Trader Joe's

"Carry individual items as opposed to whole lines."

"The willingness to do without any given product is one of the cornerstones of Trader Joe’s merchandising philosophy."

"From the beginning, thanks to Ortega y Gasset, I’ve been aware of the need to sell everybody. That’s why, throughout my career, my policy has been full disclosure to employees about the true state of our affairs, almost to the point of imprudence."

"The fundamental “chunk” of Trader Joe’s is the individual store with its highly paid Captain and staff: people who are capable of exercising discretion. I admire Nordstrom’s fundamental instruction to its employees: use your best judgment."

"Summary As the private label program grew, its growth was given additional stimulus by a hysteresis or feedback loop among the private label products. Confidence in one product led to purchases of another. As you will find in the next chapter, From “Discrete to Indiscretions,” I wound up wishing we sold nothing else, the “Brooks Bros.” strategy. But that was with the value of hindsight in 1987, after having built the Trader Joe’s brand for twenty years."