• by Thom Forbes  @tforbes, June 9, 2017

Pirate Joe’s, a store in Vancouver, B.C., that resold Trader Joe’s products that were bought by stealth in Trader Joe’s outlets across the border in the Pacific Northwest, abruptly shut its doors for good yesterday after a protracted legal battle.

Mike Hallatt, the proprietor of Pirate’s Joe’s, “has always maintained that his store was legal under the U.S. concept of ‘first sale doctrine,’ but he says that he just can't afford a drawn-out court battle with a corporate giant,” according to a BBC report.

“Hallatt's business model was unorthodox. Like some kind of Prohibition rumrunner, he would cross the border into the U.S., stock up on Trader Joe’s goodies and bring them back to Canada, where he sold them — at a mark up — from a small storefront under the name of Pirate Joe’s.”

He not only would don disguises but also enlisted a colorful troupe of accomplices, paying them $25 an hour to participate in his schemes, according to the Christopher Mele’s colorful account in the New York Times.

“He organized a “hot shop” — going to a Trader Joe’s and stocking up on vast multiples of a few items. His undercover shoppers would go directly to a manager with a cover story about an event or party,” Mele writes. “For one trip, he hired a couple who he said did not look like conventional Trader Joe’s shoppers. They had dreadlocks, tattoos and piercings. ‘They looked like they just walked off the set of a Burning Man documentary,’ he said.

“Their story? They were hosting a marijuana trimming festival. (Recreational marijuana is legal in Washington State.) “They went in there and lit the place up,” he said, noting that they had bought $600 worth of chips and crackers.”

“In a final attempt to keep the business running, the grocery store launched a crowdfunding campaign on CrowdJustice,” reports Pauline Lacsamana for The Daily Meal. But it was about 44Gs short of its 50Gs goal for June 29 when Hallatt shut the doors. 

On Wednesday afternoon, Hallatt posted a last-ditch plea on the store’s Facebook page:

“If you just so happen to be a millionaire and have $50,000 available to donate to us to stand up to Trader Joe's in federal court, please call (604) 620-9242 immediately!

“Otherwise, please head in today to grab your TJ's loot, because we will likely be closing for good at the end of the day today.

“Thank you to everyone who has ever supported us. We are sad that it had to come to this, but hey, at least we had some fun while we were at it right?!”

The plea ran under a photo showing the “P” from the store’s signage resting on top of a prone person at the entrance, turning the name of the store into “Irate Joe’s.”

It all adds up to “bad news for Canadians hoping to pick up some Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Smashing S'mores or Reduced Guilt Chunky Guacamole,” Michelle Ghoussoub writes for CBC News.

“In 2013 Trader Joe's filed a lawsuit against Hallatt for trademark infringement and false advertising, a move he says ultimately shut his store down,” she writes.

Hallatt won that first case but Trader Joe’s recently filed a second suit.

“When you have your supplier as an adversary and a litigant it sort of adds another layer of difficulty and uncertainty,” Hallatt tells CBC’s ‘As It Happens’ host Carol Off,” Ghoussoub reports. He also citing the exchange rate for the Canadian dollar.

“It's really hard to run a business like this with the U.S. dollar running away on us,” he said. 

“The Kitsilano shop has touted itself as being “unaffiliated, unauthorized, unafraid,” Stephanie Ip writes for the Vancouver Sun.

“A call to the shop Thursday reached an answering machine that said the shop offered ‘mostly costumes. No groceries. None of that. No Trader Joe’s stuff at all. Are you kidding?’”