Brooklyn Hulas to New Trader Joe's

The folks at Key Food on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Heights must be kicking themselves right about now.

Brooklyn's new Trader Joe's at 130 Court Street is packing them in as we speak. It started with the gala Grand Opening at 9 this morning -- can all these people be unemployed? -- followed by a bit of a slowdown midday, and then: BOOM! By 4 p.m. some bizarre chemical message entered the bloodstream of every shopper in Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill and Brooklyn Heights. Like spawning salmon, they came to the place where they could find food.

Of course, spawning salmon don't have to deal with HUGE lines at the checkout counter, but they probably have other obstacles.

The Grand Opening

The day began at about 7:30 a.m. when a guy named Paul Mowry arrived, umbrella in hand, to find himself first in line. That's him to the left, being interviewed by NY1.


By 8:15 the line was l-o-n-g and some kind of cookie-things were handed out. Reporters from the NY Times, the Brooklyn Eagle, Daily News, NY1 and maybe others arrived. (We'll link to their stories when they come out.)

At 9 a.m. Borough President Marty Markowitz (above, middle) proclaimed this day to be Trader Joe's Day in Brooklyn. Assemblywoman Joan Millman (right) talked about how good TJs is going to be for Brooklyn's foodies, TJs "Captain” Greg Glein (holding the Proclamation) cut the red lei with the giant scissors (Jed Walentas and his family was there, too) and then the crowd rushed in.



The TJs team cheered while some people did actually hula on in (see video above) and the steel drum band played on.

Here are some officials taking the Grand Tour. (Marty Markowitz and Joam Millman in front, the Cap'n and his First Mate following.)

There's so much produce! Don't miss the apples: 49 cents a pound regular, 69 cents organic. (UPDATE: That's per apple, not per pound!)

We left after the big opening but received The Call to come back around 3:30 p.m. We joined the building crowd, picking up cheese, apples, bread and few other delicacies. The checkout lines snaked around the entire store -- that's the north side of the store in the photo above. The cash registers are on the south side!

Here's the JahPan Caribbean Steel Drum Band playing at the opening of the doors:



According to today's story in the Brooklyn Eagle, more Trader Joe's are planned for Brooklyn.

Photos and video by MK Metz

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