
Becoming Trader Joe
How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys
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Narrated by:
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Mark Smeby
About this listen
Build an iconic shopping experience that your customers love - and a work environment that your employees love being a part of - using this blueprint from Trader Joe’s visionary founder, Joe Coulombe.
Infuse your organization with a distinct personality and culture that draws customers in a way that simply competing on price cannot.
Joe Coulombe founded what would become Trader Joe’s in the late 1960s and helped shape it into the beloved, quirky food chain it is today. Realizing early on that he could not compete and win by playing the same game his bigger competitors were playing, he decided to build a store for educated people of somewhat modest means. He brought in unusual products from around the world and promoted them in the Fearless Flyer, providing customers with background on how they were sourced and their nutritional value. He also gave the stores a tiki theme to reinforce the exotic trader ship concept with employees wearing Hawaiian shirts.
In this way, Joe laid down a blueprint for other business owners to follow to build their own unique shopping experience that customers love and a work environment that employees love being a part of.
In Becoming Trader Joe, Joe shares the lessons he learned by challenging the status quo and rethinking the way a business operates. He shows people of all types:
- How moving from a pure analytical approach to a more creative, problem-solving approach can drive innovation.
- How finding an affluent niche of passionate customers can be a better strategy than competing on price and volume.
- How questioning all aspects of the way you do business leads to powerful results.
- How to build a business around your values and identity.
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Story
Robert Rosenberg took over as CEO of Dunkin’ Donuts in 1963, 13 years after the first restaurant was founded by his father William. In his remarkable 35-year run, he grew the company from $10 million in sales to over $2 billion with more than 3,000 outlets. Through his tenure, Robert learned important lessons on running and scaling a family business. Rosenberg shares his insider perspective on all the dramatic highs and lows that are part of the Dunkin’ Donuts story to guide you to your own success story.
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Simple but good
- By Brian Sachetta on 01-25-21
By: Robert Rosenberg
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Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A
- How Faith, Cows, and Chicken Built an Iconic Brand
- By: Steve Robinson
- Narrated by: Milton Bagby
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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During his 34-year tenure at Chick-fil-A, Steve Robinson was integrally involved in the company’s growth - from 184 stores and $100 million in annual sales in 1981 to over 2,100 stores and over $6.8 billion in annual sales in 2015 - and was a firsthand witness to its evolution as an indelible global brand. In Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A, Robinson shares behind-the-scenes accounts of key moments.
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Like an encyclopedia being read
- By Dave on 11-29-19
By: Steve Robinson
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Invention
- A Life of Learning Through Failure
- By: James Dyson
- Narrated by: James Dyson
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Famously, over a four-year period, James Dyson made 5,127 prototypes of the cyclonic vacuum cleaner that would transform the way houses are cleaned around the world. In devoting all his resources to iteratively developing the technology, he risked it all, but out of many failures and setbacks came hard-fought success. In Invention: A Life, Dyson reveals how he came to set up his own company and led it to become one of the most inventive technology companies in the world. It is a compelling and dramatic tale, with many obstacles overcome.
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Inspiring
- By Shogun on 09-25-21
By: James Dyson
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The Story of Lululemon: Little Black Stretchy Pants
- By: Chip Wilson
- Narrated by: Chip Wilson
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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The unauthorized story of Lululemon. Chip Wilson’s part in this story comes from the learning of thousands of mistakes. He set the culture, business model, quality platform, and people development program and then got out of the way. Lululemon’s exponential growth, culture, and brand strength have few peers, and it is because of those employees who choose to be great. This book is also about missed opportunity - five years of missed opportunity. Chip was playing to win while the directors of the company he founded were playing not to lose.
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Score settling second rate business advice
- By Amazon Customer on 07-13-19
By: Chip Wilson
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Made from Scratch
- The Legendary Success Story of Texas Roadhouse
- By: Kent Taylor
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In Made from Scratch, the late business maverick Kent Taylor tells the legendary story of Texas Roadhouse and in the process reveals its recipe for success: embracing unorthodox business practices. Because isn’t it a little unusual for a company to do almost no advertising? Is it wild to give away free peanuts and rolls and keep prices low, even as costs rise, or to keep the menu basically the same since it opened? Does it fly in the face of reason to prohibit coats and ties at headquarters and to have a CEO who dressed like he was part of the landscaping crew?
