The Art of Trader Joe's: Discovering the Hidden Art Gems of America's Favorite Grocery Store

For a limited time we have copies signed by Julie Averbach.

This unauthorized survey of everything from product packaging to store decoration at Trader Joe’s grocery stores suggests that the brand’s distinctive approach to artwork is a key element in its enduring success and appeal.

Julie Averbach’s book draws on an award-winning thesis she wrote as part of an art history degree at Yale, but her prose here is as accessible as Trader Joe’s packaging, nimbly leaping from references to Alphonse Mucha’s early 20th-century Art Nouveau illustrations to Peruvian textile designs to riffs on 1960 psychedelica.

Averbach is alert to the way the chain employs location-specific murals to display solidarity with particular communities, as well as to its willingness to employ custom art in hand-lettered signs, bathroom murals, elevator cars, and even trash cans.

Her ability to connect the image on a bag of puffed peanut and corn snacks to the 1793 launch of the Montgolfier brother’s hot air balloon helps illuminate the surprising diversity of Trader Joe’s use of art.

Paperback. Color photographs throughout