Trader Joe's!
Rancho Cucamonga's long-awaited Trader Joe's opened Friday. Joe's has had a smallish Upland store forever but no others in the valley.* The new one fills the empty Vons space in a shopping center on Haven just above the 210.
I met friends for lunch at Corky's in the same center. Just getting into the parking lot took effort, because of the crowds. I've never seen the center, or Corky's for that matter, so packed.
After lunch, we checked out Joe's. It's a 12,000-square-foot store, said to be midsize by Joe's standards, but clearly larger than the Upland store. The aisles are a bit wider and the refrigerated section looks three or four times larger. According to an employee, there wasn't more, or much more, product on display than in Upland, just more of each item.
In a cute touch, the checkout lanes are marked with street signs mimicking Rancho Cucamonga street names: Lemon, Vineyard, Archibald, Haven, Milliken, Day Creek, Base Line and Foothill.
The store seemed to be a hit on opening day and I'd say it's almost guaranteed to be a success. We don't know what took you so long, Trader Joe's, but we're glad you're here.
* Unless San Dimas counts, as two readers pointed out.
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A journalist for more than two decades, David Allen has been writing a column for the Daily Bulletin since 1997 and blogging since 2007.He lives in Claremont.
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FYI - Trader Joe's used to have a large store prior to Montclair upgrading their mall. Was located on the south side of Penney's, approx. where Linens & Things is currently.
I guess San Dimas isn't in the IE exactly, but for us in Pomona it's about equidistant to the one in Upland. Not all that far away.
Doesn't San Dimas count as the SGV? There's one there, right where the 57 crosses over Arrow.
It's smaller than the Upland store, though.
[But does San Dimas count as the Inland Valley, Meg? That's a question that has bedeviled this newspaper for years, and we're the ones who came up with the whole "Inland Valley"! -- DA]