With a ceremonial snip of the lei, the tropically themed grocery store Trader Joe's opened for business Friday morning in Saint Paul.
Predictably, long lines, lots of traffic, and union concerns greeted the new tenant at Lexington and Randolph.
Mayor Chris Coleman said the opening sends a strong message.
"Saint Paul is open for business," he said. "Even in the toughest economy that everybody has ever seen, things are happening in the city of Saint Paul."
Trader Joe's, incidentally, won't say how many jobs the new store created -- only that the number is "more than 50." The store also says that 70 percent of the new hires are from the neighborhood.
But not everyone is finding paradise at Joe's, the chain that attracts crowds with its selection of cheap wine and specialty foods.
Neighbors don't want the extra traffic at an already busy intersection.
Joe's has tried to mitigate the problem by adding extra parking. Its lot has 106 spots, including some underground parking, which means it can accommodate 30 cars more than the always packed lot at Trader Joe's in St. Louis Park.
"We're happy with the number of spots," said Andy LeRoux, the new store's "captain" (Joe's doesn't use words like "manager"). He promised the store wouldn't always be as busy as it was on opening day.
"What we try to do is, we try to be as good a neighbor as possible," he said.
Unions don't see it that way.
"It's not like, 'Union great, Trader Joe's bad,' " said Bernie Hesse of the United Food & Commercial Workers. "It's just like, hey, you've come to Saint Paul, we just want to have a conversation with your workers."
Joe's won't let its workers organize, unlike a number of local chains including Byerly's, Lunds, Cub Foods, Rainbow Foods, and Kowaslki's.
"I know that we have very, very happy "crew" members," LeRoux said (Joe's doesn't use words like "employee"). "So that's the only thing that I can comment on that."
And Trader Joe's customers seem happy, too, judging by the long lines and smiles on Day 1.
What's clear: Joe's knows how to run a popular ship.
(Copyright 2009 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)
