There’s a lot to love about Trader Joe’s.
And a lot to hate about its parking lot.
The clusterf***edness of the layout — the convergence of the entrance and exit (merging with traffic from Compo Acres shopping center); the narrow lanes; the shoppers walking through — is legendary.
The back of the lot is much calmer (though the exit that way, onto Compo Road South, is no prize).
Savvy customers know to park there — away from the chaos — and walk a few extra yards. You can leave via the Wells Fargo exit, then make a U-turn through the Exxon gas station if you need to.
Meanwhile, back there, Compo Acres management have put up a couple of quasi-helpful “Additional Parking” signs. They point to “Route 1 East” and “Route 1 West” — names by which no one ever calls the Post Road. (Click here to see.)
Alfred Herman, Sal Liccione, Clark Thiemann, Seth Schachter, Dave Eason, Peggy O’Halloran, Andrew Colabella, Jonathan McClure and Martha Witte all know where those signs are. Congratulations — and stay safe!
Interestingly, our Trader Joe’s is not the only one with a teeth-gnashing parking lot. It seems to be a chain-wide thing.
In fact, the company’s lots are so notoriously bad, Food & Wine wrote an entire story about it. Click here to read.
We head back indoors for this week’s Photo Challenge. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
(Photo/Susan Garment)
(Every Sunday, “06880” hosts this Photo Challenge. We challenge you too to support your hyper-local blog. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
