This has to be cleverest management ever. Do they advertise on TV? Nope. Do they have a toy section? Nope. Do they do coupons? Nope. Do they do sales? Nope. Do they sell national brands? Nope.
What is their secret? Well, one is that stupid stuffed animal! Don't know what I'm talking about? Every Trader Joes has a stuffed animal that they hide somewhere in the store. It's always moving around. Today he's poking out behind the pumpkins, tomorrow he's with the frozen pizzas. Maybe next week he'll be sitting jauntily on top of the coffee grinders. This creature has its own name and nametag even. In La Canada it's Joe-Joe. In South Pasadena it's Little Joe. In Pasadena on Lake it's Rosie. In Pasadena on Arroyo Parkway it's Larry The Lobster. Your kids have to find it. If they find it they get a treat from a treasure chest--usually an organic lollypop or fruit leather.
You should see the tired parents agreeing to make another lap around the store, even though they are in a hurry, and the boys are waiting to be picked up at kung fu, and the lines are long, because the kids haven't found the monkey/lobster/tiger/crab yet. And while you take that extra lap....."Hey look at that! Chili lime cashews!"
Punks. They have us right where they want us with their Hawaiian shirts and free samples.
The guy who made this unauthorized spot has some additional insights into what is corrupting our minds for Joe:
Wasting our lives and glorifying God
Notice God's unutterable waste of saints, according to the judgment of the world. God plants His saints in the most useless places. We say - God intends me to be here because I am so useful. Jesus never estimated His life along the line of the greatest use. God puts His saints where they will glorify Him, and we are no judges at all of where that is. ~Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, August 10
6 comments:
Waaaa I want a Trader Joe's!
What a clever commercial that guy did. I loved it.
♥ Joy
Oh stuffed animal, how we wander the aisles for you!I always feel a little lost when I go there without a kid in tow searching for it.
I love their lime popsicles.
I have shopped at TJ's for years, and I keep forgetting about the stuffed animal! I'll have to ask a manager if ours does that.
I LOVED that commercial! I could relate with just about EVERYTHING he mentioned, and recognized just about everything... It made me chuckle! And, yes, why are one's favorite products inevitably discontinued, and with no notice?? :( That's my only non-favorite thing about TJ's. Just last week, it was the Italian Rustico cheese -- sheep milk cheese flavored with lemon zest, made in Italy. It was yum.
For me it was the maple creamline whole milk yogurt. That stuff was so good I'd eat the entire tub by myself! It's been gone for almost a year and I keep pining for it.
I love "our" monkeys! We have to find THREE of them, can you imagine that?! We LOVE it :)LOL!
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