Where are the carts?

Trader Joe's mania jams The Woodlands: Scenes from an opening frenzy of grocerymadness

The line to get into the new Trader Joe's in The Woodlands stretched around thestore on opening day.
Trader Joe's fever was in the crowd.
Photo By Marlo Saucedo
Once you got to the front of the Trader Joe's line, greeters were there with atouch worthy of Hawaii.
Photo by Marlo Saucedo
There wasn't a lot of room to move around on the opening day of the new TraderJoe's in The Woodlands.
Photo by Marlo Saucedo
Getting to the front of the checkout was no easy task as Trader Joe's frenzyovertook The Woodlands.
Photo by Marlo Saucedo
Still, many customers left satisified — with wine.
Photo By Marlo Saucedo

There was plenty of parking, but the line for the opening of the new Woodlands Trader Joe’s clearly began forming long before my 7:20 a.m. arrival. It already wound around the side of the store at that point.

By 8 a.m., the line had doubled back on itself. Shopping carts ran out at entry one-third of the way through the queue. Shoppers were meet as they entered the store by employees handing out Hawaiian leis.

The 13,500-square-foot store was impeccable, with colorful artwork depicting recognizable local vignettes on the wall, and creative signage everywhere above and among the products. Free reusable bags were given to shoppers as they crowded in.

“Every time we go back, we bring back Trader Joe’s. We served the Two Buck Chuck at our wedding!”

Cambria and Scott Merry, having visited the nearby Starbucks, held a spot toward the front of the line. They moved to The Woodlands three years ago from Austin, but are originally from California: “Every time we go back, we bring back Trader Joe’s. We served the Two Buck Chuck at our wedding!”

They also like the cat cookies, as well as the store’s selection of organic goods, salads, vitamins and supplements.

Mark and Amara Bacon, farther back in line, had only been to Trader Joe’s once before Friday morning, but they saw "some unique things” in that California vacation visit. They came to try the roasted seaweed snack and the Two Buck Chuck.

Woodlands resident Deborah Santesson remembers the Trader Joe’s in Portland, Oregon fondly, saying, “The house brands were so unique; the variety — and the organic items will give me a wider selection than just having H-E-B. And, Trader Joe’s has better prices than Whole Foods!”

What brought her to opening day? “I’m excited. I want to look at all the products — and I want to go shopping! I’m not much of a cook, and they have a lot of pre-made, pre-packaged meals I can buy.”

Sarah Sadlowski posed with “thumbs up” next to the extensive wine selection. Sadlowski is orginally from New Jersey, having moved to The Woodlands 18 years ago.

“My sister’s been sending me care packages all this time from New Jersey, and whenever we go back we pack a suitcase full of Trader Joe’s to being back here," she said. "I kept emailing the company, saying, ‘You’ve got to come to The Woodlands!’ I’ve been waiting 18 years for this!”

Corinna Cervantez, overhearing, added, “I thought five years was a long time to wait!” She and her husband moved to Tomball five years ago from Southern California. They’ve missed having Trader Joe’s.

"We’ve been riding them to come,” Certvantezes said.

Now they’re here, and the Cervantezes — and many Woodlands-area residents — are all smiles.

Insider Info

Wondering what the Trader Joe's fuss is about? There are resources for that.

Two years’ worth of Trader Joe’s product information rated by a husband-wife team can be found on the “What’s Good at Trader Joe’s?” blog. Who knew grocery shopping could be so absorbing?

On another popular blog, My Trader Joe’s List, visitors rate all the store's products. If that’s too much, however, The Daily Meal cuts to the chase with the top five appetizers, and top five vegetarian and breakfast products at Trader Joe's. (There’s even a section called “Worst. Stuff. Ever.” — so you’ll know what NOT to get.)

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Royal Flip

Chip and Joanna Gaines finally sell $2.7M Fixer Upper castle in Waco

Photo courtesy of Magnolia

The Gaineses listed the 6,176-square-foot Waco castle at nearly $2.7 million.

Texas' king and queen of home renovations, Chip and Joanna Gaines, are done lording over their 136-year-old castle in Waco. The stars of TV’s Fixer Upper have found a buyer for Cottonland Castle, Mansion Global reported. The sale is pending.

The Gaineses listed the 6,176-square-foot castle, in Waco's historic and affluent Castle Heights neighborhood, at nearly $2.7 million. They bought the property in 2019, when it carried a $425,000 price tag.

The castle, with a sandstone and limestone facade, is modeled after a German castle along the Rhine River.

Chip and Joanna Gaines, Fixer Upper Chip and Joanna Gaines are preparing to hand over the keys to their castle. Facebook Magnolia Network

The duo spent several years restoring the castle to revive its original character. That work became the foundation for their six-part 2022 series Fixer Upper: Welcome Home – The Castle. They opened it to the public for guided tours and introduced Magnolia brand tie-ins, like a “Colors of the Castle” paint collection.

“People love things that are nostalgic. They love things that are antique-looking, and I want this place to feel like it did in 1915,” Joanna said during an episode of Fixer Upper. “Whether you walked into the space in 1915 or today, it has that same feeling of history and love and beauty and castle-ship.”

A year after the series aired, the castle failed to sell at auction, according to Mansion Global. It went on the market in June. Amanda Nesbitt of Magnolia Realty, the real estate brokerage founded by the Gaineses, has the listing.

The three-story castle offers “a seamless blend of historic grandeur and modern functionality,” according to the listing.

That grandeur includes millwork, antique tile floors, diamond-paned windows and seven ornate fireplaces. The four-bedroom property features three-and-a-half bathrooms, a formal dining room, a great room, a card room, a library and a conservatory.

All furnishings, accessories and decor “have been thoughtfully curated to complement the home’s design,” the listing says, and are included in the sale.

The castle has a rocky modern history.

Jack Schwan bought the property in 1969 for $50,000, according to the Waco Welcome Center.

Over the years, the Schwan family made many repairs and renovations. The family tried to sell the castle in 1982; they thought it was worth close to $1.25 million following the overhaul. In 1991, the property sold only after a drastic price cut.

“Over the next two decades, the home passed through various owners’ hands and fell into disrepair. Many owners found the castle too large and in need of too much maintenance to be a financially feasible home,” according to the Waco Welcome Center.

The castle sold again in 2014, and a group led by Oxford scholar Dirk Obbink tackled renovation work. The Gaineses bought it five years later, after it had been neglected and abandoned.

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