Okay--just gotta warn folks. The owner of this store is bonkers. She came out of the store and Preemptively told me "you better put that cart back!" as I was returning my cart to the front of the Trader Joe's store next door. I asked her "why are you saying that to me?" to which she said "You better put it back!"---again, I asked her "why are you saying that to me--that's what I was doing?" To which this extremely hostile woman said "People have the whole parking lot to park and then they don't even put their carts back and there are 400 parking spots and we only have 4..." I stopped listening to her at this point---looked over and saw another woman (who had been getting into her car when she herself was admonished by the owner for parking there) witnessing the confrontation that I was being subjected to. She was shaking her head and asking if this woman was the owner or the manager. The over wrought owner lady didn't answer.
At this point, I parked my cart next to her store (off to the side, where there's a blank spot near the EMPTY store front right next to hers)---not what I was planning to do, but for crying out loud, my kids were in the car and I wasn't about to leave them down near this woman for one second while I walked over to put the cart back---and at this point she said "Fine--I'm just going to put it up against your car!" She walked over and took the cart, slamming it against the front of my car! My 9 year old daughter, in the car at the time, said it was a "hard bang." I just got out and put it back---by this time, the crazy lady had gone back inside of the store.
Now, if I were a litigious person, I would have gotten the other woman who was witness to this to help me bring a lawsuit against this store owner for slamming a shopping cart into my car. But I'm not a crazy person--my crime is apparently shopping at Trader Joe's and not wanting my 3 young children to have to cross through the parking lot to get to the store. There are no signs in these spots that say "hobby town parking only"---probably because the landlords know that Trader Joe's is the cash cow in this strip mall and if it weren't for the customers there, this place wouldn't exist! And probably because there are a whole slew of parking spots on the other side of this store---all empty, by the way.
As a business owner myself, I had a discussion with my kids on the way home about all the ways this woman could exploit the fact that her store is next to a busy grocery store. Instead of being so hostile and considering her situation a disadvantage, she could be demonstrating her remote controlled cars out front and offering children the opportunity to try....she could offer coupons for a certain percentage off if you have a Trader Joe's receipt.....she could say hello to we TJ's customers who could be HER potential customers if she were actually personable. At the very least, she could wait until I commit the grievous crime of parking my cart near her store before she starts to yell at me. And maybe not slam carts into people cars.
The one time I did actually go into this store last year at Christmas time with my 7 year old son, it was a less than stellar experience. No one said hello (2 people were behind the counter and no one else was in the store) and no one asked us if they could help us, despite the fact that we were looking around for 45 minutes. So, basically, a bad shopping experience. But I wouldn't have given a bad review for that. I'm forgiving. But this situation presents itself as a matter of public safety. Watch out for the owner/manager of Hobby Town USA on 82nd in Portland. read more