Trader Joe's , Pasadena, CA (store)

Name:Trader Joe's
Type:store
Street:Rosemeade just above Foothill blvd.
City:Pasadena
State:CA
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:operational

Description:
A non descript Trader Joes on the outside.

But inside It contains many Polynesian themed murals above the shelves. Above the Produce section, the murals have painted cutout Moai figures placed in fron of them for a nice 3-d effect.

Nautical themed decorations are present everywhere.

[ Edited by: tikigardener on 2005-02-13 22:23 ]

[ Edited by: hanford_lemoore - fixed mispelling - 2005-11-01 14:51 ]

The TJ's in my neck 'o the woods has a coupla tiki poles and is decorated in much the same way...aren't they all? I love that store, I'm waitin' for a Trader Joe's "Superstore"! Kind of a TJ's "Pavillions", so to speak.

PS don't poo-poo it, you know you love the idea.

The other two TJ's in Pasadena have a nautical theme, but they don't take the tiki thing nearly as far.

TG

I think Tiki Diablo, is responsible for some of the tiki-ness of Trader Joe's in SoCal...those signs look like his work.

Our TJ's up north isn't super tiki, but the otherday the store manager had a SWEET vintage aloha shirt on! And they did have pirate cookie tins at christmas..arrrgh.

Love it! I'm going to check it out the next time I'm down visiting the parents.

They just opened a new Trader Joe's in Santa Cruz, but with a significantly less cool surfing theme.

We don't have a Trader Joes' in our town so while visiting the St. Louis area we journeyed to the Chesterfield location. It is a nice store with a fine selection of more unusual products and not like your normal grocery store chains. However, no tiki, no nautical decor AT ALL! In fact the murals are all farm scenes. Egad, can't they provide a more tropical diversion for the poor landlocked midwestern customer? Now here's the topper...we picked up some nice juices and sauces etc., but when we went looking for the Rum... NONE! The manager's explanation was that the Missouri liquor board would require them to sell their own booze to the state and then buy it back to sell in the stores! So they don't even bother. If that is true, it is a great example of the state regulators putting a foot in where it isn't necessary. Couldn't they get their cut some other way? Anyway, it is a nice store but not someplace I will travel so far out of my way to visit again.

[ Edited by: 8FT Tiki on 2005-02-22 15:57 ]

Love it! Thanks for sharing, Tiki Gardner.

I saw the tiki in the Tucson, AZ TJ and now there is one close in Pasadena.

I thought all Trader Joe's had a nautical theme, that was part of the whole Trader Joe's/derivative of Trader Vic's concept. I've been in many of them in SoCal, and some are not Tiki or tropical themed, merely ocean/ship themed.

Sad that the one in Missouri had a "farm" theme.

BTW, there's a really interesting book out about Trader Joe's. It's owned by a German company that owns the Aldi grocery store chain. I forget the title of the book, but you can do a Google search. I stood in the book store reading most of it, a great read for a business book.

... a trader joes, once buried next to a gun shop on the border of placentia & fullerton (orange county, ca) was heavily tikified many years ago...