Becoming Trader Joe

How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys

By: Joe Coulombe, Patty Civalleri

Narrated by: Mark Smeby

Build an iconic shopping experience that your customers love--and a work environment that your employees love being a part of--using this blueprint from Trader Joe’s visionary founder, Joe Coulombe.

Infuse your organization with a distinct personality and culture that draws customers in a way that simply competing on price cannot.

Joe Coulombe founded what would become Trader Joe’s in the late 1960s and helped shape it into the beloved, quirky food chain it is today. Realizing early on that he could not compete and win by playing the same game his bigger competitors were playing, he decided to build a store for educated people of somewhat modest means. He brought in unusual products from around the world and promoted them in the Fearless Flyer, providing customers with background on how they were sourced and their nutritional value. He also gave the stores a tiki theme to reinforce the exotic trader ship concept with employees wearing Hawaiian shirts.

In this way, Joe laid down a blueprint for other business owners to follow to build their own unique shopping experience that customers love, and a work environment that employees love being a part of.

In Becoming Trader Joe, Joe shares the lessons he learned by challenging the status quo and rethinking the way a business operates. He shows people of all types:

• How moving from a pure analytical approach to a more creative, problem-solving approach can drive innovation.
• How finding an affluent niche of passionate customers can be a better strategy than competing on price and volume.
• How questioning all aspects of the way you do business leads to powerful results.
• How to build a business around your values and identity.

Better than any marketing course I’ve taken

I feel lucky to have been privy to the method behind the cult that is Trader Joe’s. The principles, the learnings, unveiling so much of the Supply Side and M&A strategy, employee management, and of course branding and marketing. I definitely recommend for anyone interested in business and strategy.

Candid, Balnced, Educational

I never set a foot in Traders-Joe (I live in Israel). I got to this book following Lorr's "The Secret Life of Groceries" as part of my retail self-education journey.
However, I found the story highly interesting for any entrepreneur or business manager. This did not come as surprise as Lorr already described this intelligent, deep, and clear-looking mind of Joe Coulombe. This was like learning a dozen MBA case studies in one book.

So many reasons to love this book

I thoroughly enjoyed the basic story of Becoming Trader Joe. It was an easy listen, a refreshing style that was informative and entertaining without being heavy or cumbersome.
Even more than I expected, I REALLY enjoyed the history lesson in this story. I had HORRIBLE history teachers growing up (one was fired for sexual harassment, one regularly fell asleep in the coat closet, I could go on and on). If you are interested in business, politics or leadership, this is a MUST READ. Understanding the history of economics is a great lesson, and this story reveals more than just the players and the numbers. Joe shows over and over that success is more than buying and selling. His intuition for the personal experience and his wise analysis for decision making is undeniably keen. I question whether it can be taught. Some less educated people seem to have an innate ability to lead as Joe did/does, while other highly educated people just "don't get it".
The many references to literary quotes indicate he is a very well read man, open to learning from the wisdom of others, and proof that leaders are readers.
Highly recommended!

fine book

book was good, nothing spectacular. he does seem very honest versus too many books being ego driven

Loved it

Great insight, hyper informative. Joe is a joy to “listen” too. Learned a lot from his recounting of his business life.

Trade Joe’s employee

I found the story to be very fascinating as I’ve been an employee of Trader Joes for 20 years and close family members have worked for the company since the Pronto Market days. I definitely recommend.

I love the store even more

Joe writes a great, thoughtful and meaningful book on his legacy and the history of Trader Joe’s. I really enjoyed how he intertwined the history of business in the United States over the last 70 years as well.

Most interesting

As a long time customer of Trader Joes I was absolutely thrilled to read this story of how it all happened. I enjoyed the book very very much

Entertaining, interesting, and full of lessons!

A very interesting story of a very different generation. Working in the field of business and advisement I found a lot of little takeaways in this book!

Lots of great nuggets of info

From start to finish I enjoyed the history of Trader Joe’s answering the how and why’s.