From the Star Tribune, May 16, 2006
"Rob Cohon of Edina was one of about 50 people in line at Trader Joe's in St. Louis Park when it opened Monday morning. Cohon wore a loud Hawaiian shirt in keeping with the store's nautical theme. "I've been waiting 23 years for this," Cohon said.
As "captain" Hugh Armel, the store manager, opened the doors and thanked the assembled group for coming, several devotees responded, "No, thank you!" St. Louis Park mayor Jeff Jacobs also welcomed the crowd to the nearly 14,000-square-foot, budget grocery store, where fresh roses were going for $8 a dozen and 10 tulips for $4.49. Johnny Pineapple and his Waikiki Wildcats played island music as a hula dancer wended her way between grocery carts."
(WCCO) "It's on the East Coast, the West Coast, and now, the first Trader Joe's is open in Minnesota.
"A gentleman yesterday pulled open the doors and kissed the floor of Trader Joe's. He was so excited to have Trader Joe's in town," said Hugh Armel, the store manager at the new St. Louis Park, Minn. location.
So what's the big deal, and what will this mean for the already competitive Twin Cities grocery market?
You'd think rock stars were making an appearance.
"I'm a groupie, I'm a Trader Joe's groupie," said customer Leanne Carstens.
More than 100 people waited to get in, even a police officer had to direct traffic -- all for a grocery store.
Talk about your loyal fans. A woman drove from Iowa just to shop here. She even had coolers in her car to keep the food cold on the long drive home".
I was lunching with an eighty-five year old friend last Friday. The view from her vantage point is better than mine. Her question was "What does the word dedication mean anymore?" One often hears the word commitment - usually preceded by the words "lack of" - but dedication seems to be hot on the heels of devotion on the freeway to extinction. Google it and the words "complete and wholehearted fidelity" pop up. Also an endangered word combination.
Fast forward to this morning reading the above article about the Trader Joe's - where my son works - where loyal customers thank the store manager for opening the door hopefully for things other than Three Buck Chuck. Trader Joe's has been successful in building a devoted customer and employee base. As has Ikea. The owners of both enterprises are among the top twenty richest people in the world. Is the secret to just give people what they want at a fair price? Or is it more than that? Are they buying into the heath conscious organic designer food/Scandinavian design lifestyle? Does it feel good to shop there? Is it fun?
Back up twelve hours to the meeting last night at the PRPLMLC. Will anybody show up to volunteer to keep the doors of the 56572 Food Shelf open? Does anybody have any time to spare? Thirty people attended. Some indicated more than concern. Tuesday is Food Shelf day in 56572. Today the sign on the Food Shelf door says Closed for emergencies call. My guess is that people who need the food shelf are as happy to see the door stay open as Trader Joe customers are to see hula dancers out front and out back in the parking lot.
Quo vadis America?
No comments:
Post a Comment