Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

March 10

Fans giddy over Trader Joe's news

By Meredith Goad mgoad@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

Fans of Trader Joe’s are nothing if not enthusiastic.

“Are you serious? Oh my god, I’m so excited,” Charmaine Daniels said when she first heard that the grocery chain is interested in coming to Portland. “I’m totally thrilled.”

Daniels, an editor at St. Joseph’s College who lives in Windham, became a fan of Trader Joe’s when she visited one in California about a decade ago. Now, whenever she visits her sister in Boston or drives through Connecticut, she stops at one of the stores to stock up on groceries and buy tart dried cherries from Michigan for a friend, who often returns the favor.

“The gingerbread mix is to die for,” Daniels said. “My friend ordered me a whole case of it because they were only selling it for a limited time.”

With its laid-back, surfer-bum style and tiki-esque decor – staffers at Trader Joe’s all wear Hawaiian shirts and communicate by ringing bells – Trader Joe’s has developed something of a cult following. A Facebook page called “Bring Trader Joe’s to Portland, Maine!!!” has nearly 3,000 fans.

Nan Cumming, executive director of Portland Trails, has not yet drunk the Trader Joe’s Kool-Aid – or “Two Buck Chuck,” the $1.99 bottle of wine the store is famous for selling. She hasn’t even set foot in a Trader Joe’s store. But she became a fan of the Facebook page just the same. “To me, Trader Joe’s has almost taken on a mythical quality,” Cumming said. “People are so devoted to it and so excited. …The cheap wine is one of the attractions for me. I hear it’s good.”

Like many Trader Joe's fans, John Hatcher, a Portland Realtor, cited the store’s aggressive pricing and its neighborhood atmosphere.

“They’re geared more toward the average American than Whole Foods, which really is an upscale, boutiquey-type grocery store,” he said.

Hatcher is also a fan of Whole Foods and said he wouldn’t stop shopping there. He’ll just buy different items at each store.

Kurt Graser, a video editor from Connecticut who now lives in Portland, said he still stocks up at Trader Joe’s when he goes home to visit his parents. He likes the store’s cranberry-walnut tarts and mango ice cream bars, as well as their soups, cheeses and healthy snacks.

“It’s actually something I can afford,” he said. “It’s just reasonable, to be honest.”

Candace Karu of Cape Elizabeth, lifestyle commentator and favorite foodie at Cabot cheese (yes, that’s her real title), loves Trader Joe’s wine selection, its organic products and “interesting frozen foods,” such as the “healthy” frozen burrito she pops in the toaster oven when she doesn’t have time to cook.

“I love Whole Foods,” she said, “but I like the fact that with Trader Joe’s there comes an opportunity for more people to enjoy interesting and exciting foods.”