Stores find success by focusing on the hunt

Trader Joe’s, the spe­cialty gro­cery chain, might not have the cheap­est toi­let paper or the most vari­eties of ketchup, but it hooks cus­tomers with mango but­ter, chocolate-covered pome­gran­ate seeds and cilantro-and-jalapeno hum­mus. These good­ies aren’t on most gro­cery lists, but they’re eye-catching enough to tempt shop­pers into an impulse buy. At a time when fam­i­lies are watch­ing dol­lars and the Web makes discount-hunting easy, unex­pected trea­sures are an increas­ingly impor­tant strat­egy for stores.