New Rochelle Inventor Creates Product to Carry Plastic Grocery Bags, Portion of Sales to Wings of Hope-The Justin Samela Miceli

A few weeks ago I got a call from a reader who is responsible for marketing a locally developed product called The Shopper’s Tote. She had heard about Talk of the Sound from a friend and wanted to know if I would write about the product. It is not the sort of thing we typically do but there was a New Rochelle angle to it so I agreed to take a look. She dropped off a couple of the items which are plastic handles with a hook at the end.

The concept is simple enough, when you have too many plastic grocery bags to carry you can slip them onto the Shopper’s Tote hook, grab the handle and carry several bags at once without the plastic cutting in your hands. I put them in my car with the intention of trying them at the next opportunity but forgot one thing — I don’t usually do the grocery shopping in my household. So, it was not until this weekend when my wife and I went shopping together that I found myself in the car with about two dozen grocery bags.

I was slipping the plastic loops around my fingers when I remembered I had the Shopper’s Tote in the glove compartment. I took them out, slipped the bags and the hook and much to my delight, the Shopper’s Tote worked. Rather than make multiple trips I was able to bring all the grocery bags from the car to the kitchen in two trips and my fingers did not ache afterwards. It was quick and easy to hook the bags on and create a balanced load.

Now that I have actually used the product and found that it worked as advertised I decided to (a) sit down and write up the product as I had considered doing several weeks ago; (b) keep the Shopper’s Tote in the rear cargo area of my car.

The Shopper’s Tote was designed by long-time New Rochelle resident Frank Miceli. A portion of all sales of The Shopper’s Tote goes to Wings of Hope-The Justin Samela Miceli Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides educational scholarships and financial support to people in need.

Justic Miceli died in a one-car accident in 2007. Justin Miceli was actively involved in The Shopper’s Tote prior to his death. He was working with his marketing class at Iona to put together an advertising and PR package for the product. He passed away before he could complete this project.

The Shopper’s Tote is on Facebook and has a web site at theshopperstote.com.