Trader Joe’s mini tote frenzy hits California. Resellers are cashing in with prices over $1,000

Los Angeles Times ^ | April 10, 2025 3 AM PT | Jasmine Mendez April 10, 2025 3 AM P

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The mini totes are back, and they are starting another mini craze at your neighborhood Trader Joe’s store.

Trader Joe’s re-released new mini reusable tote bags this week in pastel colors, priced at an affordable $3. The baby blue, pink, lavender and mint green pastel bags are part of the store’s latest spring drop. The bags first became a “must-need item” last year — with the store releasing the mini totes in navy, yellow, red and forest green.

“Our customers have made themselves abundantly clear: the smaller the tote, the bigger the sensation,” Trader Joe’s said on its website.

In California, the tote frenzy hit once again — sending resale prices to mind-boggling heights.

If it all sounds very familiar, that’s because Americans go nuts for a new retail item every few years. Remember the Stanley commuter mug that caused a frenzy last year? In 2022, it was a plastic Disney popcorn bucket in the shape of a dragon. In 2020, people went loony for the PlayStation 5 and the Popeyes chicken sandwich in 2019. If you’re old enough, you’ll remember the Cabbage Patch doll frenzy in the mid-’80s, the Tickle Me Elmo craze in the mid-’90s and the Pokemon trading cards and video games a few years later.

The latest craze has scores of people lined up outside various locations across the state and country for hours just to purchase a bag.

One online user sounded the alarm Tuesday about a line stretching through a store’s parking lot in the San Fernando Valley.

“I don’t need yogurt THAT bad,” the user wrote on a post to a private Granada Hills Facebook group. Other neighbors commented that customers were trying..

[mairdie]

Saved rocks were always my souvenirs of relationships. Still have two tucked away from an engagement when I was 16. The two from husband and I are still in the dining room. One always wishes relationships were as lasting as rocks.

[RetiredTexasVet]

Fools are said to be born every minute with most of them in California and NY.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Not to mention Florida and the infamous Florida Man.

[minnesota_bound]

Gay men must want that bag....

[Tijeras_Slim]

If they’re big enough to carry an enemy’s head, I’m OK with them.

[TalBlack]

Tulip bulbs.

[foundedonpurpose]

MAXI products are usually found in the feminine hygiene section.

[SunkenCiv]

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[clearcarbon]

"Trader Joe’s mini tote frenzy hits California. Resellers are cashing in with prices over $1,000"

I got a few of the mono-colored Dollar Tree variants before they increased to the price to ten bits. Looks identical but without the logo.

[Vaduz]

Yes they need a t-shirt with Don’t Confuse Me As An Adult Because Of My Age.