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!
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.
And for me what I really appreciate is that he accomplished it in a way that is humane and self-sustaining. I've had young friends work for TJs, and it seems like it's a much better employee experience than equivalent places. It's certainly a better customer experience.
Somehow this culture has survived for decades, despite short-term thinking and too-narrow optimization destroying the staff and retail experience at other grocery stores. I'd be enormously proud to have achieved something that lasted like that. I wish I knew how they did it!
The cost of missed experiences? I think a great many (most? Nearly all?) people are missing out on a great deal. Working two jobs seems relatively normal. I'm of the impression that most people work so much to just get by and largely miss out on the category of "missed experiences." Missing their kids grow up, missing the scenery as it goes by, not having the time to keep friendships going. I think that someone who builds an empire like Trader Joe's likely led a more rich in experience life than most.
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?
Readit News
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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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Somehow this culture has survived for decades, despite short-term thinking and too-narrow optimization destroying the staff and retail experience at other grocery stores. I'd be enormously proud to have achieved something that lasted like that. I wish I knew how they did it!