Has Sprouts Farmers Market declared war on fellow high-end grocery chain Trader Joe’s? That’s what one TikToker seems to be contending in her latest video.
According to her, she wasn’t even allowed to put her groceries into a reusable bag with Trader Joe’s branding that she brought to a Sprouts location. But viewers are dubious.
@toridamore Why do they have beef though??😂 #fyp #sproutsfarmersmarket #traderjoes ♬ original sound – Tori
TikToker Tori (@toridamore) posted the video in which she describes how she was forbidden to use a reusable Trader Joe’s branded bag by the Sprouts employee who checked her out. The video has gone on to receive over 67,000 views.
“Does Trader Joe’s and Sprouts have beef or something?” she asks her viewers. Tori says after she presented the bag to her cashier, “[the cashier] looked at me dead in the eyes and said ‘No. You can’t use that bag here honey.'”
“I thought she was messing with me,” the TikToker goes on to say. However, according to her, the cashier refused to let her use the bag.
“She said Trader Joe’s reusable bags are not allowed on Sprouts’ grocery store property,” Tori claims.
According to a March 8 2023 press release, Sprouts is currently committed to “[eliminating] single-use plastic bags at checkout by the end of 2023.” The grocery store currently offers customers its own reusable bags for purchase.
It does not state in the release that customers must use Sprouts bags exclusively. In fact, the company stated in the release that “Sprouts will encourage customers to bring their own reusable bags by charging ten cents per reusable plastic bag.”
Many of the viewers who commented on the video expressed their disbelief that Tori was refused by the cashier.
One user who identified herself as a Sprouts employee wrote, “I never heard of that I work at Sprouts in California and people come with Trader Joe’s bag all the time.”
Another commenter suggested that the cashier may have been at fault, “I shop at both and use their reusable bags at each others and [I’ve] never even gotten a bad look. sounds like that lady was meanie bear”
“I just went to Sprouts over the weekend with my black and red TJs shopping bag and the cashier didn’t say anything to me.” one shopper wrote.
“Literally just used my TJ’s bag at sprouts in Fort Worth last week,” a Texas resident commented.
One viewer asked, “Can you turn it inside out then bag it?”
Update 1:48pm CT, Sept. 7: Tori appears to put the blame for the situation on the Sprouts cashier who rang up her purchases. She tells The Daily Dot, “I’d say the employee was the one who has the issue with Trader Joe’s”
It is not clear if this is a policy limited to one store or not. The Daily Dot has reached out to Sprouts Farmers Market via email for a clarification of its policy.
Update 3:52pm CT, Sept. 11: A spokesperson for Sprouts’ media department told the Daily Dot that “customers are welcome to use their preferred reusable bags when shopping at Sprouts.”