Cart Detective

The Inside Scoop On North Fork Shopping Carts

By Phyllis Lombardi

I was hit by a wind-blown cart last week. That’s cart, not car, and don’t worry. I wasn’t hurt. Just a little bruised ego as I stood in the King Kullen Shopping Center in Cutchogue searching for the car I thought I’d parked to my left. Or was it my right?

After adjusting my pride, I gave in to some little anger. Anger directed to shoppers who leave carts all over parking lots rather than returning them to central collection points.

Now I know there are some shoppers who can’t do this. Those who have difficulty walking, those who have three small children with them, and so on. But other shoppers? Let’s check ’em out.

I decided to investigate the abandoned cart phenomenon as it exists on the North Fork. That meant visiting shopping center parking lots and sitting in my car – watching. So I packed a cheese sandwich, a pick-your-own apple, a coffee yogurt, and off I went. Oh yes, a thermos of hot tea. Don’t go anywhere without that.

We’ll travel east to west. So Greenport’s IGA is first in our cart caper. Their parking lot is small and ringed by private homes on three sides, homes so close I could smell the coffee from their kitchens. Shopping carts? I didn’t see one stray in the lot! Andy Nichols, assistant manager, should be complimented. Says the store has 80-100 carts and twice a week he sends a crew out to scour Greenport for strays. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be hit by a cart in the Greenport lot.

Now on to Southold’s IGA. I parked in the recently resurfaced lot, drank some tea, and observed. One elderly woman, limping, had parked in a handicapped spot. Her husband helped her put grocery bags in the car and then the limping woman, bless her, pushed the empty cart back to the store.

Another sip, another shopper. This was a young mother with two little boys – one sitting in the shopping cart. He giggled as he waved the long register tape over his head like a flag. Mom pushed the grocery-empty cart back to the store and carried her little son to their car. Little guy was still waving that tape.

High marks to this IGA. Dan Archdeacon, Assistant manager of the Southold store, keeps watch over 60 carts. I wonder if he knows at least a dozen of them have Greenport IGA nameplates on them. Perhaps the Greenport IGA carts were separated at the manufacture, from the Southold IGA carts and only recently were reunited. A romantic notion I rather like.

I ate my lunch in the aforementioned King Kullen lot in Cutchogue. Up drives a guy in a red convertible (top down, even in this chilly weather). I can’t tell you much about him – I was busy admiring that car. Anyway, I thought someone who drove such a showy thing wouldn’t concern himself with shopping carts. Wrong. You know what the guy did? Swung himself out of the car, found his way to two stray carts, and pushed them both back to the store.

I must say this about King Kullen shopping carts – in Cutchogue they’re often found under water. When it rains that lot can get some puddles! Managers Pete Murphy and Bill Andress can’t do anything about it. And they’re really good guys. One loaned me a pen. I must have left mine in a cart.

By the way, one of the King Kullen signs reads PLEASE R TURN CARTS HERE. Now I can still manage a ‘U’ turn but I’ve never even heard of an ‘R’ turn and I’ve been driving since 1952.

Next stop? Riverhead Waldbaum’s, where a half dozen carts rolled about in the lot – all labeled Petco. Now Petco is just west of Waldbaum’s and the wind was from the south. So maybe the doggies did it?

Ruff, Ruff. This Waldbaum’s has more than 300 carts – all lined up on the sidewalk. Frank DeVito, a longtime employee on a break, stood near the carts. He praised his manager, Joe Fabbio. Said he handled everything beautifully.

Guess there’s no real cause to complain. Chances are you’ll find a cart with all the wheels going in the same direction. Grab it. Before it gets you first.