Joltin' Joe's

It's happened. Brooklyn has a Trader Joe's.

The store was good and crowded by 9:30 AM. Horizontally, that is. Vertically, there was plenty of room. One thing you can say about the space: it's airy. Must be the most head room of any Trader Joe's on the planet. The old bank building's ceiling towers above the crowd, newly scrubbed and quite handsome. Some of the windows were decorated with scenes meant to endear the chain to Brooklnites (like that was necessary): the Bridge, Coney Island, etc.


Many balloons and a kitschy steel drum band greeted customers. Lotsa people like me (bloggers, NY1, and who knows who else) took pictures.



Otherwise, the scene was very much like what you might find at any Trader Joe's. Staffers in Hawaiian shirts. Unrelieved crowds of shoppers pushing tiny red metal carts. And, of course, an enormous line for check-out. Already. I left without buying anything. I'm come back on a weekday around 2 PM or so, and hope for a line of only 20 customers of so.


And, it is fall, so there were pumpkins, of course. Sigh. Pumpkins.