Trader Joe’s Employees Say Virus Response Was Haphazard, Chaotic

On a recent Saturday morning in downtown Brooklyn, well before the Trader Joe’s at City Point was to open its doors at 9 a.m., a line already snaked several blocks away from the entrance. Onlookers took photos and posted them on social media. The doors were flanked by security guards and Trader Joe’s employees in Hawaiian print shirts, limiting the number of shoppers who could enter. Hundreds of customers stood six feet apart from each other, brandishing tote bags and coffee cups. One woman was reading a Tolstoy novel.

The scene is similar from Brooklyn to Bend, Ore., as Trader ...