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In Manhattan, you learn to reluctantly accept the fact that there will probably be a gargantuan line wherever and whenever you walk into a popular store to buy something specific. This coincidentally occurs precisely when you finally have the free time to go out and make said purchase. Which is when - surprise! - everyone else in the city has their free time too.

Every so often though, as you stand there in line waiting impatiently, you begin to absorb and understand the "fellow shoppers' bond." You see, there's no hurried New Yorker that particularly enjoys biding their time in line. BUT if the price is right, well, then everyone knows that everyone else realizes those extra ten minutes of wait-time are deemed a worthy and economical sacrifice.

Let's take a case in point: Trader Joe's Wine Shop in Union Square...(Friday night, post-work nonetheless).

This photo, via iPhone stealth-mode, depicts my exact position in the Wine Shop check-out line at time: 11 minutes, 42 seconds. Within sight of the registers people! This is a big deal considering my journey in the queue started only steps away from the main entrance. I kid you not: Trader Joe's employees were also stationed outside on the street regulating another line down the sidewalk. This one was just to set foot inside. Several minutes later, after touring the wine regions of Italy, France, Spain, and Napa, I had also taken a roundtrip scenic tour of the store's inner circumference and read through all labels on the Charles Shaw/Two Buck Chuck varietals.

Is this really worth the wait, you ask?

In a city where an 8.9 oz. box of Cheerios will cost you no less than $5.00, cheap GOOD wine is hard to come by. And since I thought blood-orange mimosas this weekend would be fantastic, I sprung at the chance while I was in the area to purchase two bottles of decent bubbly for $20.00.

I'll raise my glass to that. And, well, stand in line too.