PORTLAND (AP) — Maine’s first Trader Joe’s store has opened with a ceremonial lei cutting and a line of people waiting to get inside.

Trader Joe’s has nearly 350 stores in more than two dozen states, but the Portland store is the first to open in northern New England.

On Friday, people lined up to get inside an hour before the 8 a.m. opening.

Trader Joe’s has a large following of fans who like the chain’s extensive offerings of private-label brands, discount prices and offbeat atmosphere. Its employees wear Hawaiian shirts, and instead of a ribbon-cutting the store opened with the cutting of a lei. The first customers got free leis.


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