Jump to content

Trader Joe's Looking at Greenville?


Greenville

Recommended Posts

I was looking at the Trader Joe's website recently, and noticed that they have been expanding into the Southeast. I was shocked! Just a couple of years ago, when I lived in DC, I shopped at what was then the Southernmost Trader Joe's - in Alexandria, Virginia. Since then, they have opened stores in the following Southern cities:

Cary, NC

Marietta, GA

Norcross, GA

Sandy Springs, GA

They also have stores "coming soon" to the following Southern cities:

Atlanta, GA (midtown)

Charlotte, NC (north)

Charlotte, NC (south)

Given Greenville's population base and location, plus our strong support of alternative grocers, do you guys think Trader Joe's might be looking into Greenville for a future location? I emailed them a couple of weeks ago to request Greenville, and have not heard back from them. Does anyone else know if they might be looking at us?

For those of you who are not familiar with them, they are usually smaller stores with a variety of natural foods - but they do not tend to have as much organic stuff as Whole Foods or Earth Fare. Their prices are great, and every one I have ever been to does great business. Could our dreams for a Trader Joe's come true? I am curious to know if anyone has heard anything...

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 29
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I sent them an email to see if I have better luck than Greenville did. Hopefully they send me one back. A good place for them in a few years might be near Verdae even though a Super Bi-Lo is coming there. Can anybody think of a good place they might go if they did locate here?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Curious that Whole Foods already came to Greenville. I don't know grocery retail very well but I'd think that WF has a pretty high-income target demographic.

I'd think that Greenville's location would definitely play to its advantage; even if the city wouldn't be a destination for Trader Joe's on its own, it would be so easy to supply a store in Greenville due to the company's trucks heading up and down I-85 that the company might be lenient on its demographic needs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could look at this two ways:

Greenville is a great alternative food market and therefore they want to join the market OR

Greenville is a great alternative food market and therefore they think it's saturated. :dontknow:

After living in much larger cities, I can say that none had the options Greenville has. This is one area that Greenville, even though small, is just outstanding. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: What other city Greenville's size has so many alternative choices? Whole Foods, Earth Fare, Fresh Market, Garners, multiple Blooms, multiple Aldi's along with all the Japanese grocers, Korean grocers, Vietamese grocers, Mexican grocers, Indian grocers, Chinese Grocers, Arabic grocers, German Grocers, etc, etc. Not to mention all our standard Bi-Lo's, Publix, Ingles, etc.

If Greenville can support all these upper end stores like Whole Foods, Earth Fare and Fresh Market that have high income targets, then we can surely support Trader Joes, as their target demographic is much like IKEA....trendy and urban, but you don't need much money to shop there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could look at this two ways:

Greenville is a great alternative food market and therefore they want to join the market OR

Greenville is a great alternative food market and therefore they think it's saturated. :dontknow:

After living in much larger cities, I can say that none had the options Greenville has. This is one area that Greenville, even though small, is just outstanding. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: What other city Greenville's size has so many alternative choices? Whole Foods, Earth Fare, Fresh Market, Garners, multiple Blooms, multiple Aldi's along with all the Japanese grocers, Korean grocers, Vietamese grocers, Mexican grocers, Indian grocers, Chinese Grocers, Arabic grocers, German Grocers, etc, etc. Not to mention all our standard Bi-Lo's, Publix, Ingles, etc.

If Greenville can support all these upper end stores like Whole Foods, Earth Fare and Fresh Market that have high income targets, then we can surely support Trader Joes, as their target demographic is much like IKEA....trendy and urban, but you don't need much money to shop there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got an email back, but it was only a link to their website where it listed locations.

Curious that Whole Foods already came to Greenville. I don't know grocery retail very well but I'd think that WF has a pretty high-income target demographic.

I'd think that Greenville's location would definitely play to its advantage; even if the city wouldn't be a destination for Trader Joe's on its own, it would be so easy to supply a store in Greenville due to the company's trucks heading up and down I-85 that the company might be lenient on its demographic needs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll post an intro above in a minute, but wanted to comment on this post.

I moved here from the DC area, and have frequented several Trader Joes. Even the Alexandria one someone else mentioned! (That's where we last lived.)

