The world seemed to stand still for many people Thursday when Yahoo pulled off an early April Fools' joke about all Trader Joe’s stores closing within the next year.
Tons of the company’s consumers, including some celebrities, took to social media as they tried to decipher whether or not the story was real. Many shared how disappointed they would be if the news happened to be true and the relief they felt that it was not.
Yahoo published the story on March 31, catching lots of people off guard, since it was not technically April Fools' Day yet. The article, which has since been taken down, claimed that Trader Joe’s was closing all of its 457 locations by 2017. It went on to say that the move could be attributed to growing competition the company was facing from other organic food stores.
Trader Joe’s, however, was not amused and released a statement letting everyone know that the story was bogus and that the company had nothing to do with the “hoax article.”
“Although we don’t take ourselves too seriously, we don’t want anyone to mislead our customers,” public relations director Alison Mochizuki said. “Trader Joe’s is open for business and has no plans to close. We had no involvement whatsoever in the April Fool’s hoax article.”
Here are some reactions from others who weren’t laughing either: