#188 Joe Coulombe (Founder of Trader Joes)

I wrote this book to help entrepreneurs and would be entrepreneurs. That's why there's a lack of miracles and a surplus of marketing details including buying, advertising, distributing, and running stores. And lots of discussion on how we built a successful business on high wages. In a nineteen fifty eight partnership with Rexall Drug Company, we started Pronto Markets. After growing it to six stores, I bought out Rexel Shares in nineteen sixty two.

And then in nineteen sixty seven, when I had reached eighteen pronto l locations, I began the transition of Pronto into Trader Joe's. I resign at the end of nineteen eighty eight. During those twenty six years, our sales grew at a compound rate of nineteen percent. During the same twenty six years, our net worth grew at a compound rate of twenty six percent.

Furthermore, during the last thirteen years of that period, the We had no fixed interest bearing debt. Only current liabilities. We went from leverage to the gills in the early days. to zero leverage by nineteen seventy five.

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