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Trader Joe's
Owner: Aldi
Country: Germany
A privately owned, specialty grocery chain headquartered in Monrovia, Calif., Trader Joe's began in 1958 as a convenience store called Pronto Markets that competed with 7-Eleven. In 1967, Joe Coulombe, for whom the company is named, expanded the size of the stores and began to put hard-to-find specialty and gourmet foods on its shelves. Trader Joe's, which has now grown to 300 stores in 23 states, was sold in 1979 to a family trust set up by German billionaire Theo Albrecht, one of the two brothers behind German deep-discount supermarket giant Aldi.
