Love of Trader Joe’s

Two weeks ago there was a terrible tropical storm that dropped over 8 inches of rain in Chapel Hill in a day. The shopping center where my Trader Joe’s is was flooded. The location has a history of being flooded, but this flood was by far the worst.

Every store and restaurant was devastated. So many were small locally owned businesses. The losses were crushing. I hope that they had flood insurance and that they can all recover.

Trader Joe’s, although not a mom and Pop, has a very loyal group of employees who have been there for a decade or more. The loss of Trader Joe’s for me is sad, not devastating, unless it never comes back.

Today I was teaching a private mah Jongg lesson in Raleigh. When it was over I ran by the Raleigh Trader Joe’s to pick up some of our favorites. While I was rolling my cart through the aisles looking for the Dark French roast coffee Russ likes I saw one of the guys from my Trader Joe’s. Then I saw a gal from my Trader Joe’s. I approached her and gave her my condolences. We don’t know each other, but she said she recognized me as one of her customers from Chapel Hill.

She told me the good news is they are rehabbing the store right now and hopes for it to be open in a few weeks. Hooray! I was so worried that everything would be shut down permanently. We need a Trader Joe’s near by.