Longtime grocer packs his bags

Warm greetings filled the aisles of the Costa Mesa Trader Joe’s Friday, when newly retired Peter Duynstee came to visit his former coworkers.

It had barely been a month since his retirement from the 17th Street grocery, where he had worked for 17 years.

“It’s my obligation to go see them, even just to say, ‘Hi’,” he said. “Can’t just walk away and say, ‘Adios,’ can’t do that.”

Some 70 people had attended his retirement party. The 77-year-old Costa Mesa resident retired Jan. 2 to spend more time traveling with his wife, Susie.

Former coworker Teri Ostrander described Duynstee as a one-of-a-kind, the type greatly missed by the entire crew.

Duynstee, a native of Holland, began his grocery store career back in 1969, when he bought Fry’s Market on the Balboa Peninsula from the Fry family. After 27 years of putting in too many long hours, along with the headaches of working for himself, he decided it was time for a change.

He said he sold Fry’s at a fair price and wanted to work part time to supplement his income. At the suggestion of his son, and son-in-law, both Trader Joe’s employees, he applied for a job at the Costa Mesa location.

“It fell right into my alley,” he said. “Working is a good thing if you like what you’re doing — the store is only 10 blocks from my house.”

He ended up working the maximum part-time hours of 37 1/2 until three years ago when he cut back to 30. The morning shift suited him best, giving him time to spend afternoons with his family.

“It’s a beautiful thing to be able to work there, very pleasant. [I] felt really at home, and [they’re] wonderful people to work for,” Duynstee said. “I enjoyed working for a company with such a pleasant environment all the way around. Kept me going. Why would a guy do that? Because I enjoyed it.”

Duynstee attributes his high energy level to a lifetime of doing sports. He both coaches and plays soccer, bicycles, gardens and walks with his wife.

“I’ve always been ambitious and energetic, can’t really stop or I might fall apart,” Duynstee said with a smile. “I never worried about the physical part of the job, I’ve always been in good shape. In fact I feel like a 40-year-old all the time.”

Lydia Duynstee is one of four adult children and said she grew up working in the market and is proud of what her father has accomplished.

“The truth is, everything I learned about business and human relations, I learned from my dad,” she said.

The person who will experience the change the most, after Duynstee, is his wife of 49 years.

“It’s nice, but its going to be different seeing him 24 hours a day,” she said, “but I know he’s happy about not getting up at 4 a.m. to be at work by 5 or 6 a.m. He said to me, ‘Thank God I don’t have to set the alarm clock anymore.’”

Duynstee said the downside of no longer working with the public is the loss of daily social interactions with customers — the feeling seems to be mutual between the clerk and long-time customers.

“When people come into Trader Joe’s they recognize me from Fry’s Market and automatically go in my line to check out,” Duynstee said.

Ostrander said she and most of the other employees have no intention of letting go of the relationship.

“We plan on continuing to have gatherings like the potluck retirement party so it’s not like really saying goodbye,” she said.