Increase Goes From $1.99 to $2.49; Well It Was Good While It Lasted
Two Buck Chuck, the Charles Shaw signature wine of the affordable and loveable gourmet grocery store Trader Joe’s, is now Two-And-A-Half Buck Chuck in California.
Effective Jan. 16, the price of a bottle rose from a buck-99 to $2.49.
“We work hard to have every item in the store at an intersection of quality and price that highlights outstanding value,” Alison Mochizuki, spokeswoman for Trader Joe’s told the LA Business Journal. “In general, our retail prices change only when our costs change.
“We’ve held a $1.99 retail price for 11 years. Quite a bit has happened during those years and the move to $2.49 allows us to offer the same quality that has made the wine famous the world over.”
Well, it was a great run while it lasted!
For 11 years, Trader Joe’s has sold the red and white wines for $1.99 in California. This price made it wildly popular throughout the state, both for an individual’s consumption when you just want to have some basic wine at home to people buying cases of it for house parties. While the whites leave a bit to be desired, the reds are fine; in fact, I often drink the Cabernet Sauvignon.
A couple years ago, “the Governator,” then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, caused an uproar when he proposed a liquor sales tax that would have raised the price to $2.49. He was nearly impeached on the spot!
People in states less accustomed to the original Two Buck Chuck price are already paying between $2.49 and $2,99 a bottle, due to taxes and transportation costs The latter is the case in Florida, where my family noticed this when going into a TJ’s store in Sarasota.
More than 600 million bottles of Two Buck Chuck has been sold since its debut. I doubt the 50-cent price increase will put much of a dent into the 5 million cases of it TJ sells a year, but I’m sure glad I got myself four bottles the day before the price increase!
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