The Trader Joe's Experience

One thing I did not quite anticipate when coming to 

New York City 

was the difficulty in obtaining food.

There's food on every corner.

There are numerous restaurants on each and every block.

What could I possibly mean by difficulty in obtaining food?

The scenario is this:

a family of six, living in Manhattan for 8 1/2 weeks, 

two of those six people are teenagers who do not stop eating (ever),  

and everyone of those six people need nourishing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The fruit stands, the hot dog stands, the nut stands, the frozen yogurt, the bagel shops, all of the restaurants cannot help the need for food every day for these six people.

We live in New York but we have a strong need to live in reality. 

Reality means grocery shopping and cooking food.

I know.  It is so harsh.

Grocery shopping consists of expensive stores scattered all over the place.

Stores like Gristedes, Hudson Produce, Fairway.... are all expensive. Not Hawaii expensive, but expensive nevertheless.

The other option you have is to shop online with FreshDirect, Instacart, 

Google Express, and Peapod (Amy told me about this one).

This option is really convenient and a little magical.

You put the food in your shopping cart and in a few hours they appear at your door.

Convenient but not realistic if you like looking and touching the fresh produce.

Enter: Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's makes me feel happy and normal.

Well, almost normal.

The national pricing is real.  The layout of the stores are familiar and I like things that feel familiar.

The TJ Experience involves a lot of people and a lot of muscle work.

I've been to three of the stores since I've been here; those stores are on 72nd, 14th, and 22nd.

The pictures come from the store on 22nd... I like this store a lot.

The mantra when you enter the store should be, "If you buy it, you carry it."

You need to get your goods from the awesome store to your awesome apartment.

The practical side of me that I listen to when shopping says, "You take the subway because if you take a cab the groceries you bought just became a lot more expensive."

The Trader Joe's Experience starts when you approach the check out line.

It usually looks something like this...

There is an employee that sits at the front of the line like this...

And, like this...

Their job is specifically to keep the peace and make sure they send the next person in line to the right check stand.

At this TJ's there are actually 30 check stands.  

It's so overwhelming they need direction arrows.

The employees that work at the cash registers hold up a paddle when they are ready for the next customer.  It's  exciting when your number is given to you.

After you make the small talk and pay for the food, you are on your way.

On your way to a work out.

Your deodorant will be used at this point in the shopping experience.

Get yourself to the subway.

From this store and to my subway you walk one long block and one short block.

It's brilliant.

Up and down stairs, several flights some times.

Please notice the three flights and please notice that Heath is not carrying anything.

In his defense, he did carry them to the subway, just not on the other side of the subway.

It's an experience.

The experience is successful when you have two bags.

It's not so good if it goes into three bags.

I did not take pictures of the sweat dripping from my face and back.

Feel lucky if you can fill your trunk full of fresh produce and food from Trader Joe's,

turn the air conditioner on, and drive home.

The Trader Joe's Experience is something everyone should participate in.