
Trader Joe's founder Joe Coulombe has died - kaboro
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/02/29/joe-coulombe-obituary-trader-joes-founder-dies-89/4884608002/
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chrisjarvis
I worked for Trader Joe's for seven years before I finished school. It was a
great place to work and although I make a lot more money now I miss things
about it. TJs and Costco were always in the same discussion about great places
to work in retail and as such it seemed to attract "high performing misfits".
By this I generally mean really smart and hardworking people who didn't or
couldn't go to college. Joe Coulombe built a very good company that I'll
continue to shop at for a long time!

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mortenjorck
There’s really an untold story in Coulombe’s career of how he managed to keep
the soul of Trader Joe’s intact all this time, even through an exit and his
retirement. Corporate cost-cutting and hyper-optimization should have turned
Trader Joe’s into just another faceless grocery chain decades ago, yet
somehow, it never did.

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0x8BADF00D
When a founder creates a corporate culture based on strong values, it will
last for hundreds of years.

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anonsivalley652
Basically, I won't live anywhere without a co-op or a Trader Joe's, and a
Costco. WinCo (employee-owned) is a bonus.

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cwbrandsma
So...Boise? (Winco is based in Boise...and I have no idea how widespread that
store is actually)

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plainOldText
_Trader Joe’s_ is my favorite grocery store.

Its size is not too small as to feel claustrophobic, nor too big as to feel
overwhelming.

But most important, they have a great selection of high quality and reasonably
priced items.

I wish more companies would be like this.

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anigbrowl
Trader Joe's is one of the few corporations I like and admire. Ave atque vale.

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ketamine__
What an empire. Can you imagine what it must feel like to accomplish so much?

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frogperson
What did it cost in terms of missed experiences? I always wonder if people
like this thought it was worth it in the end.

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telesilla
He sold the company in 1979 to Aldi and retired in 1988, according to the
article. It doesn't speak anywhere about an overworked person. Maybe he had a
great time and was energized by his work?

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ravenstine
It's interesting because the experience between Aldi and Trader Joe's is very
different. I personally find Aldi to be a depressing experience, and I don't
know why people say such great things about it, whereas Trader Joe's is an
excellent example of success created in large part by treating employees well.
The culture of Trader Joe's doesn't seem to have been incorporated into Aldi
in any way. Then again, maybe the Aldi locations in California are subpar
compared to elsewhere?

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prijks
The Aldi that owns Trader Joe’s (Aldi Nord) is not the same Aldi that owns
Aldi in the USA (Aldi Süd). The two companies split in 1960.

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anonsivalley652
Yeap. There's Trader Joe's (Aldi Nord) and Süd in Texas. I'm curious how
similar are Aldi Nord in Europe and Trader Joe's, because I heard there's some
resemblance.

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grrrrrrreat
Finding "Sunny" the toucan is always a fun activity for the kids at TJs. And
the reward is an organic lollypop ! Even I get one sometimes :)

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29athrowaway
Hopefully now they stop sending me spam catalogs. Nobody reads them and they
are bad for the environment.

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stevespang
Trader Joe's ain't a health food store, that's for sure . . .

Miles of Aisles with processed sugar in everything . . .

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secondary
That's actually the one thing I don't like about Trader Joe's. They still put
sugar in things I don't want sugar in. I imagine the long term trend is away
from this, but maybe that's wishful thinking.

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fourseventy
HN has turned into the obituary pages of the internet. Every day the top post
is some random person who died.

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Stratoscope
This wasn't some random person, it was Trader Joe himself.

It's also a story about how a quirky startup created a culture of quality and
value and treating their employees and customers well - and kept that culture
after being acquired.

I think there is a lot for all founders to learn from Trader Joe's.

And who doesn't enjoy the _Fearless Flyer_?

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peter303
The'anti-Walmart', where Walmart is the world leader of mediocrity.

