Trader Joes

[fsquid]

Just circling around to the original topic.  Went to see my BIL in Charleston this weekend and my wife demanded we stop at Trader Joes.  They built out their own store on a corner in Mount Pleasant, so it seems like the whole "needs to be in a strip mall" or other development isn't set in stone with the people who own the company.

Just an observation.

[fieldafm]

They built out their own store on a corner in Mount Pleasant, so it seems like the whole "needs to be in a strip mall" or other development isn't set in stone with the people who own the company.

I can think of very few TJ's that are in strip malls.  Most are standalone stores or urban stores with some type of dedicated parking.

[finehoe]

I can think of very few TJ's that are in strip malls.  Most are standalone stores or urban stores with some type of dedicated parking.

Plenty of them in the DC area are in strip malls.  They don't seem to be very restrictive in that regard.  Standalone, urban or suburban, they seem to do it all.

[fieldafm]

You kind of have a point.  You have a model like say the store in West End that is part of a larger mixed use building (with self contained parking) and then places like the Trader Joes in Reston (a Regency property) which is still a standalone store in the burbs... but are unlike the boxes Regency puts up around Jax in some small but poignant ways.  Although the stores in some of the VA bedroom communities are grocery anchors as part of a larger 'strip mall' they are still typically detached from the rest of the commercial unites and yet still others are the only potion of a self-contained parcel. 

Overall you are correct in that they certainly don't have design limitations.  As long as the demographics fit, the supply chain is kept at a minimal distance (their backroom operations are typically lean) and they have certain site characteristics (such as they prefer sloped loading docks to scissor lifts, etc) there isn't much they won't do. 

They aren't your typical grocery store layout in Florida though.  Even the two in Florida (Naples and Sarasota) are standalones. 

[Wacca Pilatka]

For what it's worth, there are two Trader Joe's here on the Virginia Peninsula - one is in a large big-box center/strip mall hybrid in Newport News, and one is in a new urbanist development in Williamsburg.

I do not think the absence of Trader Joe's from Jacksonville says anything negative about Jacksonville's cachet, market size, or buying power.  If a smaller, largely blue collar community like Newport News has one (though it's in a more upscale part of town), there's no demographic boundary to Jacksonville's having one.

[Bill Hoff]

Trader Joe's coming to Tallahassee . . . .

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20120907/BUSINESS/309070031/Trader-Joe-s-coming-Tallahassee?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7Cfrontpage%7Cs&nclick_check=1

[tufsu1]

well the good sign here is that the first 2 stores are in SW Florida...with the announcements now for Gainesville and Tallahassee, northeast Florida is on their radar

[CityLife]

That couldn't be in a less sexy place in Tally. Really surprised they didn't put it in the Midtown area. Though perhaps they eventually plan to have two stores there. If not, their demographics analysis failed them.

[CityLife]

Anyone know what TJ's Florida expansion plans are? I heard something from someone and wanted to double check first.

[fsquid]

no one really knows, they are a pretty secretive bunch.

[tufsu1]

That couldn't be in a less sexy place in Tally. Really surprised they didn't put it in the Midtown area. Though perhaps they eventually plan to have two stores there. If not, their demographics analysis failed them.

from what I hear its a chain of events....there's a new Publix about to open on Mahan Drive...the oldfer Publix across the street as well as the one at Centerville/Cap Circle will close...TJ Maxx will move from Thomasville Road down to Centrerville/Cap Circle Publix location....and then Trade Joe's will back fill the TJ Maxx space

[TPC]

Looks like the Trader Joe's in Gainesville opened yesterday. http://www.gainesville.com/article/20121212/ARTICLES/121219904/1002/news?Title=600-customers-flood-Trader-Joe-s-within-an-hour-of-its-opening

[Captain Zissou]

Good for Gainesville.  Unfortunately I'm not down there as much as I used to be, but I'll have to make a trip down one weekend to stock up. It is a shame that the store isn't closer to campus.  There is plenty of infill going in along University and 2nd between DT and campus that should have gotten this instead of Butler Plaza.  For those that don't know, Butler Plaza is 3 adjacent stip malls that make a 1 mile stretch of parking lots.  It's very Beach blvd-esque and a horrible black mark on the city.

[fsquid]

I think that is what Trader Joe's is going for.

[If_I_Loved_you]

Coming Soon: Trader Joe's
Houston (Memorial Area), TX - Jan. 4th
Mission Valley, CA - Jan. 25th
Asheville, NC
Austin, TX
Baton Rouge, LA
Boulder, CO
Dallas (Lower Greenville), TX
Dallas (North), TX
Denver, CO
Evanston, IL
Los Angeles (Burton Way), CA
Stamford, CT