On Tuesday May 3, 2011, we asked our Twitter followers in what location, if Orlando could get one, should a Trader Joe's be located. We got 30 answers! The tweet that stopped the conversation dead with a strong dose of reality came from Orlando Weekly's Seth Kubersky. He said the grocery store won't ever come to Florida, saying "it's all about education levels." A later tweet from Kubersky pointed to a Fortune magazine article that revealed several factors are at play into Florida's no-Joe's-for-us dilemma including poor distribution infrastructure and demographics as detailed as "who's subscribing to high-end food and cooking magazines." The following paragraph from the Fortune magazine explains Florida's plight:
"This distribution process helps determine where the company opens its stores. Texas and Florida have cities that boast consumers Trader Joe's covets, but insiders say the current distribution infrastructure makes it difficult for the company to efficiently get products to those states. To pick their next locales, employees look at demographics such as education level. In the past they've even looked at who's subscribing to high-end food and cooking magazines as a way of divining where the epicures are."
