On figuring out grocery shopping (or why I heart Trader Joe’s)

Today was our first day of work in the city.  And while both of us had really great first day experiences, the highlight of the day was definitely our little jaunt to Union Square and the only Trader Joe’s in Manhattan.

As mentioned yesterday, our trip to the Food Emporium wasn’t exactly majestic.  We fell asleep last night wondering if we’d be able to get used to eating $4 bread (for a 3/4 loaf) or the famous $7.50 ice cream.  We frankly wondered what we’d end up eating after all - sure we could eat like kings at a number of restaurants in the city, but we’d also probably end up sleeping on cardboard boxes if we chose to do so.

But an hour in Trader Joe’s changed our perception 180 degrees.  The store was familiar, containing the same delicious choices we had grown to love last summer in San Diego and more recently in Chapel Hill.  And the best part - the prices are positively North Carolinian!

While there are certainly items which go for a bit more in the NYC Joe’s, the majority of the items were the same as every other TJ’s we’ve ever been to.  I think we almost made out in the aisle we were so excited.

Apparently we’re not the only ones who fancy an affordable meal in the city.  The store was jam packed, with two checkout lines that wrapped around the entire store.  One of the lines was for people buying 12 items or less, with the other for everyone else (which included us).  Such robust queues must be commonplace, as a couple Trader employees were tasked with holding large signs indicating the different lines. Given the fact that this was our rookie appearance, we wasted quite a bit of time finding our items - then it was time to get in line.  It took about 25 minutes to work our way through the line.  The most amazing part is that the whole operation is incredibly efficient - they had 20 registers working and were working like animals to us through the line.

Sure, it’s a bit of a hike from our apartment on 77th down to the store (which is in Union Square at 14th and 3rd).  And the masses of people can be overwhelming.  But suffice it to say Tracy and I will be returning to the Joe’s for our next big grocery trip.

Oh yeah, work was good too.  More on that some other time.

Note: this picture was taken in the absolute back of the store, when we were ~ 75th in line.  I’m in line, Tracy’s pumped about the Joe’s.