Who Creates All The Hand-Painted Signs At Trader Joe's?
Visit a few different Trader Joe's locations, and you'll notice that no two stores are alike. The unique aesthetic is intentional, notes Domino, and the brand purposefully hires team members who are responsible for infusing personality into the shelves, product displays, and overall in-store experience. Perhaps you've noticed some of the hand-made signs or murals painted on store walls. The work of some of these sign makers has been making the rounds on TikTok, notes Daily Dot, and customers have expressed their appreciation for the creative efforts.
"The handcrafted quality emphasizes the personal relationship. It's the graphic equivalent of that cheerful conversation that you'll have with a total stranger that's working there, who sees you buying dog food and asks you what kind of dog you have," Mark Gardiner, author of "Build a Brand Like Trader Joe's," explained to the Washington Post. There's good reason Trader Joe's fans love the stores so much.
Encouraging creativity at work
As Business Insider explains, art-making responsibilities are given to team members who express a desire for more creative responsibilities. The assigned projects rotate frequently, and the stores' artists are given creative freedom when designing signs, product descriptions, and displays — as long as the finished pieces can be easily read by the general public.
The Washington Post reports that some of the sign artists use the opportunity to rekindle lost passion or kick-start creative enterprises of their own. One artist began to sell tea-stained prints online while working at Trader Joe's, notes Side Hustle School. And while many of the artists are grateful to have a creative outlet, make art, and get paid, some emphasize that the role is still work — and some days are harder than others (per Washington Post). According to Glassdoor, sign artists are paid an average of $24 an hour.
The next time you visit a Trader Joe's location, take special notice of the care and creativity given to the hand-made displays. Those paintings might be different the next time you visit.