Stamping is a hobby where talented artists create elegant greeting cards for every occasion. But if stamping isn’t your thing and you need that perfect card for a special person or event, the next best thing is to visit the card rack at Trader Joe’s (see photo). It’s my go-to place for greeting cards.
Trader Joe’s sells old-fashioned printed cards—the kind that get mailed in envelopes or delivered by hand. To me, digital greeting cards don’t make the same impression because the sender doesn’t need to plan as far ahead or make the same amount of effort even if the underlying thought is the same. How many emailed birthday cards have you saved?
Are printed greeting cards on the way out like physical media? As a $20 billion industry in the U.S., probably not. But greeting cards have gotten expensive. I routinely see $5+ cards for sale in the pharmacies and grocery stores where I shop. That’s what’s attractive about Trader Joe’s cards. They all sell for 99 cents, just a bit above the price of the first-class stamp needed to mail one. There’s a wide selection, including plenty of my favorite kind: cards where you, not the designer, say what the card’s purpose is. I call them “wild cards.”
Ok, so maybe 99-cent greeting cards at TJ’s will go the way of “two-buck chuck”—appreciated by customers but too much of a loss leader to keep the price at that level. Until they do I always pick up a few extra cards during every shopping trip to TJ’s. I’m amazed at how fast I use them up. At the Silverdale store, the card rack is in the entrance lobby, so you need to remember to select your cards before you go into the store. That’s to avoid making a second trip through the checkout line or postponing any card purchases until next time.
I hope TJ’s gets in a selection of cards for Halloween to complement their seasonal pumpkin-flavored items.
Mud Bay Blog 