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Being Duped

Disappointing to read about what goes at Trader Joe's behind the cheerful facade. The small guy with a great product has no real shot here. They can accept the fake invitation to get a deal or have their idea stolen without that meeting anyway

..Trader Joe’s commonly solicits product samples and even asks for potential recipe adjustments—a revealing and time-consuming exercise for bootstrapped founders—before inexplicably abandoning the negotiations and releasing its own private-label versions of similar products at lower prices.

The reason they can get away with it is price and selection not to mention the little quirks that make it stand out from competition that may match it on price and selection. 

The store’s well-curated selection of convenience foods, particularly those found in the frozen food aisle, comprises a relative United Nations of cuisines from around the globe, tailor-made for the air fryer economy.

Young people working and living alone for the first time typically on a very modest budget are an ideal Trader Joe's shopper though there is something there for anyone. I enjoy the experience of discovering something new and unusual every time I go there. My first introduction to Trader Joe's came about through a friend and her husband, both recent graduates, very newly married and making just above minimum wage. 

When I visited them, we went to their neighborhood Trader Joe's and suddenly a lot more was possible and within reach even on their budget and mine - freshly divorced, single mom trying to find work that would pay enough to raise J who was only a few months old at the time. At Trader Joe's we could eat "gourmet" food to, experience tastes from places in the world that we had no money to actually visit. It checked so many boxes for loyalty. Just that the "wins" for customers like us comes at a cost to those who make the wonderful and affordable assortment at Trader Joe's possible. 

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