The first lady shops at Target -- just like us!

An Associated Press photographer on Thursday snapped some choice photos of Michelle Obama in the checkout line of a Target store just outside Washington for what her office says was a “routine errand,” the likes of which she does often.

The first lady appears to have been trying to pick up some items incognito. She is seen sporting a Nike cap and large, dark sunglasses.

Photos: Michelle Obama shops at Target


“It is not uncommon for the first lady to slip out to run an errand, eat at a local restaurant or otherwise enjoy the city outside the White House gates,” said Kristina Schake, communications director for the first lady.

It’s unclear how the photo came about; her office said the photographer, Charles Dharapak, “caught her” at the store.

President Obama has often mused about how he wishes he could break outside the “bubble” he has to travel in. The first lady does not have the same full-time entourage of reporters as her husband.

But she, too, has spoken of some frustration about how living in the White House has changed her routine.


“Before we lived here, we were normal people. I had a job, I drove my own car, I took my kids to school every day. I went to Target and shopped for my groceries,” she said at an April event for children of White House staff.