{"id":176778,"date":"2026-02-13T17:37:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T17:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/176778\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T17:37:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T17:37:13","slug":"inside-a-valentines-mixer-at-a-san-francisco-trader-joes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/176778\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside a Valentine\u2019s mixer at a San Francisco Trader Joe\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Comic<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Mission Local often?<\/p>\n

Help grow our newsroom, joining the 3,250 readers who support us by giving below.<\/p>\n

Gone are the days of dimly lit first dates, swiping right and \u201cyou up?\u201d texts. This Valentine\u2019s Day, San Franciscans went shopping for a different kind of snack at their local Trader Joe\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Based on the number of name tags handed out, nearly 400 singles showed up at the Hayes Valley Trader Joe\u2019s on Thursday evening with the hope of finding love \u2014 a testament to the allure of forming in-person connections even in the mecca of AI.<\/p>\n

The mastermind behind this one-of-a-kind dating event was Maggie Carroll, a 26 year-old government auditor. She decided to organize it on a whim.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Mission<\/p>\n

Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter below.<\/p>\n

Inspired by a former roommate who once declared, in the throes of a breakup, that she would just go to Trader Joe\u2019s and ask someone out<\/a>, Carroll was convinced the strategy had legs.<\/p>\n

\"TwoOrganizers set up a table outside the Trader Joe\u2019s entrance to hand out name tags and roses. Photo by Abigail V\u00e2n Neely.<\/p>\n

Promoted largely on the event-planning app Partiful, the \u201cTrader Joe\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club\u201d night took shape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEver spot a sexy single in the frozen section?\u201d the invite asked. Attendees were told to wear green to the grocery store, which did not officially sanction the event but was aware of it, and respectfully \u201cflirt to your heart\u2019s content\u201d over seasonal produce. They could then continue onward to other bars in the neighborhood to \u201cdebrief.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FourMaggie Carroll (center-left) and her team of friends who organized the event. Photo by Anusha Subramanian.<\/p>\n

Carroll assumed that, other than a few strangers, she would have to cajole her own network to come to the event \u2014 it was her first time hosting an event like this. But by noon on Thursday, 479 people had marked themselves as \u201cGoing.\u201d 365 as \u201cInterested\u201d and 354 as \u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrader Joe\u2019s is kind of a flirty grocery store, no?\u201d said Carroll.<\/p>\n

The event started at 7 p.m. but a crowd was building half an hour early. Carroll and her two friends, Destiny and Catherine had set up a check-in table outside the Trader Joe\u2019s entrance on Laguna Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Franny, a 28-year-old woman who arrived early, was invited by a friend. She was a veteran of grocery store romance.<\/p>\n

\u201cYears ago, I got asked out by someone at a Trader Joe\u2019s,\u201d she said. The suitor\u2019s pick-up line was a subtle \u201cCan I have the key to your heart? I mean, cart!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure what order it was but I thought it was so funny,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I\u2019m feeling positive about tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ALine for the mixer at Trader Joe\u2019s stretched down the block at 7:30 p.m. Photo by Anusha Subramanian.<\/p>\n

\"ExteriorHayes Valley Trader Joe\u2019s where the mixer was held. Photo by Anusha Subramanian.<\/p>\n

Organizers handed out name tags and stickers so participants could indicate their sexual preferences. They also divided the groups to stagger entry and not overwhelm the grocery store with sheer numbers. By 8 p.m. the line of hopefuls stretched around the block.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inside the store, employees watched, slightly aghast, as wave after wave of green quarterzips and cableknit sweaters buzzed about the aisles, chatting up a storm. Regular customers looked around in confusion, many too shy to ask what was going on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next to the almost sold-out flower section, Pi, Chelsea and Mia met in-person for the first time. The three were members of the internet-famous Reddit and Discord channel SFbitcheswithtaste<\/a>, an online community trading local tips and lifestyle recommendations. When another member sent the Partiful for the mixer on their channel, the trio decided to go.<\/p>\n

