Woman breaks down the 'psychology tricks' Trader Joes uses to create its loyal following
Even the subtlest perks are all by design.
Trader Joe's customers love the stores iconic items and laid-back vibes.
Few grocery stores have achieved a full blown culture quite like the retail fan-favorite Trader Joe’s, where folks can always count on an adventure filled with cookie butter, cheap wine and conversations with an Hawaiin shirt-clad employee.
And while there are some perhaps obvious reasons behind TJ’s loyal following—the eclectic seasonal food items, the relaxing atmosphere—one woman is taking an in-depth look at some of the lesser known “psychological tricks” that keep shoppers coming back time and time again.
Research enthusiast Nicole Urban, whose entire TikTok is dedicated to analytical deep dives on a variety of topics, recently went viral for explaining Trader Joe’s unending appeal.
“Trader Joe’s rejects a lot of the core business practices of average grocery stores,” Urban noted, saying that instead of focusing on a huge variety of items and offering coupons like most grocery stores do, TJ’s is all about offering a one-of-a-kind “customer experience.”
That includes charismatic, gregarious employees more than willing to strike up a friendly conversation, artistic, hand drawn price tags that mimic a local market, reliable prices, and of course, those oh-so-tempting limited edition seasonal and experimental items that make shopping “feel like a treasure hunt,” says Urban.
@urbannic Replying to @eleni ♬ original sound - nicole urban
Urban then listed two unique characteristics that even the most regular Trader Joe’s customer might have never noticed were drawing them in—the TJ’s parking lot and frozen food aisle.
Unlike most grocery store chains, Trader Joe's keeps its frozen aisle “fun and accessible” by doing an open freezer bin layout, getting rid of annoying freezer doors that block folks from casually scoping out new items.
And while the freezers inside are wide open, the ever congested TJ’s parking lot is quite the opposite. As Urban explained, Trader Joes are often placed in high traffic arrears with smaller parking lots that consequently always appear full..making it appear competitive to get into. That’s right, getting the primo parking spot after ten minutes of circling is all part of the experience.
According to Urban, it’s all these subtle factors that contribute to trader Joe’s huge success. And judging by the thousands of comments that followed her viral video, it seems she was right on the money.
People particularly began gushing about their own wholesome interactions with trader Joe’s cashiers. One shared "My cashier made me cry because she said I looked like I needed flowers and then called me a good mom after giving me a free bouquet."
Another added, “One time I was at Trader Joes and applying to adopt a dog. The cashier asked to see the dog and encouraged us to adopt him. 3.5 years later and we still show her pictures of him when we shop there. She only knows us as Winston’s parents.”
Others agreed that the limited selection was a main reason they returned, since it made shopping much less stressful.
“I love that they don’t have a billion choices, as an anxious person…I’ve been shopping there since 2015!” one person exclaimed.
Some even listed things they loved about that story that didn’t get covered by Urban, such as its flower selection and use of natural lighting.
Even people who didn’t live in the U.S. wrote that they regarded Trader Joes as some sort of “mystical place” they longed to visit one day.
This is such an illuminating example of humanity’s shared, deep felt need for novelty. It can transform even the most mundane of tasks, like grocery shopping, into the highlight of someone’s day. In our increasingly more automated, tech-driven world, the demand for fun in-person experiences will only go up. And hopefully that means more stores opting for the Trader Joe’s approach…only with better parking lots.
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.