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rock on
- By Eric Bourgeois on 09-16-21
By: Kent Taylor
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The Entrepreneurial Brain
- How to Ride the Waves of Entrepreneurship and Live to Tell About It
- By: Jeff Hays
- Narrated by: Mark Smeby
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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When your biggest superpower is also your most critical weakness, it helps to have a manual on how to control it. Entrepreneurs are creative, bold thinkers and risk-takers capable of great accomplishments. At the same time, for every success story, there is a counter story of an epic collapse caused by a lack of a moral compass, values, or proper guidance. Jeff Hays knows the highs and the lows having ridden that rollercoaster many times in his life and career and provides a much-needed user’s manual for entrepreneurs everywhere and the people in their work and personal lives.
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Great read!
- By Amarieana H. on 01-28-24
By: Jeff Hays
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Play Nice but Win
- A CEO's Journey from Founder to Leader
- By: Michael Dell, James Kaplan
- Narrated by: Michael Dell
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1984, soon-to-be college dropout Michael Dell hid signs of his fledgling PC business in the bathroom of his University of Texas dorm room. Almost 30 years later, at the pinnacle of his success as founder and leader of Dell Technologies, he found himself embroiled in a battle for his company’s survival. What he’d do next could ensure its legacy — or destroy it completely.
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Not perfect, but worth a listen
- By James S. on 11-09-21
By: Michael Dell, and others
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Saving Freud
- The Rescuers Who Brought Him to Freedom
- By: Andrew Nagorski
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In March 1938, German soldiers crossed the border into Austria and Hitler absorbed the country into the Third Reich. Anticipating these events, many Jews had fled Austria, but the most famous Austrian Jew remained in Vienna, where he had lived since early childhood. Sigmund Freud was eighty-one years old, ill with cancer, and still unconvinced that his life was in danger.
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Interesting, but not quite what I expected
- By DFK on 01-10-24
By: Andrew Nagorski
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Authentic
- A Memoir by the Founder of Vans
- By: Paul Van Doren
- Narrated by: Tony Alva
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Paul Van Doren is the founder of Vans - the shoe company beloved by skateboarders, creatives, and fans everywhere for its laid-back, colorful SoCal vibe, and famous for its people-oriented company culture. How did Van Doren establish a family shoe business that evolved into a globally recognized brand with annual revenue of more than four billion dollars? A blue-collar kid with no higher education and zero retail experience, Van Doren leveraged a knack for numbers, a genius for efficiency, and the know-how to make a great canvas tennis shoe into an all-American success story.
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Van Doren
- By Phillip V. on 05-18-21
By: Paul Van Doren
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Grinding It Out
- The Making of McDonald's
- By: Ray Kroc, Robert Anderson
- Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Few entrepreneurs can claim to have radically changed the way we live, and Ray Kroc is one of them. His revolutions in food-service automation, franchising, shared national training, and advertising have earned him a place beside the men and women who have founded not only businesses, but entire empires. But even more interesting than Ray Kroc the business man is Ray Kroc the man. Not your typical self-made tycoon, Kroc was 52 years old when he opened his first franchise.
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great book annoying narration
- By Brandon on 12-20-18
By: Ray Kroc, and others
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The Metaverse
- And How It Will Revolutionize Everything
- By: Matthew Ball
- Narrated by: Luis Moreno
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The term metaverse is suddenly everywhere, from debates over Fortnite to the pages of the New York Times to the speeches of Mark Zuckerberg, who proclaimed in June 2021 that “the overarching goal” of Facebook is to “bring the metaverse to life”. But what, exactly, is the metaverse? As pioneering theorist and venture capitalist Matthew Ball explains, it is the successor to the mobile internet that has defined the last two decades.
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Not a must read
- By Andrew on 08-09-22
By: Matthew Ball
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In-N-Out Burger
- A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules
- By: Stacy Perman
- Narrated by: Loren Lester
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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It's the untold story of the renegade burger chain that evokes a passionate following unlike any other. In fast-food corporate America, In-N-Out Burger stands apart. Begun in a tiny shack in the shadow of World War II, this family-owned chain has steadfastly refused to franchise or be sold. It is a testament to old-fashioned values and reminiscent of a simpler time when people, loyalty, and a freshly made, juicy hamburger meant something.
