I am a nice person. So nice, I did not exercise my
paparazzi-like tendency to snap a picture of a friend at Friday’s
opening of Trader Joe’s in Morgan Hill who thought she could just
stop by with curlers in her hair and run through the aisles without
notice. Not so.
I am a nice person. So nice, I did not exercise my paparazzi-like tendency to snap a picture of a friend at Friday’s opening of Trader Joe’s in Morgan Hill who thought she could just stop by with curlers in her hair and run through the aisles without notice. Not so.
If I were a more clever person and not so nice I could create a DaVinci Code anagram of her name and reward the person who first figured out the puzzle and we would all know the identity of the curler culprit. But alas, I’m not so clever and I fear biblical proportion wrath (that was a hint, by the way).
Even in curlers, this friend looked fashionable with the devices covered carefully with a beautiful black silk scarf and matching purse and shoes! It was that type of desperation that overtook many of the South County residents eager for a peek at the offbeat, cool aisles of our newest grocery store. The question around town was not have you had been to Trader Joe’s yet, but how many times in one day had you stopped in? Just short of fanatical, I’d say. OK, I admit it. I stopped in twice on Friday.
Maria Januzys wore her fur jacket that, she says, “doesn’t bite.” Maria received shopping assistance from store employee and Trader Joe’s sign artist, Sharon Bates.
Stephanie Ochoa, known for her discriminating taste in shopping, was delighted to find pomegranate seeds for her pomegranate martinis. This of course saves Stephanie the hours it takes to seed a whole pomegranate and risk the red squirt of breaking open the fruit (my mom always made us eat them outside wearing an old shirt).
John and Nancy Murphy of San Martin joked about “shopping both ways,” that is, patronizing both Morgan Hill and Gilroy stores. The Murphys are relieved that they no longer have to travel out of their home range to find a Trader Joe’s Market.
Karl and Judy Kinker arrived wonderfully dressed for the holidays, “just to stroll through the store,” explained Judy. The Kinker’s relayed Trader Joe’s trivia to me stating the Morgan Hill Store is the first (and so far only) Trader Joe’s to be built from the ground up. All other Trader Joe’s Markets have moved into existing buildings.
No one is happier to have a Trader Joe’s in South County than Morgan Hill resident Gary Nigh. Gary has worked for Trader Joe’s for 10 years, commuting to the chain’s Pacific Grove store. First Mate Gary and Store Commander Don Obercoe greeted guests to the opening in their corporate uniform of tropical shirts making sure every guest got leied. Plastic leis were hoisted around patron’s necks as they entered the store and the kids were treated to balloon animals.
Obercoe highly recommends the blue cheese stuffed olives for the holidays and as a fine addition to a dry martini. Friday’s opening day saw 1,974 transactions with an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people checkin’ the place out.
In other news
Checked-in to Saint Louise Regional Hospital in the last few weeks is Gilroy resident, Al Navaroli. Al suffered a stroke but has pulled through – close to his former glory. Members of the South Valley Symphony, headed by concertmaster Beverly Blount, went to play for Al in the hospital last Sunday. Al will be missing the Symphony’s concert this weekend so musicians Sue Piccardo, Scott Spangler, Camie Brown, Gisela Steffe and Pat Meyer gathered in the hallway outside of Al’s room to play a mini-concert of Arcangelo Corelli’s “Concerto VIII.” After an encore of Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on Greensleeves,” Pat Meyer serenaded Al by playing a cello solo of “Ave Maria” – a special concert for a special man.
If you’d like to hear the full concert version along with some live holiday music, go to the South Valley Symphony’s holiday concert Saturday at 4pm at the Gavilan College Theater. For a complete list of the symphony’s concert season go to www.southvalleysymphony.org.
Ciao for now.
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