\"ThreePi (left) , Chelsea and Mia (right), members of the SFbitcheswithtaste online community, meet at the Trader Joe\u2019s singles mixer. Photo by Anusha Subramanian. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat stands out about this is the location: It\u2019s so low stakes. It\u2019s not one of those speed dating things where you go in with expectations of finding love,\u201d said Chelsea, 28. She was just here getting groceries and making friends at the same time \u2014 \u201chabit stacking\u201d even, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As an adult, there are very few opportunities to freely socialize without pressurizing contexts like networking, said Pi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like many others in the store, Pi carried a single long-stemmed rose with a tag attached. Part of the programming for the night included icebreakers and ongoing games, one of which was the \u201cRose game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Participants could grab roses at the check-in table that each came with attached descriptions of a person. For example \u201csurfer\u201d or \u201clikes trivia.\u201d The goal was to find individuals who matched those descriptions, and pass on the rose to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you happened to connect, exchange numbers and schedule a date, the would-be couple could keep the rose.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AOrganizers handed out date cards at the mixer to encourage scheduling future dates with their connections. Photo by Anusha Subramanian. <\/p>\n

The game worked. Lorena, 29, who works in marketing and is a freelance filmmaker, passed on her yellow rose with \u201creads nonfiction\u201d to Stephen Pon, a 32-year-old studying fashion design. A few minutes earlier, Lorena had exchanged numbers with the previous owner of that same yellow rose when they had passed it on to her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lorena, for her part, craved in-person connection. \u201cWe need to practice the art of communication,\u201d she said. \u201cNobody wants to fucking talk to anybody anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen said the event reminded him of a similar one held at a Costco last year. But since that was a marketing stunt by an AI dating startup, it did not have the same \u201cquirkiness\u201d as this one, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AParticipant with their rose in a Trader Joe\u2019s shopping basket. The prompt on the rose reads \u201cLikes trivia\u201d. Photo by Abigail V\u00e2n Neely. <\/p>\n

While not endorsed by Trader Joe\u2019s, Carroll said that she had approached the store a while ago to let its staff know about the event. At the time, employees seemed receptive \u2014 in fact, some asked if they could participate even on their shifts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the ratios were off. Few attendees filled their shopping baskets, and it seemed enough to make management reconsider its generosity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Workers worried that customers might be upset by the intrusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI can see why they would think that but I\u2019m mostly just happy that [people] are having fun,\u201d said Mary Muster, 36, who works as a hairstylist in the city and was simply shopping at Trader Joe\u2019s that night.<\/p>\n

Jack Anderson, 26, who was coincidentally wearing a green hoodie, and Maggie Sweeney, his 25-year-old girlfriend, were two more unassuming customers caught in the flurry of flirting. They both said that they\u2019ve never seen these many people at Trader Joe\u2019s, but loved it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are really chatting. They are really engaged. So I think it\u2019s pretty successful!\u201d said Sweeney.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even beyond romance, if all your friends are in relationships, it\u2019s hard to find single friends \u2013 and such events could help with that, she said.<\/p>\n

\"ThreePeople dressed in various shades of green mingle at Hayes Valley Trader Joe\u2019s. Photo by Anusha Subramanian.<\/p>\n

Not everyone was as enthused by the open-ended structure of the mixer. Abu Talha, 29, made the drive from South Bay to Trader Joe\u2019s. He was mildly disappointed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice but at this point I\u2019m looking into more serious dating. For that, it is a bit unstructured,\u201d he said, admitting that maybe a more conventional format of speed-dating might suit his goals better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the night wore on, Carroll continued to use Partiful to organize and shuffle groups of people around. Those who entered first were asked to exit and move on to Patricia\u2019s Green, the patch of urban parkland a few minutes away.<\/p>\n

As Trader Joe\u2019s slowly went back to its regular programming, Patricia\u2019s Green came alive with hundreds of singles, some snacking on recently acquired groceries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so positive. It went really well. I\u2019m so happy with the turnout,\u201d said Carroll as participants continuously stopped by to thank her for organizing the night\u2019s festivities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to keeping the party going,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Join the 3,250 readers who keep Mission Local free for all!<\/p>\n

Because of you, Mission Local reached and surpassed our $300,000 year-end fundraising goal. All we can say is thank you.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thank you for choosing to invest in a local newsroom rooted in San Francisco\u2019s communities \u2014 one that listens first and reports deeply.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t yet had a chance to give, it\u2019s not too late to be part of this community. Your contribution today helps sustain the reporting our city relies on all year long.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re grateful you\u2019re here \u2014 and we\u2019d be honored to have you join our donors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Read Mission Local often? Help grow our newsroom, joining the 3,250 readers who support us by giving below.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[179,101,103,102,104,106,105,69411],"class_list":{"0":"post-176778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-community","9":"tag-san-francisco","10":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","11":"tag-san-francisco-news","12":"tag-sf","13":"tag-sf-headlines","14":"tag-sf-news","15":"tag-valentines-day"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}