Trader Joe's sales per square foot have been described as "jaw dropping" - US $1,723 per square foot vs. industry average of $521 and Whole Foods at $973 per square foot.

http://www.foodnavig...0Gn6xthT6GmJaDGKw

My local Trader Joe's was one of the first of the larger stores opened after the original Pronto Markets format became too cramped, but itself became terribly cramped and was replaced by a brand new larger format store a year and a half ago. The parking lot is large, but just as full as the huge parking lots of the ethnic markets I shop at - most of the time you can find a space.

All this began here in Pasadena in 1958 when recent MBA graduate Joe Coulombe was managing an experimental 6 store chain of tiny Pronto Markets, Rexall's test case for competing with 7-Eleven. Rexall asked him to close them down. Instead, he bought the chain, later renaming it.

He sold Trader Joe's to Theo Albrecht of Germany in 1967, but stayed on to manage the chain until 1988. An unusual case of an MBA actually being a successful manager.