Mini spring tote bags ‘hot commodity’ for Trader Joe’s fans in Sacramento area
Ethan Verzosa didn’t understand it, but there he stood anyway outside a Trader Joe’s in Elk Grove on Thursday morning, a pair of tote bags in his hands, one trimmed in light blue, the other in a minty green.
He knew only that his wife needed one of the tiny totes, two if he could swing it, before they were gone for good. The store had barely been open an hour Thursday. He was just in time.
“My wife’s been crazy about it. She called in advance,” Verzosa of Elk Grove said. “I don’t understand it, to be honest, but people are crazy about it.”
It’s a mini pastel canvas tote bag, the bag’s tag reads, trimmed in Easter pink, blue, purple and green, and for Trader Joe’s shoppers in the Sacramento area and across the country, it’s everything. The Monrovia-based grocery store chain’s mini-totes ($2.99) have become customers’ latest must-have item, with hundreds of the canvas bags leaving stores’ shelves.
Tik Tok videos showed block-long lines of loyal Trader Joe’s shoppers in the Bay Area waiting for the chance to grab a bag. Lines were seen briefly outside Trader Joe’s locations in Arden Arcade’s Town & Country Village.
In Elk Grove on Thursday, the lines were absent but Store 190 didn’t disappoint. Doors opened at 8 a.m. A cashier stood at the store’s entrance, passing out tickets that shoppers could turn in for the tote bags before their trip to the register.
Customers were limited to two totes apiece but the store’s shipment — 36 boxes at 50 totes to a box, that’s 1,800 mini pastel canvas tote bags — had nearly sold out in 50 minutes on Thursday.
On Tuesday, lines for the bag began forming at 3 a.m. before they quickly sold out.
Two days later, pink- and purple-trimmed bags were but a memory, gone almost as soon as the store opened. Only blue and green remained by mid-morning.
“Two days ago, the line was all the way to Daiso,” said Regina Kim of Elk Grove. Not quite a city block, but still a good hike past Home Goods, Ace Hardware and a Lane Bryant.
Kim missed out on the last shipment on Tuesday, but two of the totes were parked in her cart on Thursday, gifts for her nieces on Easter Sunday.
“I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ It was sheer luck. I wasn’t planning on it, but I’ll take it,” she said.
Trader Joe’s says the totes like their larger, more whimsical counterparts, have become collectors’ items after their debut last year, and, if they say so themselves, a sensation. Resellers certainly think so, with the price tags to prove it. A lot of four of the prized totes are going for $100 or more on eBay.
“When it comes to our reusable bags, our customers have made themselves abundantly clear: the smaller the tote, the bigger the sensation,” the grocery chain says on its website.
And even a fashion statement, said Sharae Oyao of Elk Grove as she wheeled her cart out of the store Thursday morning.
“I think it’s the perfect addition for spring. I didn’t come for the bag, but it’s a great gift for Easter and I thought I’ll pick it up,” Oyao said. “The bags are a hot commodity.”
This story was originally published April 10, 2025 at 2:41 PM.
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