Latest news with #RenoGazetteJournal
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
California shoppers, get ready: mini Trader Joe's canvas tote bags to return in pastel
Trader Joe's popular mini canvas tote bags are set for April and this time they're in four pastel colors. Photos of the bag circulating online show blue, green, pink and purple colored versions. Trader Joe's declined to share photos of the bag before its in-store release. Last year, the $2.99 viral mini canvas totes sold out quickly with long lines and frenzied shopping. Some online resellers were able to get more than 10 times the price of the bag. An inventory search at the Trader Joe's Reno, Nev. McCarran Boulevard displayed the message, "Coming soon - launching April 7th." The bags will again sell for $2.99 each, limited to two per customer at most locations. On Thursday, a Trader Joe's crew member at the West Hills store said the bags are expected on April 7 but because of their popularity it could be sooner or later. The date is before the Easter holiday, which lands on April 20. In February, a Trader Joe's crew member told the Reno Gazette Journal that each store is expected to receive one pallet of the bags. Trader Joe's mini insulated totes came out in pink and purple last month. Sales of the $3.99 bag were limited to two per customer at the Reno location. They sold online for around $30 to $40 for a set of two on the date of release. A large purple insulated cooler released in February was still available last week for $7.99 at Reno Trader Joe's locations. The same cooler is available online in "limited" quantities in West Hills and Fresno, so double-check. The micro tote, a small keychain that holds a nylon grocery bag, sold out during the holiday season but is expected to return in December, according to a Reno crew member. The West Hills crew member said he did not have immediate information on when the tote would return. Other popular Trader Joe's items can be found on their list of 2025 Customer Choice Award winners. Chili & Lime Flavored Rolled Corn Tortilla Chips won first place overall and in the snack category. Trader Joe's currently has 564 stores in 43 states, with around 200 stores in California, the most of any state. In 1967, Joe Coulombe opened the first Trader Joe's in Pasadena. The grocery chain was quirky from the beginning. Coulombe based the store's nautical décor on a book he'd read called 'White Shadows in the South Seas,'' as well as his experience visiting the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland, according to the company's website. Employees were dubbed captains and first mates who wore Hawaiian-themed shirts. Related: What's the best food from Trader Joe's? Shoppers' favorite items revealed in customer poll The stores were unique in other ways. His mother-in-law and father-in-law had been academics who enjoyed dining on fresh seafood and quality yet affordable wines. Trader Joe's would cater to those with similar, sophisticated tastes who were also on a budget. Trader Joe's became known for a selective array of premium foods available at low prices. Coulombe sampled and chose everything his stores sold and invited employees and customers to tastings. In 1972, Trader Joe's also introduced its private-label products, starting with granola and later incorporating items ranging from coffee to apple juice to heat-and-serve entrees. Coulombe would use images from 19th-century advertisements for the labels and named the items himself. Coulombe sold Trader Joe's to the German grocery retailer Aldi Nord in 1979. Since then, the chain has grown from 19 stores, all based in California, to more than 500 locations in 42 states and Washington, 2002, it introduced the Charles Shaw label to its wine selection. The award-winning wine became a beloved pop culture fixture known as 'Two-Buck Chuck'' because it was so affordable. You can request a Trader Joe's location in your city by completing a form on the Trader Joe's website. According to a company-produced podcast — yes, you read that right, Trader Joe's produces its own podcast called Inside Trader Joe's — executives research population density, traffic flow, parking capacity, and other demographics when determining when and where to open a new store. Wes Woods II covers West County for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at 805-437-0262 or @JournoWes. This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Trader Joe's mini tote bags are coming back in pastel
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Our Company Could Not Coexist' with Trump as a Partner
