Trader Joe’s is the name of the grocery store in the United States, which was established in 1958 by Joe Coulombe, as Pronto Markets, and got its current name in 1967. Today the company owns more than 500 locations across the USA and has a yearly revenue of more than 16 billion USD.
Trader Joe’s is a chain of convenience stores, or at least this is how the company positions itself. In reality, the chain has 530 locations across the USA, where the customers can find a large selection of cheap wines, low-segment foods of good quality, and healthy products, including affordable supplements and vitamins.
The history of Trader Joe’s started in California with the first store opened in 1958. Location number one was in Monrovia, a small village near Los Angeles, and what is interesting, is that Monrovia is also home to the first McDonalds.
The founder of Trader Joe’s, Joe Coulombe, initially had an idea of creating a chain of stores, which might compete with 7-Eleven, but the concept changed pretty fast.
So Joe started selling Californian wines at low prices, and soon added a good selection of healthy foods to the stores’ assortment. What also makes Trader Joe’s different is its Polynesian mood, and staff wearing Hawaiian shirts. And it is actually the celebration of the company’s history, as Joe got this idea at the very beginning of the business and implemented it to attract clients, which worked brilliantly.
In 1979 the company was bought by Theo Albrecht, co-owner of the German chain Aldi. After that Trader, Joe’s began to rapidly expand its retail business in the USA. The concepts of Trader Joe’s and Aldi are similar in their cores, with the fresh high-quality products at affordable prices, a good selection of wines, and always a lot of natural and healthy foods.
What is Trader Joe’s?
Trader Joe’s is the name of the American grocery stores chain, which was established in the 1960s. The company started as a small business grew into a real influential business after being acquired by Theo Albrecht, the Aldi owner, in 1979. Trader Joe’s is mostly known for its selection of affordable Californian wine and healthy food assortment.
As for the visual identity, Trader Joe’s is loyal to its roots, and still uses the badge, designed for the company in its first years. The bright solid color of the lettering and its unusual typeface makes all the decorations on the badge, but sometimes it is being accompanied by red Hawaiian-style floral ornaments.
The Trader Joe’s logo boasts a bold custom logotype written in the uppercase of a playful designer typeface with sharp elongated details on the ends of the extra-thick lines. The letters are heavy and combine both smooth arched lines and sharp angles, which makes the inscription unique and creates a very warm and welcoming mood.
The style and color palette of the logo represent the Polynesian style of life, how the founder of the company saw it and liked it. The warm intense shade of pink and interesting shapes bring that Caribbean hospitality and party spirit to every store of the chain.