Some of you know about this grocery chain from other cities and it is now within driving range. Founded by Joe Coulombe in 1958 according to Wikipedia, Joe called his first one in Los Angeles "Pronto Market", a small convenience store but he soon realized that the 7-Eleven competition was too strong and morphed his concept into specialty foods and emphasized fresh goods, even at one point serving fresh deli sandwiches and freshly squeezed orange juice.
He reportedly thought up the idea after a Carribbean vacation and the first Trader Joe's with the South Seas motif opened in Pasadena in 1979. The chain has since grown to 528 branches in 24 states and Consumer Reports ranks it as the second best grocery store in America behind Wegman's. From 1990 to 2001 it increased the number of branches fivefold and profits tenfold. Pretty good performance for an industry with traditionally marginal profits.
Theo Albrecht, a German billionaire who owns the German supermarket chain Aldi, bought the company in 1979 and Joe retired in 1989.
So ! You can now get stuff like Two Buck Chuck's wine, the really decent California wine varieties for $1.99 a bottle. My friend Ted says when Charles Shaw divorced his wife she won all the profits from their vineyard so that's why he sells all his wines at cost.
And besides great choice one thing I noticed was each pricing as opposed to by the pound on much of their produce . . . bananas for example were 19 cents each, artichokes 49 cents, and so forth. Lots of organic and imported goods, too.
The Redding store is north of Sears off Hilltop before it crosses eye 5, next to the new Kohl's.
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