Trader Joe’s Opens in Silverdale

I don’t completely understand Trader Joe’s cult-like following, but this morning I observed it first hand. A couple of hours after the company’s newest store (see photo) opened at 8:00 AM in Silverdale, there was gridlock in the parking lot and inside.

The Silverdale Trader Joe’s is in the old Circuit City building on Mickelberry Road across from Costco. The designers did a great job on the makeover. The new store has an open layout in contrast to the closed-in feeling I used to get in Circuit City. Large front windows let in natural light, and the diagonal aisles make the store seem larger. The inside walls are decorated with murals of local scenery like the Olympics, the Hood Canal Bridge, and Puget Sound.

I have never been to a Trader Joe’s with enough parking. The Silverdale store is no exception although a lack of customers at its nearest neighbors (National Furniture and Office Depot) should help ease the crunch. I cruised the small parking lot a couple of times before concluding that it would be easier to park 200 yards away in the Goodwill Store lot.

Inside customers pushing red retro-looking shopping carts were lined up 8 to 10 deep at the store’s 8 checkout stands. There are also kid-sized shopping carts to keep children occupied—and to indoctrinate them early, I suppose. No matter what they were buying, people seemed to be in a good mood and why not? Previously the closest Trader Joe’s was in Tacoma.

Trader Joe’s doesn’t seem to be into “grand” openings. I got the “Guide to Summer” sales flyer in the mail earlier this week. It doesn’t even mention that a Trader Joe’s is opening today in Silverdale. Apparently we were just supposed to know about the new store. Obviously the overflow crowd found out some way—perhaps through social media. I read about the opening in the Kitsap Sun.

At the store a half-circle of red-and-white balloons decorated the front door. Other than balloons there were few clues that it was opening day. A small musical combo was setting up outside the store entrance as I was leaving.

As for Trader Joe’s signature “three-buck chuck,” it was on sale—great for the pocketbook but not for the easy-to-remember rhyme. All varieties of Charles Shaw wine were selling for $2.49 a bottle or $29.88 for a case of 12. Call it “two-and-a-half-buck chuck.”