Smooth sailing for Dr. Phillips Trader Joe’s opening

Trader Joe’s opened Friday morning in the Dr. Phillips neighborhood with no traffic jams and a relatively short line, compared to the raucous opening in Winter Park last summer.

Trader Joe’s is known for big opening ceremonies that sometimes attract hundreds of people with long lines and traffic. That happened last June in Winter Park, which was the first Trader Joe’s to open in the Orlando area. In Dr. Phillips on Friday, police patrolled the area, but there was almost no evidence of the event outside of the new shopping center parking lot. The Dr.Phillips location has a very different configuration than the Winter Park center.The newer center is set back further from the road, with parking behind the building. “I hope I exceeded the expectations of the community with what we built here,” said Chuck Whittall, CEO of Unicorp Developments International, which built thenew shopping center. Unicorp plans to open it first venture into the restaurant business soon, next door to Trader Joe’s. Terri Buce was among the first to emerge from the store after it opened. She was pleasantly surprised by the prices and the quick line. “I thought Trader Joe’s might make the prices higher because of this location in Dr. Phillips,” said Buce, who lives a short walk away from the new store. “But they were the same prices they have everywhere.” Buce said many of her neighbors were worried about the impact on traffic. “It will add traffic. I drive past here for work, and the last mile takes 15 or20 minutes already. So I may avoid this for a while, and take the long way around,” Buce said. Another resident who lives nearby, Earl Vasquez, said the area already has too much traffic, and he expects the store will only add more. But he said he hadn’t heard much complaining from neighbors. “Everybody calls this area restaurant row now. We have four grocery stores within a mile, so that’s good to have options,” Vasquez said. Besides Trader Joe’s, there are two Publix stores and a Whole Foods.