Review: Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys

Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys by Joe Coulombe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I figured this would be a great read after "The Secret Life of Groceries", since that book touched on Trader Joe's, and I figured this would go more into detail. Actually, now I'm thinking it would have been better the other way around. Had I read this first, it would have been interesting to read the other book later, and get an idea as to the general context of it and the grocery world. 

First of all, this is a very interesting and enlightening look into what makes Trader Joe's Trader Joe's. However, it is also extremely outdated (Coulombe retired in 1989, before most of us ever even heard of TJ's). I understand it is more of a business autobiography than anything, but it would be useful to have an update, in order to see what Trader Joe's has been doing for the past few decades as well. 

If you are a fan of Trader Joe's, or even if you're not and you're just wondering why it became so big, this is still a very interesting book with most of the answers. But quite frankly, you get those same answers, along with many more, in "The Secret Life of Groceries", so maybe check that one out instead. 

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