THE MOST PRESCIENT AND POINTED WARNING about Donald Trump may have been raised by a Harrah's executive. In 2016. Phil Satre wasn't a celebrity, but he stood out in at least two ways: He was Trump's partner on an Atlantic City casino project in the 1980s. And he was willing to stick his neck out and write about it in the Reno Gazette Journal. The column Satre wrote was so spot-on that in my role then as commentary editor of USA Today, I republished it in our newspaper in hopes it would influence voters throughout the land. That was back when the extent of the Teflon Don syndrome had not fully penetrated our brains—when we still thought, or hoped, that reason and facts could make a difference. Here's just one paragraph of Satre's column: In 1985 I filed an affidavit with the court over Trump's claims of mismanagement: Referring to Trump I said, 'His written response to my letter of May 10 is characteristic of the bluster, threats, intemperance and unsupported and unsupportable falsehoods that have permeated the correspondence we have received from him and his key management employees almost since the beginning of our partnership.' My opinion of Donald Trump from the 1980s has not changed. The negative publicity about Donald Trump during this campaign—his conduct toward women, his business failures and his explosive temperament—matches my dealings with him. As we know, reason and facts did not prevail. Satre's words, so blunt and vivid, probably had the most impact inside my own brain. They have come to mind repeatedly during the first two months of Trump's return to office. Call it the boomerang presidency. Or the whiplash or rug-pull presidency. The bottom line is the same, whether we're talking about tariffs, Ukraine, Social Security, immigration, or anything else: You cannot count on Trump. You cannot trust him. Also, he knows nothing about the economy. 'I don't have a changed view of him,' Satre told me in a phone call this week—the first time we'd ever talked. 'His whole approach during the periods that I was involved with him in a partnership were examples of somebody who talked a lot about himself with a great deal of bombast. And there was no regard to accuracy of what he said or truthfulness. And as a consequence, ultimately, our company could not coexist with him as a partner.' Keep up with all our articles, newsletters, podcasts, and livestreams: Negotiating with Trump then sounds a lot like negotiating with him now. 'What was negotiated in those days was his name and how valuable his name was. We had lots of disagreements about that,' Satre said, deadpan, and we both chuckled. Were they resolved? 'No, they weren't,' he said. In a way, though, they were. Satre and the rest of the Harrah's team decided to sell their half-interest in the project back to Trump. They didn't lose any money in the transaction, Satre said, but Trump nevertheless claimed it was 'a great deal for him.' Harrah's went back to operating its 'very successful' Marina District casino in Atlantic City, which had opened in 1980. And Trump went back to doing what he does best, or worst. The Trump Plaza, as Trump called it after the partnership ended, 'filed for bankruptcy in 1992. It closed in 2014 after additional bankruptcies,' Satre wrote in 2016. And lest you're inclined to blame economic conditions, he made a point of noting that 'in contrast, Harrah's flourished during this same period, and I retired as Chairman in 2005.' And furthermore: 'I am convinced he simply does not have the temperament to be president, or more importantly, commander in chief: His hair-trigger temper, bluster, racial rhetoric and divisive domestic and international views will endanger our democracy and risk permanent damage to our society.' Not surprisingly, both Satre and I thought immediately of his long-ago op-ed after the volcanic Oval Office meeting between Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. When Satre read about it and watched clips, he had flashbacks to some of his sessions with Trump. 'We had several of those just really angry outbursts,' he told me. Satre did not write anything about Trump last year. 'I didn't feel like I could say anything different than what I said then. I actually was quite shocked in 2024, shocked by the outcome,' he said. Join now The enduring mystery, for Satre and so many of us, is why Trump's skills at selling and marketing himself have worked so well and for so long. They weren't in evidence, nor was there any hint he had a political future, at the time Satre was trying to work with him. That came later, he says, when Trump was riding high with The Apprentice: 'He had become a media personality more than a developer personality, and he started talking about running for president and all that. I began to run into people who said we should elect him president. I said 'Really?' The Apprentice. People were attracted to that.' Satre, now the non-executive chairman of the board of Wynn Resorts, has had a long and respected career in the gaming industry. But like millions of Americans, maybe tens of millions, he has failed at one big thing: Turning the electorate away from Donald Trump. Years ago, when he and other Harrah's executives contemplated a continued future with Trump, 'We made the decision that we'd be well served by terminating our relationship with him,' he said during our call. 'We decided to do it and we were very happy.' If only Republicans could find the courage and will to do the same. If I were a betting woman, I'd say they, and their country, would be very happy. Send this article around—to friends or followers or family. Share
