Things we don't have . . .

So added to our list of things we don't have, Pinecrest is getting a Trader Joe's next year. Of all the places in South Florida, Pinecrest was chosen. It's a bit upsetting because there has been talk of putting a Trader Joe's in Coconut Grove for years, there was more than just talk, I know that some folks from the county and the Grove were in communication with Trader Joe's for years. Another upsetting thing is that when I asked someone in the know and with the power to possibly make it happen, they just brushed it off saying that it won't happen because Trader Joe's has no desire to come to Miami. As my old boss in advertising used to say, "If you don't ask, you don't get." We never ask around here.

So now it's no big deal to run down to 92nd Street and US1, where they plan on building the store, I run down that way often to go to Roasters 'n Toasters and I run to South Miami to Whole Foods. And I run to Dadeland to shop, other than The Gap, you can't buy a pair of pants around here, as another friend tells me. This is just another thing we'll have to leave the hood for.

I've never been to a Trader Joe's where you had to drive to it, I go to them in New York and Boston and San Francisco, but they are just there, you know, you're walking by and you enter. Here it will be a destination that you drive to and that was the reason it would have been a super thing for Coconut Grove, the destination bit, about people literally getting into their cars and driving here to go there.

But now that Miami is on the map regarding Trader Joe's, maybe we will be soon, too. Who knows . .