TJ

And I'm not talking about my summer vacation in Tijuana. Trader Joe's finally hit Madison and I finally went there this afternoon. Aside from an improbably designed parking garage that seems to assume we're all already in Smart cars... what a blissful place.
My first experience with Trader Joe's was summer in Boston when I would walk two miles along a highway to the one in Cambridge in the blisteringly hot sun and carry my goods back with me, melting all the way. Things were much worse then, not limited to the fact that I had no money and was not 21.
Then TJ's came to NYC and people lined up for blocks. I never actually went in because, like a lot of good things in Manhattan, it was just too hard to do it to enjoy it at all. And then there's the logistics of carrying the goods back, this time on the subway. Advantages were that I had some money and was over 21.
Then it arrived in Minneapolis last May. I went with my mom and sister on opening day, because I happened to be in town and it also happened to be my sister's golden 15th birthday and for whatever reason that's what she wanted to do when she got home from school... we bought cake mix with Zanzibari vanilla and this insanely good dark chocolate frosting and made her a birthday cake. Advantages: a ride, still not completely broke and over 21. Disadvantages: Shopping with family, the fact that I was technically homeless and had nowhere to put anything I bought if I decided to-- except maybe next to the air mattress I was sleeping on in the living room.
Which brings me to the Madison store. $66 later, all problems have been solved. I have way too many frozen foods, but I also have frozen Pad Thai kit that made dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow for $3.50. I have two bottles of $2.99 Chuck. I have... well... lots of good stuff. I even had an overly-talkative Wisconsin-style cashier who I didn't mind...