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More Than Just Goat Cheese

Posted on: Friday, 9 December 2005, 15:00 CST

By Joy Buchanan, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

Dec. 9--NEWPORT NEWS -- As he prepared for this morning's grand opening, Dan Maize dodged carts filled with flattened cardboard boxes inside the ice-cold Trader Joe's store in Jefferson Commons.

The glass front doors were held open for shipments of various items, including fresh produce, taken off trucks.

Inside, employees in Hawaiian shirts wearing red, oval name tags loaded hummus and cheese into refrigerated shelves and filled wooden stands with organic fruit. In the back, Baltimore-based artists painted a mural of Yoder Dairy and musical cows on the wall above the milk, yogurt and juice.

Maize, the store's "captain," moved to Williamsburg from the Bay Area in California to run the new store. He said customers would feel the buzz on the first day, as they did at the last Virginia store opening, Nov. 11 in Centreville.

"We ran out of shopping carts in 10 minutes," Maize said. "It's going to be fun." In Newport News, Trader Joe's will open with a ceremonial lei cutting by Mayor Joe Frank shortly before 9 a.m. The store carries organic fruits and vegetables and just about any grocery staple you could think of, including milk, cheese and meat. But there are some unusual items such as the store's popular chocolate covered, peanut butter-filled pretzels and exotic cheeses including an Indian Paneer and a White Stilton with mango and ginger chunks.

Maize said Trader Joe's is not just a place where connoisseurs go to get their funky food fix. He said it can be the main grocery destination for busy families and others accustomed to shopping in large supermarkets.

"We want this to be their first and favorite store," Maize said. "I have two daughters, and we do the vast majority of our shopping at Trader Joe's."

Eighty percent of the store's items is its own private label, which knocks about 20 percent off the cost of the items, said Danny Owens, who handles the store's wine. For example, one of the chain's most famous items is its Charles Shaw wine, which costs just $3.29 a bottle.

The store's brands boast no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

Maize said people loyal to specific brands might be skeptical at first, but predicts they'll be hooked once they try some things.

For the grand opening, customers will be able to try bagels with Atlantic smoked salmon, hot cider and coffee in a mini-kitchen in the back of the store, said Irene Paul, who is in charge of food demonstrations. She moved to Newport News from Philadelphia to open the new store.

In the afternoon, there will be roasted red pepper soup, sweet potato bisque and Tuscan Italian bread.

"It's fun," Paul said. "It's exciting to open a new store and to see the customers' response."

Paul said employees could answer customers' questions about the food and make suggestions for meals. In the future, they will offer free recipe cards. The handwritten suggestions on the labels explain what foods might work well together.

For example, the Ovoline mozzarella is "great with Chenin Blanc wine."

The Trader Joe's chain began in 1958 in Los Angeles as a convenience market. The store's personality changed dramatically in the 1960s, when the owner wanted to offer people luxurious foods at low prices.

"It doesn't have to be a special day for you to have something imported or to open a bottle of wine," said Audrey Dumper, vice president of marketing. That attitude was a good fit for Newport News, she said.

"This is a store we've been thinking about for a long time," Dumper said. "Newport News is a place with earnest, hardworking people. It was a good match for us."

There are more than 200 stores in 20 states. Trader Joe's is based in Monrovia, Calif., and is owned by Germany-based Aldi Group.

There are plenty of options for upcoming dinners or impromptu holiday parties. Maize suggested a frozen pumpkin cheesecake, strawberries dipped in white chocolate or Belgian chocolate fingers.

"People will think you've gone through so much trouble, or they'll say 'You got that at Trader Joe's,' " he said.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

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Source: Daily Press

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