One Mans Blog
Specialization is for Insects.
Posted on Oct 26, 2007 - 1:00am by John P. in Travel, Videos
Ok folks, this might seem a little mundane, but it was actually totally cool. In Minneapolis, MN there is a two story Target and they have solved the problem of taking carts from floor to floor by building a special cart escalator. We’ll call it a cartalator!
So, I was really looking forward to my trip to this Target specifically so I could take some photos and video of this thing to put on the blog here, and as soon a I walked in the door the monkey in the guard outfit made me put my camera away! Told me it was Target corporate policy not to allow photography in any store.
Well, do you think that was going to stop me, dear readers? I didn’t think so.
Sure, I put my camera away. But in it’s place I whipped out my camera phone and at least shot this crappy video:
So as to have a little more to share with you, I also found a couple of other illegal cart-o-lator videos. First a cart’s eye view:
Here is one that is from Target in Gaithursburg, MD. Funny, I lived near there for 5 years and didn’t know it!
And here is one in San Diego, CA:
As well as this post with some good photos.
If anyone knows of other locations of these cartolators please share them in case folks living nearby want to stop in and take a look. They are pretty darn cool.
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Hello John,
this kind of trollies are since the early 90th normal in Europe, before the american mall type of thing was coming over to germany, you took your trolley and went allover the shop. Especially in the city-center where there is no space for huge shopping malls. The trollies have special wheels and the escalators have no steps, they are like a belt (well known from airports). the wheels just stick to the belt and you don’t even have to hold them. so you take your trolley all over the shopping-center…
cheers
Rhoody
Having lived in Germany as a kid I can at least vouch for the fact that they are lightyears ahead of us in shopping cart technology. That sounds like a strange claim, right? Well, when I was 13 and first living in Germany one of my most potent memories was of shopping carts. Also strange, right?
Well, in the US we are used to shopping carts not doing what we want … bouncing off walls and such. Germans, true to their rich engineering heritage, have shopping carts that will stop on a dime and roll in any direction.
Again … for the third time … this sounds like something very strange for a child to remember, yes? Well, all I can say is: that experience was somehow quintessentially German to me.
… so you also may remember the carts, where you can place the kids in a safe way….(that they don’t fill up the cart with candies.. hehe)
cheers to all and have a great weekend
Rhoody
Gaithersburg, MD (the Rio Shopping Center Target). It’s been open several years, surprised you’d never checked it out.
I recall seeing one of these in NYC… maybe at Bed, Bath, and Beyond?
Wherever it was, I was equally fascinated. Much to the amusement (and then eventual annoyance) of my wife!
We had a long discussion at Punkymoms about these two story Targets - and I was so amazed! And you know - a bunch of women + two stories of wonderful Target deals…hahaha! We were all salivating hearing the lucky girls who had them in their towns talk about them! (Now how’s that for stereotyping?! Ha!)
But this - cartolators - that is awesome! Totally cool! I’m wondering, though, and trying to work it out in my head without actually being there - how do they keep those carts level? How does it work? Especially the full + some carts - they go on and I’m like “Uh oh!” But everything is fine! Very interesting!
And then, as I watched, I got to thinking some more….how do they keep little kidlets from crawling in there? Do you know how enticing swinging doors are to munchkins? Hell, even my ‘older’ monsters love messing with swinging doors! So I’m on the hunt for cartolator + child accidents - there has to have been some, don’t you think? Or do they have people manning the top and bottom of them?
Yeah, I love that thing! I also love Target in general. I feel less guilt shopping there since it is a (HUGE) local business in Minneapolis.
If I grew up there as a kid, it’s safe to say I’d be winning a Darwin award for my death in that store =P
Seattle, WA Target.
You’re having some login/cache issues still. It took me a little while to login and logout before I could get to this page logged in as myself (and not as MG). I guess we must be accessing your page at around the same time everyday.
In any case I saw one of these at a Target (I believe) in Pasadena, CA, and I similarly thought it was so cool! It made me want to get a cart and put stuff in it just so that I could use the cart escalator. Maybe that’s part of their intention.
this is absolutely normal, i live in lebanon (middle east) and this is found everywhere…surprised to see this.
actually they try something since 2000 in some discount markets in germany. you can make your shopping list online, then you download a file on a USB-card. When you go to the supermarket some carts have a LCD display and card-reader, and it guides you through the supermarket the shortest way to the Items you need.
Sounds like nobody needs it, but I was touring through Germany and Europe in my past life, each day another city, so our Tour-caterer had to shop each day in another supermarket, when you have 25 hungry Rock’n Roll technicians to serve on tour, you better be fast… So our caterer was happy, when in the next town was a supermarket with this Nav-system. I don’t think this system will make it, actually I don’t know if it still exists, but for him at that time it was a good thing…
cheers
Rhoody
Pretty neat, I haven’t seen anything like that.
I’d be most nervous when going down, just pushing your cart over the edge..lol