While my wife edged back toward the sidewalk, pretending she didn’t know who I was, I angled past an unlatched gate and got a look inside. My photo wasn’t much, but it clearly identified a Trader Joe’s in the works.
By David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
More than a few years passed since my furtive times of sneaking peeks into the closed off adult world. The fun of getting a look, though, at what the adults were up to hadn’t left me.

Keeping myself out of the picture, I placed my camera directly on the glass and angled away. Sure, I looked ridiculous, the foodie version of a peeping Tom, but before anyone came out to stop me, I clicked.
Not until I got home and blew up the photo did I realize what I got… Along the left, a row of TJ’s signature wooden checkouts. With a projected October opening already reported, all they need now are registers, card readers and electrical hookups.
If anyone asks, don’t say where you got this. I may have been trespassing — so, what else is new? — but who needs the hassle?
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[…] week later, I found that Trader Joe’s papered over the window where I got an inside look and shared it with readers. But, now, there was an even better sign of an opening coming […]
[…] For many of us, Trader Joe’s is a fixture now, but last September, we were still waiting. […]