Why Is This $2.99 Tote Bag Causing Chaos?

Thaddeus Yan went to Trader Joe’s more than a dozen times last week, but he wasn’t there for groceries. Mr. Yan, a 23-year-old lifestyle content creator in Los Angeles, was searching for a tote bag.

Not just any tote bag, though. Trader Joe’s new miniature tote bag, a version of its standard canvas bag that is just large enough to fit your lunch, a water bottle and a few sundries. The mini tote is sold in four colors — blue, red, yellow and green — and Mr. Yan was determined to own them all.

Priced at a modest $2.99, the limited-edition bag has become a hit on social media. Mr. Yan, a self-described Trader Joe’s super fan, was one of many TikTok users to document their hunts for the item, which has become increasingly hard to find.

Mr. Yan first learned about the tote bags from the Instagram account @traderjoeslist, which is devoted to all things related to the store. (It is not run by Trader Joe’s but by another fan of the company.)

“It’s a cute little item. It’s cheap. I feel like it’s very fitting for my generation, which is Gen Z,” Mr. Yan said. “I heard that they were extremely limited edition and this would be, like, a onetime drop.”

He visited seven stores last week before finding one that had the bag. The first was the Trader Joe’s location where he usually shops, where an employee told him the bag had already sold out and to check back later in the week. At another shop, he was told that people had begun lining up at 7:30 a.m., well before the store opened. He struck out there, too.