Staten Island Is Really, Really Excited About Trader Joe's

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Queens isn't the only outer borough that's about to be blessed with a new gourmet grocery store. While Douglaston residents are counting down the days until Fairway comes to town, Staten Islanders are freaking out about Trader Joe's opening this Friday. Store manager—sorry, captain—John Martinelli tells the Daily News that his regulation Hawaiian shirt has made him into a local celebrity: "Everywhere I go, if I have my shirt on, people are like, 'When are you opening?' 'Are you guys going to carry this?'"

The 15,000-square-foot space will be Trader Joe's seventh New York location (counting the Union Square wine shop), which raises a question for those of us who don't live in Staten Island: Has the chain reached its saturation point? After all, it was always a little weird for Manhattanites to get excited about a store that exists in suburbs around the country. Maybe it's finally stopped being a novelty and become an official part of the landscape, like Gristedes or Key Foods.
· Fairway Coming to Queens [Racked NY]
· Trader Joe's heads to Staten Island, borough's first store is 'shaping up to be a mecca for foodies' [NYDN]