{"id":22545,"date":"2020-03-01T20:09:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T04:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=22545"},"modified":"2020-03-03T20:11:06","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T04:11:06","slug":"joe-coulombe-founder-of-beloved-trader-joes-dies-at-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=22545","title":{"rendered":"Joe Coulombe, Founder of Beloved Trader Joe\u2019s, Dies at 89"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"pKhzlz\">Trader Joe\u2019s founder Joe Coulombe, who\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/la-xpm-2011-may-07-la-oe-morrison-joe-coulombe-043011-story.html\">envisioned his stores<\/a>\u00a0as \u201cfor overeducated and underpaid people, for all the classical musicians, museum curators, journalists,\u201d has died at the age of 89, his family\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/7e58cf76e73aba70736081a06e2715fa\">confirmed to the Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"x4o9j9\">Coulombe, a San Diego native and a Stanford graduate, opened the first Trader Joe\u2019s in 1967 in Pasadena, Calif. \u2014 the result of a pivot towards customers who had an appetite for high-quality international goods like olive olive and wine for lower price points. \u201cHe wanted to make sure whatever was sold in our store was of good value,\u201d Coulombe\u2019s son, also named Joe, told the AP. \u201cAlways the aim was to provide good food and good value to people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"5urvHg\">By the time Coulombe retired as chief executive in 1988, after having sold his interest in the company to Germany grocery retailer Aldi Nord in 1979, he had already put into place many of the distinct flourishes that separate Trader Joe\u2019s from its competitors today: a focus on natural and organic goods; a private Trader Joe\u2019s label for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eater.com\/2017\/8\/9\/16099028\/trader-joes-products\">products bought directly from wholesalers<\/a>; maritime themes in stores; a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/obituaries\/story\/2020-02-29\/la-me-joe-coulombe-trade-joes-dead\">policy of discontinuity<\/a>, with ever-changing inventory; and an expansive array of affordable wines, including the popular $1.99 Charles Shaw known as \u201ctwo-buck Chuck.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"VfZHyY\">Coulombe also prided himself on attracting and retaining talent by paying his workers \u2014 who are known for their friendliness, as well as the occasional Aloha-inspired shirt \u2014 well and offering full benefits. Trader Joe\u2019s employees are \u201camong retail\u2019s best compensated, with medical, dental, vision and retirement plans and annual salary increases the company says range from 7% to 10%,\u201d the AP reports.<\/p>\n<p id=\"2dc6N5\">Coulombe is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/obituaries\/story\/2020-02-29\/la-me-joe-coulombe-trade-joes-dead\">survived by his wife<\/a>, his son, two daughters, and six grandchildren, as well as the legacy of a beloved chain that now boasts\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.traderjoes.com\/our-story\">more than 500 stores<\/a>\u00a0across the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trader Joe\u2019s founder Joe Coulombe, who\u00a0envisioned&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22545"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22546,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22545\/revisions\/22546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}