I hang out a lot at a wonderful place called Farmers Market at the corner of 3rd and Fairfax here in Los Angeles. Farmers Market is full of restaurants and folks who sell produce and other edible things…so you'd figure there'd be no need around there for any other business that would sell you a nectarine. But no. Farmers Market is on the northeast corner and over on the southeast corner, there's a Whole Foods Market.
This has not made traffic completely impossible in the neighborhood. With much patience, it is still possible to get through that intersection, especially if you don't mind waiting through five or six cycles of the stoplights. In order to fully immobilize transit, they're about to open a Trader Joe's on the northwest corner.
The buzz was that it would open at the end of March 2012 and I'm getting skeptical that will happen. It's looking like the first week or two of May. As of last Friday, it was not a Trader Joe's yet. As you can see by the photo I took, it was just a Tr.
Assuming they add the "ader's Joe" this coming week, it might open soon…and I will shop there but I should warn you of something. Here's how it works for me with Trader Joe's…
- I find something I like.
- I go back to buy more of it.
- I find out they don't make it anymore.
I'm not exaggerating. Trader Joe's has a fluid, constantly-changing list of products. As you may know, they make none of what they sell. They buy it from little (sometimes, big) companies, slap the Trader Joes label on it and sell it in their stores. And once they add a new item, they keep it in their lineup until I buy it and like it. Someone at Trader Joe's HQ runs into the boss's office and says, "We just got a report from L.A.! Mark Evanier just bought a package of those turkey meatballs we added last November."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I really like those and so do a lot of people. They're selling quite well."
"I like them too but you know the Company Policy."
"I know, I know. Okay, give the order to stop making them. He didn't order any of the peanut cole slaw, did he?"
"Of course not. You know Evanier hates cole slaw!"
"Good. It's one of the few things we carry that's safe!"
You think I'm kidding about this? Wait'll the place opens. I'll go, I report on what I buy and what I like. I'll report on what happens when I go back and try to buy more of the products I like. You'll see.