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| - I've always loved Trader Joe's, but this store drives me nuts. Why? Because in Arizona, October marks the beginning of the winter visitor season and that's when cultures clash.
Just the other day, I had this experience: We were done shopping, so I sent my 12-year-old son to return the basket to the store. Because he's a bit oblivious to the crazy drivers at this awful parking lot, I tend to stay out of the car and watch.
Sure enough, one person was having trouble pulling out because they were distracted or confused. In their defense, though, they were being careful, and I appreciate that. On the other hand, it posed a dilemma for my son -- he wasn't sure how to cross the parking lot with this person going back and forth.
My son finally found an opening and crossed over to me. That's when the honking began. No, it wasn't the person pulling out, it was the elderly couple impatiently waiting for the person to finish pulling out.
Now this is one of those huge cars with a very, very loud horn. In fact, it's the single loudest car horn I've ever experienced, and the thing was deafening.
Why bring this all up? Because this sums up the experience of shopping at this particular Trader Joe's. The shoppers, particularly the winter visitors, are ridiculously impatient and sometimes downright nasty. Not as bad as our local Costco, which I wrote about previously, but pretty horrendous nonetheless.
So what about the store itself? Well, they have a number of problems that I've not experienced as much at other stores. 1. The produce never looks fresh and their selection isn't as interesting as some of the other Valley stores. I don't know why that is. 2. Older food is almost always put in front of the fresher stuff. I'm always looking through the back of the shelves for the fresher foods. Some TJ's do this while others don't. 2. The store may just be too darned busy for it's own good, and it may be time to put another one in north Scottsdale. Sadly, no new stores are planned for Arizona in the near future.
As a whole, we'll continue going to this store because of its proximity. On the other hand, I don't understand why some Scottsdale stores bring out some of the nastiest people in the world while others don't, but it's frustrating and a bit sad.
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