After a long wait, long lines greet the grand opening of Trader Joe’s Folks love what’s in store in Forest Hills

by Michael Gannon Senior News Editor

She wanted to be first in line when Trader Joe’s opened its new Forest Hills store Tuesday morning, and wound up being fifth.

“I came by at 5 a.m.,” said the woman, who declined to give her name. “Somebody was already here. So I went to the gym first.”

Residents of Forest Hills and surrounding neighborhoods had been longing for a supermarket at the intersection of Yellowstone and Queens boulevards ever since the Key Food there closed and was torn down in 2018 to make way for an apartment building now nearing completion.

A Bank of America soon will be joining the supermarket as a tenant.

“I remember when this was a Waldbaum’s,” said Forest Hills resident Elise Kaufman. She and others said there has been a demand.

“There aren’t a lot of supermarkets here. Just think of the thousands of people in Parker Towers alone,” she said, motioning toward the nearby apartment complex.

She and a friend were planning to make a beeline to the Champs Elysees salads, which have mixed greens and shredded carrots.

A woman who gave her name only as Deb said she and her family like some of the specialty items, as well as the company’s stand on some controversial substances and additives.

“They have a lot of organics,” she said. “No GMOs.” The latter refers to the compa- ny’s refusal of products that have been genetically modified. She also likes that company’s efforts to limit BPA, Bisphenol A, in the lining of its cans and lids for glass jars.

By 7:30 a.m., the line at the Yellowstone Boulevard door had turned the corner and run east along Queens Boulevard to 69th Road; swung to the south past the Sunrise Chevrolet dealership and then doubled back toward Yellowstone along Gerard Place, nearly encircling the block.

Workmen could be seen applying finishing touches on wiring for light fixtures in the lobby and on the escalator that soon would be taking people from the street-level vestibule to the shopping floor below.

Staffers in floral-patterned shirts greeted each shopper with a lei and a free reusable shopping bag. A steel drum band serenaded those waiting at the head of the line and then shoppers ambling past after store Manager Carlos Salazar conducted the formal ribboncutting at 8 a.m.

Jackie Cooper of Forest Hills and her dog, Charlie, waited near the front of the line. She is fan of the chain.

“They have good prices and good selection,” Cooper said. She and Bob West of Kew Gardens also like the staff at the Trader Joe’s they have shopped in.

West likes it better than the former Key Food.

“I don’t consider them to be supermarket,” he said. “I consider them to be grocery store.” Q