Trader Joe's

About this location

A few stories people tell about this place

1. One morning, a delivery driver grumbled under his breath as he unloaded boxes of exotic fruits. ‘Who stocks these things?’ he muttered. Suddenly, an avocado winked at him. The driver blinked, rubbed his eyes, and looked again—nothing there but a plain old avocado. Shaking his head, he threw it into the pile and moved on. Later that day, while unpacking groceries, his neighbor asked if he’d seen the talking avocado from Trader Joe’s. Smiling, he replied, ‘Must’ve been my imagination.’

2. At night, when Trader Joe’s closed its doors, a curious neighborhood cat would sneak into the empty aisles. One evening, after hours, an employee heard soft purring and found the cat diligently sampling samples from every bin it could reach. Finally, the employee decided to join in, picking up a sample of chocolate-covered almonds. Together, they munched away until a delivery driver arrived with a crate full of fresh bananas. Startled, the cat leaped onto a nearby shelf, but not before giving everyone a mischievous wink. The next day, a neighbor spotted the same cat lounging outside Trader Joe’s, holding a plastic bag filled with freebies—clearly, the store had hired a new ‘tasting ambassador’.

3. In the early hours of every Sunday morning, a mysterious figure could be seen loading boxes into an empty shopping cart outside Trader Joe’s. ‘Who leaves groceries in the parking lot?’ locals wondered. It turned out that it was just a delivery driver who accidentally left his load behind while rushing to make deliveries on time. Every week, a friendly neighbor would return the forgotten goods and place them back inside for him. By Monday morning, everyone knew the story, and whenever someone spotted the cart, they’d say, 'Looks like our local hero is working overtime again!'

4. In the middle of the night, an employee stocking shelves heard a soft giggle coming from the aisles. Curious, she followed the sound only to discover a tiny ghostly figure laughing at the arrangement of bananas. As she approached, the little ghost bent down and rearranged one banana slightly off-center. ‘What are you doing?’ asked the perplexed worker. The ghost looked up with mischief in its eyes and replied, “These bananas were telling me they needed just a teeny bit more fun!” And then both of them started giggling until a regular customer walked by, gave them a curious glance, and went on his way without noticing anything unusual.