The $3 Grocery Bag That Became a Global Status Symbol

If you’re going out for a while, you may want to bring a bag with you — it can carry your stuff even if you don’t have pockets, and if you buy more stuff, it can carry that, too. Bags are very practical.

But they’re also fashion statements, and as a result, they vary widely in price. If you’re shopping at Trader Joe’s, you can get one of their mini-totes, above, for $2.99. Designer Marc Jacobs has one for about $250, and if you think that’s expensive, just wait: high-end bags can go from $1,500 to $10,000, and used collectable bags sell for $90k and up. Suffice it to say that most people are settling for the Trader Joe’s versions.

Unless you’re in Korea, in which case, you can get the best of both worlds.

The Trader Joe’s mini-tote isn’t a regular store item — the grocer only offers them seasonally, and not as part of a set schedule. That scarcity helps drive the mythos behind the bag. In December, their appearance in stores prompted a feature story on foodie site Delish; the author suggested that would-be buyers get to their local Trader Joe’s as the bags “tend to vanish fast because they’re cute, cheap, and weirdly useful for just about anything and everything.”

And because Trader Joe’s only operates in the United States, the bags are very rare outside of North America. That has catapulted the bag into fashion icon if you’re overseas. Last summer, a 27-year-old American visiting London told the New York Post that she has “seen more of the Trader Joe’s tote bags in London than I have where I live in San Francisco.” The same can be said for Seoul. Per Korea JoongAng Daily, one ex-pat asked on Facebook “Is there, by chance, a Trader Joe’s pop-up store in Korea? The reason for my question is that over the past few months, I’ve seen this bag on people’s shoulders 10-20 times a day.”

As Korean publication The Chosun reports, “Analysts suggest the bag’s scarcity — only available at U.S. stores — fuels vanity. Carrying a Trader Joe’s eco bag becomes a status symbol: ‘I’ve been to the U.S.’ or ‘I have family/friends there,” further fueling the bags popularity.” As a result, prices for the bags on secondary markets have hit designer-bag level prices. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the Trader Joe’s mini-tote “has joined the ranks of geographically specific status bags like those from London’s Daunt Books or Paris’s Shakespeare and Company. In addition to London, they’re being carried in Seoul, Melbourne, Australia, and Tokyo. Because there are no Trader Joe’s stores abroad, the bags are listed on resale platforms like Depop, eBay and Korea’s Karrot market for up to $10,000 — with some eBay listings reaching $50,000.” And fake bags have also popped up, causing many would-be purchasers to question the authenticity of what was originally a three-dollar grocery store buy.

Trader Joe’s, for its part, has shown no desire to raise the price of their bags. So if you’re in the United States and want one for yourself, just keep your eyes open for the next time they drop — you’ll need to act quickly. But at $2.99, you won’t need to take out a second mortgage to buy one.

Bonus fact: People sue over a lot of things, but peanut butter and jelly? Yes, if you’re Trader Joe’s. They often sell Trader Joe’s-branded products that are similar to name-brand products, but aren’t quite the same. And in 2025, that led Smucker’s to bring them to court. Smucker’s makes Uncrustables, a frozen food that features crustless PB&J sandwiches with a crimped border; Trader Joe’s sells “Crustless Peanut Butter & Strawberry Jam Sandwiches.” It’s the crimping and the marketing that Smucker’s objects to. As the New York Times reported, “you generally can’t trademark foods” but “you can trademark the specific shape or configuration of a food product.” And in this case, “Smucker’s says, it has trademarked ‘a round pie-like shape with distinct peripheral undulated crimping’ — a design it says Trader Joe’s has copied.” The case is still pending as of this writing.

From the Archives: Avast, Ye Groceries!: This no longer exists, but for a while, someone was buying stuff at Trader Joe’s and selling it in Canada under the brand “Pirate Joe’s.”