At 8 a.m. Wednesday at a Trader Joe’s branch in Plainview, Long Island, dozens of shoppers stood in silence, waiting in line to get their hands on one thing: the retailer’s latest drop of its mini striped tote bags.
The California grocery stores’ signature canvas bags have become a fashion statement and a trendy status symbol in recent years, with Trader Joe’s connoisseurs collecting them and resellers sometimes marking them up online for up to five times the retail price.
