By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CHELSEA — A moderate crowd greeted the opening day of Chelsea’s long-hyped Trader Joe’s store on Monday.
“It’s about time,” said Chelsea resident Nancy Walker, a retired interior designer, as she left with her groceries.
“I’m so tired of taking two buses to 14th Street… Build it and they will come.”
For the bargain and health-conscious consumers that the company counts as it core clientele, the new 16,000 property at 675 Sixth Ave. promises the possibility of an end to battling the notorious lines at Trader Joe’s Union Square grocery.
As of about 2:30 p.m. on Monday, the queue to pay was extending just beyond the core, roped-off area near the store’s 25 registers. At Union Square, Trader Joe’s lines routinely snake all along the store’s perimeter.
“It’s progressively gotten busier,” said store manager Ylana Ebba, who oversaw the store’s 8 a.m. opening. “Everything’s going really well.”
David Elliott, an Astoria-based photo retoucher who works in Chelsea, left the store with rice dishes, juice and a quiche in hand.
“It wasn’t as bad as I expected,” Elliott said of the crowds. “I got in and got out.”
Many of the customers meandering out of the store’s exit emerged without bags in hand. Leo Montegut, a 45-year-old West Village resident who works at DG Neary Realty, was among those who stopped in just to explore.
“This is so exciting, this is better than any supermarket, better than D’Agostino,” said Montegut, who added that he is such a fan of the store’s frozen food selection that he buys them “to give as presents.”
“I think the neighborhood needs something like this,” Montegut said. “We have Whole Foods, but it’s so expensive.”
