I'm kind of confused myself. He comes in and buys their products and then he takes them to a place where Trader Joe's has no market share at all. Unless Trader Joe's literally believes they are losing money from Canadian citizens who drive all the way south through rigorous border checks. Just for a bag of tortilla chips. Such mythical humans may exist but there may be like two of them.

If Trader Joe wanted to really lay the smack down why not open one Canadian location? Obviously the demand is there. Then they could blow the Pirate out the water the right way: By selling things at not mark-ups across the street from him.

FUN FACT: I used to work for one of Trader Joe's distributors. They are a subdivision of Aldi/Lidl, and there are Aldis in Eastern Canada, and presumably they want to expand. It's a dumb justification to create ill-will toward their brand, but sometimes that's the decision made.

Ah cognitivedissonance might be on to it. Aldi's is kind of a big deal up this way. Even though I don't know of any in VT, I know people so into it that they will cross the lake over to Plattsburgh NY or cross over into Canada to shop there. Up in Canada it kind of has a cult following as well. I can see that company not wanting to see any Joe's or any knock off of it biting into their cozy share. If theyve got a way to control that this would be an opportunity.

Aldi and Trader Joe's actually don't have a business relationship. Their relationship is that they are owned by different members of the same family.

Plus Aldi's is fucking TERRIBLE, and Trader Joe's is reasonably good.

For those not familiar, Aldi basically just sells some of their own products and overstock from other groceries in their meat and produce sections. They tend to be small, and their selection is nowhere close to that. The're not bad if you're looking for a 2lb bag of knockoff cheetos for 79 cents. My point here is I can't imagine why people would go well out of their way to go to an Aldi, unless they're really different up north from what I know them as here in Texas.

I get why Trader Joes has a bit of a following; they stuff they sell there is unique. I personally don't care for the quinoa and kale crap that makes up a lot of their signature products, but at least with them I can understand why they have a following, they're the only store that carries the stuff they sell. At least, Aside from Pirate Joe.

I'm actually surprised though that this guy can make a living off driving to Trader Joes and back, selling the things he buys in the store at regular prices.

I've only been to one Aldi's; it was in Wisconsin. It was filthy, at least 25% of the fresh food was rotting, and the rest of the store was random junk food on pallets, with broken packages strewn about.

That, and just his comment about how he can't let them see the van. Guy is playing grocery pirate on Hard Mode.