Late-night shoppers are soon going to have to change their shopping schedule to make sure they get their Scandinavian Swimmers, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, Frozen Butter Chicken meals and other Trader Joe’s exclusive treats.
Starting Monday, March 4, the USC Village Trader Joe’s will be closing one hour earlier, moving from 10:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. And while the change may be undesirable to some, it will put the USC Village shop hours on the same timeframe as most other stores in the area, with nearly every Trader Joe’s in the Los Angeles area already closed at 9:00 p.m.
Some Trojans believe that it shouldn’t matter that the USC location is an outlier, noting that college students often have schedules that don’t always align with regular store hours due to late-night classes and other extracurricular activities.
“Sometimes people only have time to get groceries late at night when they are done with everything,” said Madelyn Sequeira, a junior studying international relations. “Also, if you want a late-night snack, it’s not like there is anything around here you could get.”
Anyone who has been to Trader Joe’s in the 9 p.m. hour has experienced firsthand the late-night rush of students to the Village to do a bit of last-minute shopping — whether that’s picking up a few quick meal ingredients or doing a larger grocery store haul. But students aren’t completely out of luck. The Target, right next door, will still be open until 10:00 p.m., though it doesn’t hit the same as Trader Joe’s exclusive products. Not to mention, Trader Joe’s is one of the most affordable grocery stores with top notch quality food, according to LA Times.
And though there is a Ralphs nearby, less than a mile away from campus that’s open until 1 a.m., some students said they just don’t feel comfortable traveling all the way there — especially at night.
“It can be unsafe for me to go walk to Ralphs to my apartment just to get food, and it’s really convenient that I have Trader Joes right next me,” said Thea Millam, a junior studying biochemistry. “It’s convenient. I can go buy dinner and not have to pay the expense of UberEats with it.”
While some students disagree with the decision, others said they don’t see it as too much of an inconvenience and sympathize with the employees.
“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. I don’t live near Trader Joe’s, so I only go during the school day. I do most of my grocery shopping at Ralphs,” said Stella Dziedzic, a junior studying biochemistry.”And if people want to get home early from work, go for it. I wouldn’t want to get home at 11:00 p.m.”
But others said that if Trader Joe’s wanted to make the day easier for its employees, it should have changed their work hours instead of closing time.
“Customers are hungry, we all depend on you, I say put in the work,” said Darius Kashani, a sophomore studying philosophy, politics and economics. “Add a new shift so people can do their late-night shopping and keep the business open.”
Though an hour might not seem like that big of a change, it’s one that Trojans, and the greater South Los Angeles community, will have to get used to.