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A few former employees describe him as gruff, but he also has a softer side. In a video tribute to a <br />sixth-grade teacher named Mrs. Bidwell, he talked about how she helped him adjust to life in El <br />Dorado, Ark., after the Navy relocated Bane's father there from Southern California. <br />Some former employees say Trader Joe's has already lost its quirky cool. "In the early days we <br />never tried to be the neighborhood store," says a former employee. They didn't have to: Trader Joe's <br />was the neighborhood store. And yet walk into the Chelsea location on a busy weekday night and <br />you'll see something you almost never see in Manhattan: strangers chatting with one another. <br />Veteran customers tell newbies what products they absolutely have to try, and serious cooks share <br />tips on how to spike sauces and semi-prepared foods to make them even tastier. If Trader Joe's can <br />maintain that kind of mojo, it could end up the biggest neighborhood store ever. <br />