Every fall, something happens inside Trader Joe’s.
Somebody in corporate looks at the dog treats, ravioli, hand cream, pretzels, cookies, pasta sauce, and every remaining object in the building and asks the same dangerous question. Can we pumpkin this?
The answer is typically yes.
Welcome to The Pumpkining of Trader Joe’s.
The first pumpkin products are expected to begin arriving at our East Cobb Trader Joe’s over the next couple of weeks, followed by the annual orange avalanche that takes over shelves, freezers, bakery displays, and eventually the personal care aisle.
Kennesaw may still be waiting for its own Trader Joe’s, but that has never stopped local shoppers from making the trek to East Cobb and returning with more orange packaging than planned.
Pumpkin for Breakfast, Dinner, and Everything Between
Some pumpkin products make sense.
Trader Joe’s has Pumpkin Bagels, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spread, Pumpkin Loaf, Pumpkin Ice Cream, Pumpkin Cheesecake, and a Pumpkin Spice Mini Sheet Cake.
Fine. Pumpkin cake arriving in late August or early September is not necessarily a cry for help.
Then Trader Joe’s starts wandering a bit farther from reality.
More pumpkin arrives.
Then even more pumpkin arrives.
There are Pumpkin Spiced Teeny Tiny Pretzels, Pumpkin Bars, Pumpkin Spiced Joe-Joe’s, and Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli filled with pumpkin, honey, and brown sugar.
Then come the Mini Spicy Pumpkin Samosas, little pastries filled with pumpkin and Indian spices including cumin, coriander, chile powder, and fennel seeds.
Pumpkin samosas sound like something created after a late-night in the test kitchen, yet here they are.
Trader Joe’s even has Pumpkin Blondie Brownies with pecans and white chocolate pieces, because apparently brownies are insufficiently autumnal.
The Dog Must Also Get Pumpkined
The Pumpkining does not stop with humans.
Trader Joe’s has Pumpkin Dog Treats made with real pumpkin.
Reasonable enough maybe?
Then somebody apparently decided the dogs deserve a full seasonal menu.
Trader Joe’s also offers Pumpkin Maple Bacon Stuffies Dog Treats and Harvest Brunch Dog Treats, including pumpkin waffle treats.
At this point, the dog may be eating a more elaborate fall brunch than its owner.
Eventually, Pumpkin Escapes the Grocery Aisles
Food cannot contain it.
Trader Joe’s also has Pumpkin Body Butter, Pumpkin Ultra Moisturizing Hand Cream, and Vanilla Pumpkin Scented Hand Soap.
So a shopper can eat pumpkin ravioli, give the dog pumpkin treats, wash with pumpkin soap, apply pumpkin hand cream, and finish with pumpkin body butter.
That is no longer a seasonal flavor.
That is a pumpkin takeover.
This Is Also Why People Love Trader Joe’s
Plenty of grocery stores sell canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie.
Trader Joe’s treats fall like a time to start experimenting and having fun.
Some products sound delicious. Some sound ridiculous and turn out to be delicious. Others inspire ten seconds of suspicious staring before ending up in the cart.
That unpredictability is a big part of the appeal.
It is also why people drive across Cobb County for groceries they had no intention of buying until they saw them on a Trader Joe’s shelf.
The pumpkin dog treats are coming.
The samosas are coming.
The ravioli is probably coming.
Some perfectly innocent grocery product is about to be pumpkin-spiced against its will.
The Great Pumpkining is almost upon us. Bring on the bagels, ravioli, samosas, dog treats, body butter, and every other pumpkin-fueled experiment Trader Joe’s can dream up. Fall is coming, Trader Joe’s is about to get delightfully weird again, and we are absolutely here for it.
