For the second year in a row, Trader Joe’s has brought a Black Friday-like frenzy to its stores. But instead of lining up for a new video game console or Taylor Swift vinyl, customers are waiting their turn to buy miniature tote bags bearing the grocery chain’s logo for $2.99.
Some people camped out in front of stores hours before they opened, while others sent friends to grab the exclusive item for them. On a few occasions, people appeared to wrestle or get into physical altercations over the 11-by-13-inch canvas bags, videos on social media showed.
Kevin Burgoon, an employee at a Trader Joe’s in Sacramento, said the first customer lined up at 5 a.m. on Tuesday. By the time the store opened three hours later, he estimated that more than 150 people were waiting. The bags, offered in four pastel color schemes, sold out within 15 minutes.
“I just thought it was crazy,” Mr. Burgoon said, adding that people called the store “nonstop” that morning to see if the bags were still in stock.
The scramble began a year ago when, without much notice, Trader Joe’s released its first series of limited-edition totes, essentially smaller versions of the reusable canvas bags that the chain has sold for years. The totes became a trendy accessory, and a rush to get them ensued. This year, there was a bit more warning and stores were prepared for the chaos.
At Trader Joe’s stores in Brooklyn and Manhattan, extra security was present, and a few stores placed the bags behind the registers. Almost every store restricted shoppers to a certain number of bags, though the limit varied by location.
These smaller bags aren’t big enough to carry groceries, but some use them as purses or lunch bags. A few fans said they added personal touches — applying patches to the totes, for example, or Bedazzling them. One X user used the bag to transport a bowling ball.
Last year, the demand for the bags led people to resell them at steep prices. On Wednesday, a few of the new bags were already listed for up to $70 on eBay.
Natasha Fischer, who runs the Instagram account @traderjoeslist, said she has used her mini tote to carry wine and snacks to a friend’s place or to the beach. But, because Ms. Fischer bought several tote bags last year, she said she might skip out on the new series.
“I have so many tote bags right now,” Ms. Fischer said, adding that she had noticed the hype might not be as big this year. “Maybe people are in the same camp as me, you know — how many mini tote bags do you need?”
In a few New York stores, the bags weren’t selling out as swiftly as they did last year. In one Brooklyn store on Tuesday, the shelves had been picked clean of eggs by the afternoon, while tote bags were still hanging near the cash registers.
Barbara Kahn, a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said that decreased consumer spending in the midst of economic uncertainty could be one reason for the more lukewarm response to the totes. But also, she said, “There’s a lot going on in the world.”
“There’s so much of this scarcity kind of mind set and fear and things setting in,” Dr. Kahn said. (Some have been stockpiling items such as coffee and canned food.)
A mix of excited, worried and confused shoppers waited in a line that stretched down the block outside the Union Square Trader Joe’s in Manhattan before it opened on Wednesday morning. But they were waiting for different things.
“You’re here for eggs?” one shopper said to another. “Everyone’s here for the tote bags.”
“I thought people were here because of the tariffs,” said a different customer who had come to stock up on foreign goods like olive oil.
Plenty were still thrilled to get their hands on the totes. “I got the bags, all four!” one woman shouted as she left the checkout counter, stomping and chanting with her new totes in hand.
Kaitlyn Marer, 24, of Manhattan, decided at the last minute to grab a spot in line for the bags while waiting out a subway delay. Ms. Marer wasn’t able to get one of the bags last year, so she called this her “redemption arc.” Plus, she’s a big fan of the color pallette.
“They’re just really bright,” she said, “and honestly, in today’s day and age, we need bright colors.”