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Flowery Promo Piece
- By Melissa on 02-22-10
By: Stacy Perman
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The LEGO Story
- How a Little Toy Sparked the World’s Imagination
- By: Jens Andersen
- Narrated by: Peter Cross
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s estimated that each year between eighty and ninety million children around the globe are given a box of LEGO, while up to ten million adults buy sets for themselves. Yet LEGO is much more than a dizzying number of plastic bricks that can be put together and combined in countless ways. LEGO is also a vision of the significance of what play can mean for humanity.
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Great book! Don't miss this
- By hgpilot - MM on 04-27-23
By: Jens Andersen
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American Breakdown
- Our Ailing Nation, My Body’s Revolt, and the Nineteenth-Century Woman Who Brought Me Back to Life
- By: Jennifer Lunden
- Narrated by: Anna Caputo
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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A Silent Spring for the human body, this wide-ranging, genre-crossing literary mystery interweaves the author’s quest to understand the source of her own condition with her telling of the story of the chronically ill 19th-century diarist Alice James—ultimately uncovering the many hidden health hazards of life in America.
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Incredible insight
- By Amazon Customer on 04-01-24
By: Jennifer Lunden
What listeners say about Becoming Trader Joe
Highly rated for:
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- Ehud Shavit
- 06-25-22
Candid, Balnced, Educational
I never set a foot in Traders-Joe (I live in Israel). I got to this book following Lorr's "The Secret Life of Groceries" as part of my retail self-education journey.
However, I found the story highly interesting for any entrepreneur or business manager. This did not come as surprise as Lorr already described this intelligent, deep, and clear-looking mind of Joe Coulombe. This was like learning a dozen MBA case studies in one book.
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- Hamutal Schieber
- 03-26-24
Better than any marketing course I’ve taken
I feel lucky to have been privy to the method behind the cult that is Trader Joe’s. The principles, the learnings, unveiling so much of the Supply Side and M&A strategy, employee management, and of course branding and marketing. I definitely recommend for anyone interested in business and strategy.
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- G.A. Schmidt
- 01-27-24
So many reasons to love this book
I thoroughly enjoyed the basic story of Becoming Trader Joe. It was an easy listen, a refreshing style that was informative and entertaining without being heavy or cumbersome.
Even more than I expected, I REALLY enjoyed the history lesson in this story. I had HORRIBLE history teachers growing up (one was fired for sexual harassment, one regularly fell asleep in the coat closet, I could go on and on). If you are interested in business, politics or leadership, this is a MUST READ. Understanding the history of economics is a great lesson, and this story reveals more than just the players and the numbers. Joe shows over and over that success is more than buying and selling. His intuition for the personal experience and his wise analysis for decision making is undeniably keen. I question whether it can be taught. Some less educated people seem to have an innate ability to lead as Joe did/does, while other highly educated people just "don't get it".
The many references to literary quotes indicate he is a very well read man, open to learning from the wisdom of others, and proof that leaders are readers.
Highly recommended!
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- Patrick Rigg
- 02-19-24
fine book
book was good, nothing spectacular. he does seem very honest versus too many books being ego driven
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- Shogun
- 07-07-21
Loved it
Great insight, hyper informative. Joe is a joy to “listen” too. Learned a lot from his recounting of his business life.
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- Susan Sirlin
- 03-15-22
Trade Joe’s employee
I found the story to be very fascinating as I’ve been an employee of Trader Joes for 20 years and close family members have worked for the company since the Pronto Market days. I definitely recommend.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Joe Scerbo
- 12-07-21
I love the store even more
Joe writes a great, thoughtful and meaningful book on his legacy and the history of Trader Joe’s. I really enjoyed how he intertwined the history of business in the United States over the last 70 years as well.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Rusty
- 11-04-22
Most interesting
As a long time customer of Trader Joes I was absolutely thrilled to read this story of how it all happened. I enjoyed the book very very much
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- Everyday Guy
- 02-02-23
Entertaining, interesting, and full of lessons!
A very interesting story of a very different generation. Working in the field of business and advisement I found a lot of little takeaways in this book!
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- Kirk Barnett
- 02-01-23
Lots of great nuggets of info
From start to finish I enjoyed the history of Trader Joe’s answering the how and why’s.
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