-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email It’s a known fact that Trader Joe’s has no shortage of cult-favorite store items. There’s its rendition of Takis, better known as Chili & Lime Flavored Rolled Corn Tortilla Chips . There’s its Two-Buck Chuck , a line of cheap yet robust Charles Shaw brand wines.
And there’s its mini tote bag , the latest Trader Joe’s product to go viral across social media. Back in February, the California-based retailer sent the internet into a frenzy over its limited-edition totes, which are a miniature version of the classic Canvas Bags. Similar to the Stanley Cup craze, Trader Joe’s totes are the “latest mundane item to suddenly become all the rage,” wrote Business Insider’s Emily Stewart .
Video footage posted online showed crazed (and relentless) shoppers storming into their local Trader Joe's and hoarding as many bags as possible. In several Trader Joe’s locations, the demand for the totes was so high that store employees had to place limits on how many bags consumers could purchase. Not everyone was lucky enough to get their hands on the lucrative totes as they sold out almost immediately.
Naturally, Trader Joe’s mini tote found its way into the resale market , where eager sellers hiked up the bag's price by hundreds of dollars. The bag, originally priced $2.99 each, went for $999.
99, according to a now-defunct listing on eBay . Another old listing showed the bag on sale for a whopping $280. On Instagram, a few Trader Joe.