If the elevator is working, that is. It is still being installed and that seems to be the only thing left to do. According to Deep Joanna,  a friend who knows the TJ scoop, the dry foods, cereals, cookies, snack foods, and cans are on the shelves. They are so ready to open over there on Atlantic Avenue.

The only thing that holds the new Brooklyn Trader Joe’s from opening is the final installation of the elevator that transports perishables to the basement.

Talking to Deep Joanna, I got all kinds of info about the store, its training program, its corporate ethos and its almost anal retentive attention to freshness and detail.

The Brooklyn store will be the 301st store to open in the US.

Wow. They expect the Atlantic Avenue shop to be one of the most popular in the United States. The Brooklyn store is going to be their East Coast flag ship store because it has the most square footage of any of its stores and it’s the only Trader Joe’s in a landmark building.

TJ prides itself on its hiring policies and for the Brooklyn store they looked at 1,500 applications and took only 150 people. These employees are trained to be well-versed in all aspects of the TJ retail experience. They don’t want boredom during the 6-8 hour shift and require employees to change their activities every two hours.

The corporation, according to Deep Joanna, wants to create an  environment with a "mom and pop feel." The store prides itself on there only being two or three layers between a regular employee and senior management.

For the Brooklyn shop, half of the full time managers and supervisors are transplants from other stores, especially the Union Square store. The store aims to hire a friendly, attractive, diverse group of employees, whom they offer full benefits (dental, vision and health insurance) within 90 days. According to Deep Joanna, there’s an eclectic mix of actors, musicians, former Wall Streeters, people who never shop at TJ’s and those who do.

These employees learn the mantra of the store: quality control. This means that instead of delegating, everyone rotates responsibilities. They aim to work together as a team and follow the rules about freshness and perishability, and customer service.

The "Wow Factor" is also very important. They want employees to walk the customer to the product and acknowledge the customer and pay attention to them. They’re training the staff to be engaged and interested. Food tastings are also a key component of the Trader Joe’s employment experience.

According to Deep Joanna, Trader Joe’s is leasing the space on Atlantic Avenue and as a company they are debt- free. The shop will be on one level but there will be offices upstairs and a basement storage room. Decorating the walls are tinted and sepia old photos of Brooklyn.

Borough President Marty Markowitz and Senator Chuck Schumer will be present at the opening on Friday. A steel band will play; an employee of TJ’s is in that band. It should be a nice opening.