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The Dishiest Reads About Your Favorite Grocery Stores

Stock up on juicy backstories and bizarre corporate rituals from Trader Joes, Costco, Erwhon, and more.

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Amy Maoz

Read when you’ve got time to spare.

Image by Daniel Grizelj / Getty Images

We Need to Talk About Trader Joe’s

Behind the bubbly cashiers in Hawaiian shirts, craveable snacks, and bargain-basement prices are questionable business practices that have many food brands crying foul at the company’s blatant and aggressive copycat culture.

Erewhon’s Secrets

Japanese utopians. Corporate glow-ups. $400 smoothies. The strange history of the world’s most cultish grocery store.

The Bizarre Story of Piggly Wiggly, the First Self-Service Grocery Store

Self-serve grocery stores saved shoppers money and made financial sense. The one question is why their innovator named the first one Piggly Wiggly.

H-E-B Forever

Nobody in America loves anything as much as Texans love H-E-B

The Ugly Secrets Behind the Costco Chicken

An investigator went under cover and brought back disturbing video from a farm growing those famous birds.

The Man Who’s Going to Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store

American food supplies are increasingly channeled through a handful of big companies: Amazon, Walmart, FreshDirect, Blue Apron. What do we lose when local supermarkets go under? A lot—and Kevin Kelley wants to stop that.

Our Grocery Stores, Ourselves

Stores like Publix, H-E-B, and Wegmans have inspired so much praise — and weird fandoms

The Utopian Promises and Novelty Cheese of a Discount Grocery Store

The future of grocery shopping might just be a 100-year-old grocery chain with a cult following.

Florida’s Favorite Grocery Store Seeks to Be Uncomplicated in a Complicated World

Could you build a company like Publix today?