From left: Trader Joe's storefront in Union Square. Photograph from ianqui on Flickr; Trader John's on 14th St. between 5th and 6th Ave. Photograph from the Shophound
Just three blocks from the bumpin' Union Square location of Trader Joe's, an eerily similar Trader John's will open this week from the Gristedes gang. Last week, Trader Joe's filed a complaint against Gristedes for such a "blatant attempt to confuse consumers and capitalize on Trader Joe's hard-earned goodwill."
But John Catsimatidis, owner of the Gristede's grocery chain, sees no wrongdoing. ""My name is John. I've been a trader all my life."
After the jump, check out frequent commenter simon cited in the 51-page legal complaint against Trader John's.
Serious Eaters started chatting about the Trader Doppelgänger in December with this Talk thread. Frequent commenter simon had this to say, which according to the New York Post, has been used as evidence in Trader Joe's argument for the cultural rip-off:
LOL, if true that would be hilarious. Reminds me of the Simpsons episode when their TV breaks and they are looking to replace it with a cheap knock off brand, such as Sorny or Panaphonics or Magnetbox.
My loyalty is with the original Joe. Plus, does John even have as many international aliases (Trader Jose, Trader Joe-San, Baker Josef)?
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