With lines wrapped around the building and patient patrons peeking through the doors, last week, Trader Joe’s stores all over the country were swarmed with shoppers eager to get their hands on the grocery chain’s newest merchandise release: mini pastel canvas tote bags.
A shrunken down iteration of the store’s iconized logo-adorned tote bag, the limited edition item, available in four spring-themed shades and retailing from Trader Joe’s stores at $2.99 a piece, caused an uproar among consumers as the tote quickly flew off the shelves and onto the internet—now sold exclusively by online resellers at egregious prices.
As the resale market continues to grow, shoppers are revealing their growing frustrations on social media as exclusive items at previously affordable price points, such as the Trader Joe’s mini tote bags, become less accessible to the average consumer.
With the original video garnering over 2.5 million views, a TikTok posted by Angela Ahmadi Angoory under the username @angelaahmadi captured what the experience was like while trying to purchase the tote bag at her local Trader Joe’s in Atlanta. As the camera panned over the crowded interior of the Trader Joe’s store, several individuals could be seen pushing carts overflowing with tote bags—obvious to other shoppers that they were planning on reselling.
Angoory commented on these individuals in an interview, saying, “I spotted two resellers with carts full of tote bags, and in the background, I saw others grabbing armfuls. I mean, when you’re filling your cart like that, it’s pretty obvious you’re a reseller! Since I didn’t engage with them directly, I can’t speak to their demeanor while they were grabbing bags, but the whole situation was definitely a frenzy.”
While Angoory didn’t experience any direct contact with those stocking up on the limited edition item, a common complaint amongst those who resent the collective reseller is their lack of respect for other shoppers—with examples of negligent behavior ranging from clearing out a store’s product inventory to disrespecting the physical boundaries of other individuals. “Personally, I think resellers can make the shopping experience feel chaotic…” said Angoory. “I can see how frustrating it must be for people who just want one or two totes and end up empty-handed because of resellers.”
While resellers are often mocked online for their history of price gouging and crafting exaggerated descriptions, the practice—as with similar side hustles—has become a lucrative stream of income comparable to a full-time career for many individuals. In addition to independent websites and dedicated social media pages, one of the most popular platforms to resell clothing and accessories is Depop.
According to the platform’s own promotional materials, Depop is “a circular fashion marketplace where anyone can buy, sell and discover desirable, affordable secondhand fashion.” With an easy to operate user interface and complete independence over one’s storefront, users are given the opportunity to not only sell goods, but gain popularity amongst users. In an interview, Depop reiterated this point, saying, “Anyone can set up a shop in minutes and find an audience—we’re seeing thousands of young entrepreneurs building brands and doing what they love.”
However, because of the platform’s independent storefront model, Depop has limited regulations in place to monitor issues such as price gouging on hard to come by products. In the same interview, Depop addressed these concerns, saying “We have tools in place to help steer our sellers on how to price an item. However, each of our sellers is a small business owner and, as long as they comply with Depop’s T&S policies, they are able to assess the marketplace and demand for their items at free will.”
Depop continued, embracing storefront independence as part of the platform’s charm, saying, “We see this as a positive and in many cases, those items sell very quickly if the demand is there. Our sellers know that it’s in their interest to price reasonably. Ultimately, market forces will dictate the ability of a seller to sell at any given price—some items do command a premium based on either rarity or demand.”
So while many offerings on Depop and similar resale platforms are marked appropriately according to shoppers, if the demand for a product is there, prices will inevitably rise. This—especially considering the unwaveringly high price points set for Trader Joe’s mini pastel canvas tote bags online—begs the question why the demand for the store’s pastel-adorned shrunken totes is so great.
Like many other sought-after clothing and accessory products that have come before it, the item in question exhibits three main qualities that make the perfect piece to resell: exclusivity, brand-alignment and virality. Adorned in the grocery chain’s iconized logo and available in a selection of pastel tones for a limited time only, the mini tote bags have major appeal to buyers looking for exclusive items that convey a level of “in the know” status to others. Additionally, the totes have gone semi-viral on social media, with fashion-based creators showing off the bags among their new purchases and DIY-enthusiasts using the bag as a canvas for painting, sewing and embroidering.
As commerce evolves and reselling becomes more heavily integrated into the consumer landscape, shoppers will have to use a level of discernment to determine what items are worth purchasing from online resellers—with Trader Joe’s tote bags serving as just one example in the flood of similar merchandize yet to come.