Trader Joe's Madness

Ok, so we thought NYorkers have a 'seen it all' attitude, and we snickered when the San Franciscans lined up around the block for H&M back during Thanksgiving Last Year.

But boy today it's NYorker's turn. A Trader Joe's.... yes Trader Joe's -- the organic market we frequent when we're in the mood for their NYork Cheesecake and where my mom always ask me to go and buy her vitamins and dried fruits whenever I go visit her in HK -



Now one opened in NY, and not just anywhere but in Union Square, just steps away from the Whole Foods down the street... at fraction of the price!! No wonder the lines were so LONG this first week it's opened. A taste of CA right in the middle of NY - it was a bit surreal.

We debated whether or not to line up... but hey, we just had to experience it just so we can claim, "Yes we lined up for Trader Joe's."



The first thing I noticed when we got inside was the market staff, it seemed like the prerequisite for working at the store is: "Cheerful and highly caffinated struggling artisty types living in nearby E.Village or LES - borderline hippie strongly preferred."


Joking aside, the staffers are definitely way hip(pie) and cooler than the ones in LA (yes, you self confident Angelenos, even the ones working at the one on La Brea) --

The store was obviously so swamped all day that almost all the shelves were empty by the time we got there - that's probably why they kept unloading tons of boxes from from outside the store.