The founder of Trader Joe's market, Joe Coulombe, is no more with us. He died on 28 February 2020 at his Pasadena, California home at the age of 89, GlamourBiz has learned.
His son, also named Joe, confirmed the news of his death to The Associated Press, stating that he was battling with an illness for a long time. However, the cause of his death is yet to be identified.
Joe will be laid to rest in the coming days; however, not much information is revealed about his funeral.
He was born on 3 June 1930 in San Diego, in the United States. He served in the US Army before attending Stanford University for his high school education. Joe is survived by his wife, Alice Steere Coulombe, whom he met during his academic years at Stanford University.
Joe Coulombe was survived by his wife, Alice Steere Coulombe (©: YouTube/ColburnSchool)
Joe's wife Alice is a philanthropist by occupation, and she served at the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Opera. They married in 1952 and welcomed three children in the course of their nearly seven decades of married life.
Trader Joe's Market Founder Joe Coulombe's Career Highlights
Joe, who first started his Trader Joe's market in Pasadena, California in 1967, handled his business for fifty-three years before his death. As of 2020, Trader Joe's, which is recognized for cheap prices healthy gourmet foods that are even not available at traditional supermarkets, has more than 500 outlets in 40 states.
Trader Joe's market includes products like organic dried mango, honey-oat cereal, organic cold-pressed juice, and ocean-caught shrimp. Talking about his business manifesto, his son mentioned:
"He wanted to make sure whatever was sold in our store was of good value. He always did lots of taste tests. At his offices, he had practically daily tastings of new products. Always the aim was to provide good food and a good value to people."
Joe Coulombe entered the grocery business right after he graduated from high school at Stanford University, where he attained a Bachelor's degree in economics and a Master's degree in business administration.
Some of his grocery products, he focused at Trader Joe's market were wines in California's Napa Valley, which were comparable to the French products in quality; however, at a lower price. Charles Shaw, aka Two-Buck Chuck, a typical wine still has the price of $1.99 at Trader Joe's market, which was relevantly low in comparison to the stores outside California.
Joe sold Trader Joe's to German grocery retailer Aldi in 1979. Despite this, he remained the CEO of the market until 1988. Joe got retire in 2013 after four and a half-decades in Trader Joe's market.
Trader Joe's market had sales of over $13 billion in 2015 and became one of the SN's Top 75 Retailers for 2016 (ranked 21st).
Before opening Trader Joe's market, Joe Coulombe served at the chain of American drugstore, Rexall. During his tenure at Rexall, he established a chain of stores called Pronto, and later, he bought it and grew the chain in about dozens of outlets as 7-Eleven company became prominent in Southern California.