Trader Joe's Products (2017–)

[pastrygirl]

Just gotta say that "chantilly" is whipped cream, not American buttercream.  The cake contains heavy cream, maybe that's what they mean.  🤷‍♀️

 

Anyway, this note amused me:

[rotuts]

@pastrygirl

 

excellent points.

 

the frosting was not ' chantilly ' like :  ie fluffy .

 

it was denser , a bit like cream cheese frosting , if you will 

 

Ill be getting this again , as it hit various tasty spots.

 

good will ice cold milk.

 

net time , vanilla ice cream.

 

no ' diet ' items involved in any way.

[Cyberider]

rotuts,  that looks exactly like the chocolate ganache cake I get there except for the color and the flavor!

[rotuts]

Odd morning @ TJ's :

 

people were lines up single file , 20 or so , a few minutes before opening.

 

usually there are three or four people , w carts at the doorway , no more than that.

 

the door opened and there was a feeding frenzy at a large table w really small

 

Tj's tote bags.  people were buy in dozens at a time.

 

reminded me on my first thusday after Thanksgiving , visiting BOS for thanksgiving and the weekend:

 

I was waling around DownTown BOS , empty , the saw a crowd on the sidewalk , 

 

walked past them but then got sucked into " Filenes Basement "

 

nothing I could do .

 

Heard about it later as I returned to the Bostonians I was staying with

 

almoust like that for these tiny little bags.

 

its pretty clear what the world has come to , for sure.

 

Edited Wednesday at 01:52 PM by rotuts (log)

[Smithy]

@rotuts, I've seen those adverts but I'm still mystified. Can you clarify the size of those totes? Roughly? The ad copy makes them sound too small for shopping and too bulky for, say, produce storage. But maybe I'm misreading. 

[rotuts]

@Smithy

 

they are really small .

 

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/mini-pastel-canvas-tote-bags-079986

 

the frenzied crowd was buying them by the dozen , very odd.

 

a click-bait site suggested when out of stock , they were selling for hundreds of dollars

 

on e-bay ?

 

[blue_dolphin]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

@rotuts, I've seen those adverts but I'm still mystified. Can you clarify the size of those totes? Roughly? The ad copy makes them sound too small for shopping and too bulky for, say, produce storage. But maybe I'm misreading. 

As @rotuts said, they’re quite small.  Appropriate for a little gift bag. Given the pastel colors and timing on this release, I suspect many will be used for lEaster baskets.

They showed up at my TJs yesterday, unbeknownst to me.  When I arrived, close to 9 AM, I noted more cars in the parking lot than usual.  Inside, near the entrance, there were 2 staff members standing in front of a big bin of these bags, enforcing a limit of 4/customer.  Everyone in front of me got some. I did not.  Most got 4. By the time I'd worked my way through the produce, meat, cheese, and dairy, I heard a big cheer from up front, indicating they had sold out. 

[rotuts]

Here , limitless .

 

I understand that is was indeed yesterday they were introduced here.

 

and sold out before noon , perhaps .   then restocked for today .

 

dont see the point of buying 20 0r so.  good luck e-bay-ing them for @ $ 250 each.

 

we do live in unusual times .

 

thank you , Internet , Soooo much 

[blue_dolphin]

Just now, rotuts said:

Here , limitless .

 

I understand that is was indeed yesterday they were introduced here.

 

and sold out before noon , perhaps .   then restocked for today .

 

dont see the point of buying 20 0r so.  good luck e-bay-ing them for @ $ 250 each.

 

we do live in unusual times .

 

thank you , Internet , Soooo much 

I know lots of people have big Easter parties or other spring gatherings and might want a bunch.  They’re pretty inexpensive compared with similar paper bags.  They’d make an OK reusable lunch bag but beyond that, I couldn’t come up with a “need” for them. 

 

3 hours ago, rotuts said:

I was waling around DownTown BOS , empty , the saw a crowd on the sidewalk, walked past them but then got sucked into " Filenes Basement” nothing I could do .

My mom lined up in the wee hours and bought her wedding gown at a Filene's basement event.  She was very thrifty but would likely have passed on these little TJs bags!

[rotuts]

the day after Thanksgiving was The Event @  Filene's basement .

 

people changed into items they wanted to try on 

 

right there in front of the counters.

[Vapre]

Anybody else need totes in the 'ludicrously capacious' size?

[Maison Rustique]

Somehow I suspect for many, the little bags are just something to brag on social media that they were able to get. I have to wonder how many of these bags are just going to get stuffed into storage closets.

[rotuts]

odd.  20 bags ?  x several people ?

 

those ' in tune  ' w current media , please report their arrival 

 

e-bay "

[rotuts]

The three sheet cakes @ TJ's my area :

 

 

thhe chocolate 😜

 

 

sliced :

 

 

nice and chocolatey 

 

on the denser ( a good thing ) side .  needs ice cream .  

 

will pick up next trip.

[rotuts]

totes made the NYTimes :

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/business/trader-joes-tote-bags.html

 

if behind a paywall :

 

''''   

For the second year in a row, Trader Joe’s has brought a Black Friday-like frenzy to its stores. But instead of lining up for a new video game console or Taylor Swift vinyl, customers are waiting their turn to buy miniature tote bags bearing the grocery chain’s logo for $2.99.

