Saturday, September 8, 2012

It was sheer pandolerium!


This was the scene yesterday at the new Trader Joe's that opened in Plano, just a couple of miles away from us.  We had dinner out last night, then thought we'd drive by TJ's and check it out.  It was crazy!  People began camping out the night before to be among the first ones inside on opening day.  We didn't dare buy anything because there were 20 people deep at every check out.  We just did a quick reconnoiter, found the snack aisle and the Three Buck Chuck (wine) display, then fought our way back outside.  Whew!  Maybe we'll try again in a couple o' weeks. 

One disappointment:  It's a tiny little store.  I thought it would be like a regular grocery store, but it's maybe 20% as large as Central Market or Whole Foods.  Maybe they're trading quantity for quality.  I'll let you know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I took Luke The Yorkshire Terrier out this morning as usual to find the weather had changed dramatically from yesterday's 104 degrees.  As forecast, the wind was howling at 20+ mph and the temp was in the mid-60's.  I was lovin' it, but the Lukester....not so much.  The poor little dude would find himself a nice tree and hoist his leg....and then he'd blow over.  Another tree, another try, same result.  (His "trees" were more like a big bushes, but when you're as small as he is, I guess even a bush looks like a tree.)  I finally took him over to the construction site a block away where he used one of their big orange "road closed" barrels as a wind break and completed his mission. I wish I'd had my camera....it was a hoot!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Yesterday they opened a 41-mile-long stretch of toll road between San Antonio and Austin, TX.  With a speed limit of 85 mph it's billed as "the fastest road in America".  I hate to be the one to break the bad news to the toll road authorities, but no one is going to pay money to slow down to 85 when they can drive 90 (illegally) for free everywhere else.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Going back outside to get me some more cool.  :)  

Have a great Saturday, everyone.

S



8 comments:

  1. Congratulations on (finally) getting your Trader Joe's. Be patient. The crowds will calm down in a week or so.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, and all the stores are about that size.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm getting a funny picture of poor Luke trying to do his business in the wind. Poor guy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. They are supposed to be opening a big one here, well, Houston, but I don't think they have even started working on the building yet, the old Alabama theater which had been a Book Stop previously.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Trader Joe's in Sarasota (about 80 miles from here) opened up yesterday, too. They had live TV coverage and interviewed people that stood in line from about 3:00 a.m. in the morning. I'm looking forward to a road trip to Sarasota in a few weeks to visit the store. For now, I still have a few bottles of that Three Buck Chuck stashed away from our visit to TJ in Greenville, SC.

    Ninety miles an hour is nothing... the Autobahn in Germany has NO speed limit. Just sayin'.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Poor Luke - although I was laughing at his expense. We have a TJs in Columbus - I've only been once. I should see if there's a closer one somewhere...

    I usually don't drive much over 80 (& that's in a 70 zone - for my usual commute 75 is the tops). I have a theory that they won't bust me for 10 mph over the speed limit - we have a lot of troopers on that stretch of road.

    ReplyDelete
  7. We had the same frenzy when ours opened. I still haven't been in it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That always happen here when some new store is open. Like they are giving everything for free :D

    ReplyDelete