They’re just regular tote bags, right? The Trader Joe’s totes that are selling for literal hundreds of dollars on eBay — they’re just normal totes that don’t have magical powers, right? Right?
Why is it then that people are emptying store shelves like they’re video game consoles on Black Friday for totes that sell for just a couple of bucks?
Well, like most things on the internet, it’s just that someone decided they were great, others followed suit, and now they are a viral must-have, where people are selling collections of the multi-colored totes on eBay for as high as almost $1,000. The original price in store? $2.99
They’re nice bags! They are a good size, the color choices pop. But, even the folks at Trader Joe’s are confused about their viral status.
Move over Stanley cup…Trader Joe's mini tote madness is underway thanks to TikTok. https://t.co/ivYpqGNOM8 pic.twitter.com/wOLtfJO04M
— USA TODAY Money (@USATODAYmoney) March 12, 2024
“We thought we bought enough of these mini canvas totes to last for several weeks, maybe a whole month,” Matt Sloan, host of the Trader Joe’s podcast, said, according to Axios. “We had no inkling that they would be this exciting, this quickly, for so many customers. […] We had actually hundreds of thousands of bags come in and go out within a week.”
They’re so popular now that high-end fashion publications like Vogue are publishing pieces about how you can style around the season’s unlikely must-have accessory.
Here’s how to style your Trader Joe’s tote…if you can ever get your hands on one. https://t.co/TMMApuToLO pic.twitter.com/lu5Xk7vhSE
— Vogue Runway (@VogueRunway) March 20, 2024
And, Trader Joe’s says that the bags will be restocked at the end of the summer/early fall – some time around September. By then, will the hype and demand remain, or will the internet have moved onto the next big thing?
This is just another example of how a promotional product — a low-price option at that — can seemingly catch lightning in a bottle and find overnight fame that the customers could never have dreamed up.
But, like a designer product that takes off in popularity, people will want close approximations to fit in, too, meaning that simple canvas totes with colorful accents and handles might just be the summer’s most sought-after promotional item.
