A Look Inside One COVID-19-Era Trader Joe's

While many grocers and retailers are still grappling to solidify a safe and efficient store operation plan in the era of COVID-19, Aldi Nord-owned Trader Joe’s has quickly identified and implemented a system that ensures stocked shelves and the safety of shoppers and employees, at least at my local store.When I visited the Trader Joe’s off Lincoln Ave in Chicago (store 688), I immediately encountered a long line of masked individuals keeping 6 feet apart – with a couple designated Trader Joe’s employees monitoring the line for compliance. I was impressed with the orderly line and my confidence in the retailer grew, despite a couple recent reports on the lack of the grocers' readiness, consistency and leadership during this difficult time, especially for supermarket workers on the front lines.Trader Joe's had established an efficient, safe and organized operation, and had it down to a T. There was a designated employee manning the front of the line, and updating shoppers about COVID-19-related changes to the store and checkout process. The same employee would frequently head down the line, giving estimates of how long the wait time was to enter the store.An A-board at the entrance also informed shoppers that employees will bag all groceries in the retailer's own paper bags, free of charge, to limit contact.When one person left the store, another could go in. I waited about 30 minutes, which wasn’t too bad as I was happy to simply be out of the house. Inside, I was greeted by an employee with a freshly sanitized cart and sent on my way down aisles that were modified to allow shopper traffic in only one direction (something more retailers, including Walmart and Kroger, are now also implementing).The refrigerated displays, shelves, coolers and the entire store was fully stocked – a very different site from the same Trader Joe’s just a few weeks prior – while the increased number of employees (who were all wearing masks and gloves) were working to keep it that way. Even the hottest of commodities was available: toilet paper. While Trader Joe’s didn’t have its regular packages of toilet paper, it had an endcap full of single rolls with a sign enforcing a four-rolls-per-customer purchase limit. At checkout, the grocer is also further limiting contact in the most Trader Joe’s way possible by turning its social distancing floor markers into inspirational sayings like “We’re in this together!” and “You’re beautiful!” Shoppers give the cashiers their cart while one rings and another bags items, all while the shopper remains behind the floor marker until it’s time to pay. Overall, the experience was seamless, and very surreal as I swallowed what seems to be our new normal.It's worth noting that not all 500-some Trader Joe's locations are this well-run, according to one April 8 report by Bloomberg’s Mary Pilon. Pilon recently visited a Trader Joe’s in New York, the current epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., and interviewed plenty of current employees who are not as pleased with how the company has governed its locations as I was in Chicago.Citing the “wide variance” in how the private label-dominated grocer is handling COVID-19 as well as employee “confusion about corporate communications and variations in policies about protective measures among different store locations” and safety concerns, Pilon asserted that the retailer's lack of standardization across its store count has largerly led managers up to their own devices.

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