Checkout!
Shortly before 9 a.m., the floodgates opened, and dozens of customers and a few television news crews bursted inside Trader Joe's on 14th Street.
The perky, geeky staff (wearing green leis, of course) lined up to great them. After a few minutes of cheering (and some dancing), the staff sprinted over to their registers.
It’s finally open. And crazed Manhattanites rushed through what is essentially just a grocery store. But try telling that to the Trader Joe’s fanatics that have been waiting for this day for years, who have had to trek out to Westfield, New Jersey just to get a Two Buck Chuck.
“We’ve got our own Trader Joe’s,” screamed one shopper into her cell phone. “It’s so cool!”
Cool, or not. As long as the Real Estate can pry a few Observer reporters away from Whole Foods, Eisenberg’s and the Shine Deli, expect dispatches from the front, err, checkout lines.
And more photos after the jump.
– Michael Calderone
