Free Coffee
The Trader Joe's closest to my house offers something very small that makes a big impact: free coffee. If you go in there to shop on any given weekend day (it might be any day, for all I know), there's a caraffe of coffee brewing at the back, and everyone is free to help themselves to a small cup that they can nurse as they wander around the store.
There was a Superbowl commercial about 14 years ago that I really liked. A man is being dragged around a department store by his wife when he's suddenly yanked into a rack of blouses. Inside, three men are crouched around a television watching football with a cooler of beer. It's a place to kill time while the wife shops.
The coffee reminds me of this. I don't mind going grocery shopping, but it's nice to be able to wander away from my girlfriend, grab a cup, and wander through the aisles with it. It's so nice that it begs that obvious question: why don't other grocery stores do this too?
There was a Superbowl commercial about 14 years ago that I really liked. A man is being dragged around a department store by his wife when he's suddenly yanked into a rack of blouses. Inside, three men are crouched around a television watching football with a cooler of beer. It's a place to kill time while the wife shops.
The coffee reminds me of this. I don't mind going grocery shopping, but it's nice to be able to wander away from my girlfriend, grab a cup, and wander through the aisles with it. It's so nice that it begs that obvious question: why don't other grocery stores do this too?