Fun article in Saturday’s NYTimes re: the debut of Trader Joe’s in Manhattan (Union Square). In b-school, we had a visit from the Trader Joe’s CEO who talked with great love about their mission, vision and values. He commented that working for a private company (TJ’s is owned by German billionaires) afforded them some luxury to focus on building a great company with long-term relationships.

So did moving into NYC cause them to sell out on this promise? Absolutely not. From the article:

“We were able to work out a deal with N.Y.U. that made sense for them and made sense for us,” Mr. Rauch said. “It’s a deal that allows us to have the same prices here that we have everywhere else on the East Coast. We haven’t raised our prices a nickel for Manhattan.” Trader Joe’s plans other stores soon in the city, if it can find equally agreeable landlords.

Bravo for NYU and Trader Joe’s.