Unless they make themselves available for long-distance transfer, they are normally only transferred within the territory of their Regional Vice President, and not long distances. The company offers packages for distant full-time relocation and has a "regional mobile thriver" (RMT) program. RMTs are given an accelerated training regimen in return for willingness to go anywhere in the nation.[12] Trader Joe's tends to prefer filling full-time and store management positions from inside the company through promotions, rather than outside hirings.
Unlike employees at many of its supermarket competitors, Trader Joe's employees are non-union.[9] An attempt to unionize at its South Pasadena, California store failed in 2003.[citation needed]
[edit] Locations
As of March 30, 2007, Trader Joe's has a total of 278 stores. These stores are located in the following states: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C.[2]
In 2007, stores have opened in Marietta, Georgia; Point Loma, California; Irvine, California (Sand Canyon); Hillsboro, Oregon; Templeton, California; Park Ridge, Illinois; Maple Grove, Minnesota; and Livermore, California.
Stores are also slated to open in Atlanta, Georgia (Midtown); two stores in Charlotte, North Carolina; and two stores in Oakland, California.[13]
[edit] References
- ^ a b 2007 Top 75 North American Food Retailers Supermarket News. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
- ^ a b Locations (PDF file), Trader Joe's, December 28, 2006. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
- ^ a b c Trader Joe's: The Trendy American Cousin, BusinessWeek, April 26, 2004. Retrieved on August 1, 2006.
- ^ For Trader Joe's, a New York Taste Test, The New York Times, March 8, 2006.
- ^ Trader Joe's targets 'educated' buyer, The Associated Press, August 30, 2003.
- ^ Win at the grocery game, Consumer Reports, October 2006.
- ^ The Nation's Best Grocery Stores, ABC News, September 2, 2006.
- ^ Top 100 Retailers: The Nation's Retail Power Players (PDF), Stores, July 2006.
- ^ a b c The American Way of Aldi, Deutsche Welle, January 16, 2004.
- ^ Benefits, Trader Joe's, Retrieved January 5, 2007.
- ^ Leading Listener: Trader Joe's, Fast Company, October 2004.
- ^ Trader Joe's Job FAQs, Trader Joe's, Retrieved 16 January 2007.
- ^ Coming Soon Locations, Trader Joe's.
