Has Trader Joe's Made It to London? Only as an Accessory.
His visit to the grocery store was the culmination of months of longing. Mr. Paphiti, 29, had for about a year seen more and more people in Dalston, his trendy East London neighborhood, sporting Trader Joe's tote bags. 'Seeing people in their cute fits wearing them, I was like: 'What is Trader Joe's? Where can I get one?'' he said.
Mr. Paphiti left New York with seven tote bags for himself and friends. 'Everyone was super touched by it,' he said. 'I was like, 'Sweetie, it was $4.''
Though Trader Joe's does not have a single location in Britain, the chain's large cream and navy tote bags can be spotted all over London these days. Their popularity was clear on a recent sunny afternoon in East London, where the bag swung from many a shoulder. 'I think I've seen more of the Trader Joe's tote bags in London than I have where I live in San Francisco,' said Hannah Tyldsley, a 27-year-old who works in consulting and was in the city visiting friends.
Some have expressed confusion at the bag's seemingly sudden ubiquity in the city; others are questioning why a Londoner would want to sport merch from a midrange foreign supermarket chain. 'It feels a little bit overdone,' said Annabel, a 24-year-old in London Fields who declined to give her last name, because of where she worked. 'It's such an American thing, which is weird because I feel like America is not cool at the moment.'
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