Mike Hallatt is sitting at his local watering hole in Bend, Oregon, in early January as his daughters enjoy a meal in seats close by.
He’s pulled up at the tiny bar, ordering his usual, when a man and woman a few spots away spark up a conversation that piques his interest.
The couple, he says, are contemplating whether they should move to Bellingham, Washington.
One of the pros mentioned in their conversation is that there’s a Trader Joe’s in the city.
The man then suggests moving to Vancouver, but the woman is hesitant about relocating across the border, especially since there are no Trader Joe’s locations in Canada.
The man then assures her that Vancouver has its own version of the popular US specialty grocery chain.
It’s called Pirate Joe’s, which is essentially a makeshift Trader Joe’s, carrying the store’s most popular snacks and products for locals who are missing out on the real thing.
What the couple doesn’t know is that Hallat is the man behind the iconic Pirate Joe’s.
Mike Hallatt/ Supplied
They’re also out of the loop because Pirate Joe’s shut its doors to the public in 2017. But for Hallatt, hearing that conversation and the fact that people still talk about his legendary Vancouver shop has him in shock.
“Twelve years ago, I was Pirate Joe, and now I’m hearing about Pirate Joe’s, and I’m going, ‘Am I living in a simulation?’” Hallatt tells Daily Hive as he recalls the surreal moment.
Initially, he isn’t sure if he should break the news to them, but then he decides to address the elephant in the room.
“I go, ‘I’m actually Pirate Joe,’” recalls Hallatt. When he confesses that he started the now-defunct Trader Joe’s resale shop in Vancouver over a decade ago, the man and woman look at him like he’s speaking another language, he says.
They’re skeptical and ask him to prove it to them. His phone is dead, but then he reminds them they can use theirs to check if he’s lying.
“And then, of course, it all breaks loose to the point where the guy gets up after Googling holding his phone and goes, “Oh my god, can I get a selfie with you?’” says Hallatt with a laugh.
The colourful history of Pirate Joe’s
The businessman has lived a life that could be a movie.
His story as an entrepreneur began in 1982 when he opened Benny’s Bagels in Victoria. The funky bagel shop expanded to Vancouver, with one of its most memorable outposts on West Broadway.
Hallatt says he wanted a place in the city where people could come and enjoy a good bagel, a drink, and music.
The iconic patio outside the Benny’s location on West Broadway. (Mike Hallatt/ Supplied)
“It blew up,” he says. “It was so fun. I lived on the roof because I had no time to go home.”
Benny’s kept Hallatt busy and gave him a taste of what retail and the food business could be like if done right. After all, the shop served more than bagels; it had cultivated its own eclectic community.
But a few years later, another opportunity called Hallatt’s name. It was the early ’90s, and the dot-com business was booming. Hallatt relocated to San Francisco to see what the tech industry had to offer.
He left his job in software before the dot-com crash and continued life in California. And then he met a Canadian woman.
“She started throwing up, and next thing you know, I’m a dad,” explains Hallatt. “We ended up back in Vancouver because that’s where our tribe was.”
Hallatt returned home, but he needed a job. He had sold Benny’s, and now he was starting back at square one.
But the savvy businessman had an idea in mind. After spending time in the US, he began noticing how much more selection and convenience was offered to consumers.
“The States has always been a draw because it’s just organized differently. I love Canada. I’m Canadian to the bone, but there was something always alluring about the States… [and] groceries were no different.”
Hallatt felt something was missing from Canada’s roster of big grocery stores.
That missing piece was the selection, variety, and uniqueness of the popular US chain Trader Joe’s.
The rise and fall of Pirate Joe’s
Hallatt took matters into his own hands and opened Pirate Joe’s in 2012.
The shop was initially called Transylvania Trading before Hallatt shifted locations to West 4th Avenue subsequently changing the store’s name to Pirate Joe’s.
Pirate Joe’s first opened as Transylvania Trading/ (Mike Hallatt/ Supplied)
The concept of Pirate Joe’s was simple: There were no Trader Joe’s locations in Canada, so Hallatt would bring the store’s popular products over the border so local shoppers could indulge in everything from the brand’s Pita Chips to Milk Chocolate Toffee Popcorn. He’d make money by selling the products at a slight markup.
The store quickly became a local favourite, but its upkeep required a lot of legwork on Hallatt’s part.
He crossed the border into Washington at least once a week, purchasing goods from Trader Joe’s to stock the shelves at Pirate Joe’s.
The interior of Pirate Joe’s was stocked with hundreds of Trader Joe’s items. (Mike Hallatt/ Supplied)
“I would get on the road sometimes at 9:30 pm after [driving my daughter] to gymnastics,” he says. “But, you know, when it was great, it was great.”
It didn’t take Trader Joe’s long to catch wind of Hallett’s pirating operation — and the company was far from pleased.
Trader Joe’s eventually banned him from shopping at its stores, and that’s when Hallatt says he had to start “getting really creative” to keep Pirate Joe’s going.
He turned to Craigslist to recruit folks to do the shopping for him.
Mike Hallatt/ Supplied
His undercover shoppers were mostly students from the University of Washington who wanted to make a quick buck, but he adds there were others — including a woman he refers to as his “secret weapon.”
“She swore me to secrecy because she still goes to Trader Joe’s… but basically she convinced Trader Joe’s she was someone else, but then she was secretly working for me. It was super fun,” he laughs.
Hallatt wasn’t just dealing with being banned — the specialty grocery slapped him with a cease-and-desist order and filed a trademark infringement case.
At one point, he even dropped the “P” from the Pirate Joe’s sign so it read “Irate Joe’s,” in a jestful opposition to the Trader Joe’s lawsuit.
Hallatt sticking it to Trader Joe’s with his updated “Irate Joe’s” sign after being hit with legal action. (Mike Hallatt/ Supplied)
Hallatt says the costly legal battle and the painstaking exchange rate were factors in Pirate Joe’s shutting its doors for good in June 2017.
He admits that it took a lot to keep Pirate Joe’s afloat, but the one thing that continued to motivate him was the people.
“That’s the thing that kept me going … just the connection with the people that came in [was] absolutely spellbinding.”
Pirate Joe still has ideas brewing
These days, Hallatt splits his time between BC and Oregon because of his daughters, who live in both locations.
It’s very apparent that while he’s an enthusiastic businessman, his love for his kids comes first. During his interview with Daily Hive, he’s in the car driving his daughters to get ice cream and occasionally takes short breaks during our chat to check in with them.
His relationship with his daughters is a motivating factor for him to avoid getting a regular nine-to-five.
But he still has some entrepreneurial ideas brewing. Hallatt purchased an old gas station in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, which he hopes to convert into an eatery with a unique take on healthy fast food.
He also ran for mayor of Cowichan Valley in 2020 and admits he might think about running again.
Reflecting on his colourful life and the lessons he’s learned, Hallatt reveals there’s one key takeaway he’s gained from his time as Pirate Joe, and it comes in the form of four words.
“Knowing when to quit,” he says.