Thaddeus Yan went to Trader Joe’s more than a dozen times last week, but he wasn’t there for groceries. Mr. Yan, a 23-year-old lifestyle content creator in Los Angeles, was searching for a tote bag.
Not just any tote bag, though. Trader Joe’s new miniature tote bag, a version of its standard canvas bag that is just large enough to fit your lunch, a water bottle and a few sundries. The mini tote is sold in four colors — blue, red, yellow and green — and Mr. Yan was determined to own them all.
Priced at a modest $2.99, the limited-edition bag has become a hit on social media. Mr. Yan, a self-described Trader Joe’s super fan, was one of many TikTok users to document their hunts for the item, which has become increasingly hard to find.
Mr. Yan first learned about the tote bags from the Instagram account @traderjoeslist, which is devoted to all things related to the store. (It is not run by Trader Joe’s but by another fan of the company.)
“It’s a cute little item. It’s cheap. I feel like it’s very fitting for my generation, which is Gen Z,” Mr. Yan said. “I heard that they were extremely limited edition and this would be, like, a onetime drop.”
He visited seven stores last week before finding one that had the bag. The first was the Trader Joe’s location where he usually shops, where an employee told him the bag had already sold out and to check back later in the week. At another shop, he was told that people had begun lining up at 7:30 a.m., well before the store opened. He struck out there, too.
An employee at the eighth store he called told him it had a few bags left, but that they were flying off the shelves and he should hurry.
“There were so many people surrounding the display, and they were grabbing them so fast,” Mr. Yan said of the scene when he arrived. “I took all the ones I could get.” He bought four for himself and one for a friend.
According to some TikTok users, certain stores have placed a limit on the number of totes customers can purchase. Trader Joe’s did not respond to requests for comment.
Erin Kurland, an employee at a Trader Joe’s in Denver, said the tote bags had caused a “craze.”
Ms. Kurland said that, while working a recent shift, a customer at her store purchased 10 bags. The customer was in Denver for a work trip and was worried the totes would sell out before being able to buy some at home.
“She made sure to go out of her way on a work conference to come get these totes,” Ms. Kurland, 29, said.
While Ms. Kurland said her Trader Joe’s location had otherwise been relatively calm, on TikTok some shoppers have posted videos of throngs of people emptying store displays.
Elinor Kim, 22, and her sister struck out at the first store they visited this week. When they arrived at a second, a line was already forming. Ms. Kim, a 22-year-old college student in Chino Hills, Calif., recorded the scene and posted the video on TikTok, calling the experience “scary.” She also bought seven bags, some of which she gave to friends and family.
“I wasn’t really sure what I was going to use it for, but I felt like with everyone grabbing, it made me want to get it, too,” she said of the tote, which has already begun to appear on resale sites like eBay and Depop at a significant markup, with some priced as high as $20.
The tiny Trader Joe’s bag is the latest in a series of totes that have had brushes with internet fame. In 2022, L.L. Bean’s classic Boat and Tote bag got a modern upgrade when people began having the style monogrammed with ironic words and phrases. (Think “Prada” and “emotional baggage.”) After the grocery-delivery company Fresh Direct stopped taking back its bags during the pandemic, some people started turning them into wearable works of art. And earlier this year, the lifestyle influencer Emily Mariko drew criticism after she began selling an extra-large tote for $120. (It sold out almost immediately.)
But not everyone has fallen for Trader Joe’s latest riff on the classic canvas tote.
“Y’all are tweaking over a grocery bag,” Olivia Akinfe, 22, said in a TikTok video.