Some people camped out in front of stores hours before they opened, while others sent friends to grab the exclusive item for them. On a few occasions, people appeared to wrestle or get into physical altercations over the 11-by-13-inch canvas bags, videos on social media showed.

Kevin Burgoon, an employee at a Trader Joe’s in Sacramento, said the first customer lined up at 5 a.m. on Tuesday. By the time the store opened three hours later, he estimated that more than 150 people were waiting. The bags, offered in four pastel color schemes, sold out within 15 minutes.

Image

 

Some people lined up outside the stores hours before they opened.Credit...John Taggart for The New York Times

Image

 

“In today’s day and age we need bright colors,” said Kaitlyn Marer, 24, of Manhattan.Credit...John Taggart for The New York Times

“I just thought it was crazy,” Mr. Burgoon said, adding that people called the store “nonstop” that morning to see if the bags were still in stock.

 

The scramble began a year ago when, without much notice, Trader Joe’s released its first series of limited-edition totes, essentially smaller versions of the reusable canvas bags that the chain has sold for years. The totes became a trendy accessory, and a rush to get them ensued. This year, there was a bit more warning and stores were prepared for the chaos.

At Trader Joe’s stores in Brooklyn and Manhattan, extra security was present, and a few stores placed the bags behind the registers. Almost every store restricted shoppers to a certain number of bags, though the limit varied by location.

These smaller bags aren’t big enough to carry groceries, but some use them as purses or lunch bags. A few fans said they added personal touches — applying patches to the totes, for example, or Bedazzling them. One X user used the bag to transport a bowling ball.

 

 

Last year, the demand for the bags led people to resell them at steep prices. On Wednesday, a few of the new bags were already listed for up to $70 on eBay.

Natasha Fischer, who runs the Instagram account @traderjoeslist, said she has used her mini tote to carry wine and snacks to a friend’s place or to the beach. But, because Ms. Fischer bought several tote bags last year, she said she might skip out on the new series.

“I have so many tote bags right now,” Ms. Fischer said, adding that she had noticed the hype might not be as big this year. “Maybe people are in the same camp as me, you know — how many mini tote bags do you need?”

In a few New York stores, the bags weren’t selling out as swiftly as they did last year. In one Brooklyn store on Tuesday, the shelves had been picked clean of eggs by the afternoon, while tote bags were still hanging near the cash registers.

Barbara Kahn, a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said that decreased consumer spending in the midst of economic uncertainty could be one reason for the more lukewarm response to the totes. But also, she said, “There’s a lot going on in the world.”

 

“There’s so much of this scarcity kind of mind set and fear and things setting in,” Dr. Kahn said. (Some have been stockpiling items such as coffee and canned food.)

Image

 

Despite the scramble, the bags did not appear to be selling out as swiftly as they did last year at some stores in New York City.Credit...John Taggart for The New York Times

A mix of excited, worried and confused shoppers waited in a line that stretched down the block outside the Union Square Trader Joe’s in Manhattan before it opened on Wednesday morning. But they were waiting for different things.

“You’re here for eggs?” one shopper said to another. “Everyone’s here for the tote bags.”

“I thought people were here because of the tariffs,” said a different customer who had come to stock up on foreign goods like olive oil.

Plenty were still thrilled to get their hands on the totes. “I got the bags, all four!” one woman shouted as she left the checkout counter, stomping and chanting with her new totes in hand.

 

Kaitlyn Marer, 24, of Manhattan, decided at the last minute to grab a spot in line for the bags while waiting out a subway delay. Ms. Marer wasn’t able to get one of the bags last year, so she called this her “redemption arc.” Plus, she’s a big fan of the color palette.

“They’re just really bright,” she said, “and honestly, in today’s day and age, we need bright colors.”

 

 

''''   

 

for review purposes.

[rotuts]

plenty of dinky bags @ TJ's this AM.

 

about a gazillion.  all colors.   

 

No activity @ the table.

Edited 8 hours ago by rotuts (log)

[lemniscate]

Why is this tiny bag thing giving me Beanie Baby vibes?

 

[rotuts]

Yikes :

 

 

 

[weinoo]

P. T. Barnum was so right.

[rotuts]

Cake and IceCream :

 

 

not an outstanding pic , but and outstanding bowl :

 

TJ's Chocolate Sheet Cake , TJ's Vanilla bean ice cream .

 

I cant remember the last time I had C&IC.

 

if you can't remember either , get some tomorrow.

 

It's as good as it always was.

 

I have a new refrigerator/freezer .  Ice cream now comes out hard as a rock.

 

Im going to have to dig out my ice cream scoop-er

 

w the anit-freeze handle.

Edited 28 minutes ago by rotuts (log)

[lemniscate]

Apple Blossoms.  May have been mentioned in this thread earlier, but these are so nice.   A muffin shaped pie, I find the ratio to crust and apple filling just right, but I like the crust on pies if they are quality. 

 

You can bake or microwave.   I like my pie room temp, so I just leave one out on the counter for a while and it's delicious.  If I can't get the apple tarte seanonally, this will more than do.

 

I also bought a jar of TJ's unsweetened apple sauce, probably eat that with my TJ's cottage cheese.

[rotuts]

@lemniscate

 

I also like these .

 

thank you for reminding me .

 

Ill stock up.