- Seniors from Pasadena, Maryland, unleashed a prank on the community
- They posted a banner saying a Trader Joe’s would arrive in 2025
- Many on social media admitted they had been fooled
A group of high school students successfully tricked their town into thinking they would soon get a Trader Joe’s by hanging a banner declaring the beloved grocery chain was “coming soon.”
Like many high schools in the US, the graduating class of Northeast High School in Pasadena, Maryland, traditionally plays an annual prank on the community of 24,000.
This year, they raised the hopes of many residents with a fake banner announcing that the Trader Joe’s location would be up and running in the spring of 2025.
While Trader Joe’s has 10 of the nearly 600 locations in the Old Line State, unfortunately none are in the city of Pasadena – although the closest location in Annapolis is just under a 25-minute drive.
A city was given hope that they would get a Trader Joe’s in the spring of 2025 after high school students placed a fake sign at an empty lot
Soon word spread on social media that it had all been a joke, although even those who were fooled appreciated the joke
When passersby scanned the QR code on the fake banner, they were taken to the music video for Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up – also known as Rickrolled – a telltale sign that the promise of a Trader Joe’s was just an illusion.
Marlena Calobong, a local Maryland resident, broke the news of Trader Joe’s pranks on Facebook, writing, “To my friends from Pasadena… Yesterday the senior class at our local high school pranked the ENTIRE town!
‘They hung a banner in front of a vacant supermarket building that read ‘Coming Soon: Trader Joes’ with a QR code that Rick-Rolls you (‘Never going to give you up’ by Rick Astley).
“The whole town was in an uproar yesterday morning thinking we were going to get a Trader Joe’s!
‘AND this morning I found out again that it was just a joke… Well, they got us all!!! That was a good one!!!’
And this news left people devastated.
“Lol disappointing, but oh well. All in good fun, I guess,” one person commented.
“Kids can be so cruel,” a second joked, adding a laughing emoji.
Trader Joe’s has 10 of its nearly 600 national locations in Maryland, but the closest to Pasadena is in Annapolis, just under a 25-minute drive
Local real estate agent Alyssa Smith admitted she was among those pranked – and congratulated the seniors on the deftly executed prank
‘Nice joke! Well done!’ a third praised it.
Yet another held out hope, saying: ‘I have a funny feeling that traders are going to get wind of how excited everyone on Facebook (Facebook) was yesterday when they bought one in our area and that they were going to post one here. Just sayin.’
Local real estate agent Alyssa Smith took to TikTok to applaud the seniors and admitted that she too was fooled by the signage.
“Well played, Northeast High School seniors,” she praised the students.
“If you’re a victim of the joke that Trader Joe’s was coming to Pasadena, raise your hand,” she added, raising her hand.
She went on to explain that they placed the banner in the “Mars parking lot, which has been vacant for centuries.”
Alyssa may have been referring to the former location of the now-defunct Mars supermarkets. According to Supermarket newsMars closed its Pasadena location in 2015.
She further speculated that the children may have accepted some intergenerational guidance on the project, given the aspect of the Rickroll – an internet joke that dates back to childhood.
“These kids must have had help from older millennials or Gen Xers, because how do they even know what a rickroll is?” she speculated.
“I mean come on. Too funny.’