VIDEO: West Seattle Trader Joe’s national spotlight, sort of

Thanks to Scott for sending the link after noticing the West Seattle Trader Joe’s featured on today’s CBS Sunday Morning national newscast. Actually, it’s not about the store so much as one particular shopper – we’ve heard of him before, but had no idea his shopping took him this far south of the border. (For the record, the distance from his store in B.C. to TJ’s in WS is 147 miles.)

trickycoolj April 12, 2015 (9:36 am)

Might somewhat explain why they have large swaths of empty shelves on Mondays and Tuesday’s after work.

Mike April 12, 2015 (9:56 am)

Trader Joe’s should open up North, eh? You’d think since they don’t have a location up there they’d be happy to accept nearly $1,000,000 in sales from a single entity willing to drive down from Canada.

C.D. April 12, 2015 (10:09 am)

When I lived in Homer, Alaska I was so happy to find some Trader Joe’s items on the shelves at the Save-U-More. They must have been smuggled up like this!

JoB April 12, 2015 (11:44 am)

that’s a long way to drive for Trader Joe’s merchandise

Diane April 12, 2015 (12:56 pm)

can someone please give me a clue what this is about, since I cannot access video; who is “him”?

Ttt April 12, 2015 (1:26 pm)

A guy from canada that drives down to the us to buy l

DarkHawke April 12, 2015 (1:58 pm)

I always knew TJ’s was kinda granola, but they always seem very free market as well, so I can’t imagine why they’re missing this OBVIOUS bet and not (A) opening stores north of the border and (B) making this guy their regional manager! Why sue when you can essentially buy the man out and everyone gets rich and well fed?

Kim April 12, 2015 (3:51 pm)

Is this about the guy who has the similarly named store in BC? Didn’t Trader Joe’s send him a cease & desist?

sam-c April 12, 2015 (4:19 pm)

I saw that when it aired on TV this morning. So fun. Was exciting to see that Mo Rocca was in WS- he’s great.

sophista-tiki April 12, 2015 (4:38 pm)

” I always knew TJ’s was kinda granola,,, ” ugh
anyway—– Its interesting that they picked the WS Trader Joes as its one of the least shop-able locations. its so crazy crowded in there if you’re lucky enough to actually be able to locate the item you want some (unkind descriptive) jumps in front of you to snatch it out of your grasp. Grocery shopping around here is a very strange cultural behavior that I have ONLY experienced here. when I travel grocery shopping is much more of a normal experience. That guy deserves EXTRA credit for putting up with the the WS shopper.

G April 12, 2015 (6:56 pm)

sophista-tiki,

It’s the relative geographical isolation that tends to imbue everything with larger than life significance, including shopping. My theory anyway.

Titus Andronicus April 12, 2015 (7:51 pm)

I’m sure TJ’s has looked into moving into Canada, but there are different regulatory conditions up there; other US based companies have tried and failed(Big Lots, Best Buy).
Nordstrom is just now opening up a few stores in Canada to test the waters. Target entered the marked two years ago, and tried to do too much, too soon. Maybe it will only be a matter of time before they open up a “Trader Joe’s Eh?” in B.C.
Thanks for posting this; now I know why they’re always out of green curry sauce!

heather April 13, 2015 (10:01 am)

sophista-tiki,
Uh sorry, that’s me. I have an uncontrollable urge to be first. Every grocery trip is a mini tour de france for me. It’s very exciting ;)

OR is it the PNW way of trying to start a conversation with a stranger???
(all silly humor)