(AP, WJLA) - Attention Target shoppers: You could have been standing in line with Michelle Obama.

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The first lady, hard to recognize in a baseball cap and sunglasses, shopped Thursday at a Target store at Potomac Yard in Alexandria.

"It was so quick. We only realized it was her at the end of her visit," store manager Maria Panagopulos said. "She was incognito."

Casually dressed Secret Service agents arrived about a half-hour before Mrs. Obama, who walked in through the main entrance with an assistant. She spent 30 to 40 minutes shopping, pushing her own cart. She apparently was recognized only by the cashier who rang up her purchases.

Since coming to the White House, Mrs. Obama has lamented missing out on what she calls "normal stuff," like Target runs. The store was not permitted to disclose what the First Lady bought.

"The cashier did recognize her and was very excited," Panagopulos said.

She isn't the first first lady to try to go out unrecognized. Hillary Rodham Clinton went for walks wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, too.

So how did this all come to be? ABC7 asked the Associated Press if we could interview the man who snapped the pic - Charles Dharapak.

The answer was no.

A spokesman said Dharapak has great sources and that's how he knew the First Lady would be at Target pushing a cart at that precise time. So a source tipped him off.

He didn't get a lucky shot while out buying household goods.

Target isn’t saying what she bought. But it did say: "We would love to see Mrs. Obama again anytime she'd like to shop with us."