Joe Report--Part 1

Consider Trader Joe's visited. I made my maiden shopping run to the store recently and have been enjoying its results.

I arrived at 7:50 p.m., which was my first mistake. I was shocked to see many empty shelves. It was as if I'd entered a Soviet grocery store or a pre-blizzard American one. I expected to see snow when I exited.

I'm not complaining, mind you, as I understand the store is just working out the kinks and the staff was quite apologetic.

Not surprisingly, the bare shelves were a topic of conversation between shoppers and employees. The guy stocking the nut aisle joked, "Welcome to Trader Joe's, we've got nothing to sell ya."

The employees restocking the cereal aisle didn't have any favorite cereals to recommend, but they were happy to open up the cases of both Maple Pecan Clusters and Mango Passionfruit Granola. I'm sure glad they did. I have a hunch cereal will be a main reason for shopping at Joe's.

I haven't had a chance to eat too many of the other delights and pretty much the entire frozen dinner aisle was sold out. But I'll return to the store. When I do, I'll follow the nut guy's advice: "Get here at 9 in the morning."