Although I never shopped there a lot, I think Trader Joes would be a great addition to Greenville. Where? If they're ever looking to bump that mini Bi-Lo off of North Main (backs to Academy), that would probably be a great location. The population up along North Main would be all over it. And it would give them a great alternative to drive to Woodruff, Laurens, East North, or Pelham for the other natural foods stores.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
I was looking at the Trader Joe's website recently, and noticed that they have been expanding into the Southeast. I was shocked! Just a couple of years ago, when I lived in DC, I shopped at what was then the Southernmost Trader Joe's - in Alexandria, Virginia. Since then, they have opened stores in the following Southern cities:

Cary, NC

Marietta, GA

Norcross, GA

Sandy Springs, GA

They also have stores "coming soon" to the following Southern cities:

Atlanta, GA (midtown)

Charlotte, NC (north)

Charlotte, NC (south)

Given Greenville's population base and location, plus our strong support of alternative grocers, do you guys think Trader Joe's might be looking into Greenville for a future location? I emailed them a couple of weeks ago to request Greenville, and have not heard back from them. Does anyone else know if they might be looking at us?

For those of you who are not familiar with them, they are usually smaller stores with a variety of natural foods - but they do not tend to have as much organic stuff as Whole Foods or Earth Fare. Their prices are great, and every one I have ever been to does great business. Could our dreams for a Trader Joe's come true? I am curious to know if anyone has heard anything...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was at the Flower Mart at Washington National Cathedral this past Saturday and got some good news on this subject. (I'm looking at perhaps moving to Greenville - see my recent post under "New Members" - and having a Trader Joe's would be a major draw.) TJ's had a table set up, giving out samples, and I asked one of the reps if Greenville is being considered for a store. He said absolutely "yes". Apparently they are going to open a distribution center in the Atlanta area.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was at the Flower Mart at Washington National Cathedral this past Saturday and got some good news on this subject. (I'm looking at perhaps moving to Greenville - see my recent post under "New Members" - and having a Trader Joe's would be a major draw.) TJ's had a table set up, giving out samples, and I asked one of the reps if Greenville is being considered for a store. He said absolutely "yes". Apparently they are going to open a distribution center in the Atlanta area. Currently their stores in the Southeast are still served by the distribution center in Needham, MA. Once they open the center in Atlanta, the growth in that region will take off, and I got the impression that a Greenville store would then be a real possibility.

I'll emphasize here that TJ's is a wholly different store than Whole Foods, Earth Fare, etc. They have much lower prices and are also much smaller. There's also a certain "culture" to the way they do things that is hard to describe but totally endearing. Truly a store to celebrate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In regard to Trader Joe's, they are primarily concentrating on North Carolina currently. South Carolina is not on their roll out program for another 2-3 years. They will be looking for a regional area with money similar to Woodruff Road or Pelham Road, so they can get the most "bang for their buck" in a smaller market such as Greenville. In regard to the post above about areas with money. The Pelham Road and Woodruff Road area demos are actually better than the University Area in North Charlotte.

Trader Joe's is also doing the Metropolitan Midtown development just outside of downtown Charlotte in the Midtown area. This area would be very comparable to the county square redevelopment hmmmmm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The site is three acres, that puts the price at $2M per acre, I would say the price is where I would put it if it were mine. I don't see there being to much movement in that. When you consider the location and potential, this is a great site, I do not see there being to many similar opportunities on main.

Link to Flyer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The site is three acres, that puts the price at $2M per acre, I would say the price is where I would put it if it were mine. I don't see there being to much movement in that. When you consider the location and potential, this is a great site, I do not see there being to many similar opportunities on main.

Link to Flyer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for sharing what you learned about Trader Joe's, cartophile! That is great to know that they are looking at Greenville. I'm confident it won't be long before they open a store there.

I agree about the culture being interesting at TJ's. It's definitely not like Whole Foods or EarthFare - not nearly as much in the way of organic foods or produce, but a great selection of regular, everyday food that is still healthy (nothing in the store has any preservatives or artificial ingredients, if I am remembering correctly). Of all the things I miss about living in DC, Trader Joe's is very high on the list. It's just fun to shop there! :thumbsup:

The great thing about Trader Joe's is that it's very affordable. It was cheaper for me to shop there than at a regular supermarket.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Gang,

First time, long time. First of all I want to thank all of you so much for all that you do and the info that you provide on this board. I've been lurking for almost a year and this site had an impact on my wife and myself choosing to move here from SoCal. we moved from Burbank (nice suburb of LA) to Greer about a month and a week ago. We love it here however we find ourselved lamenting the fact that the nearest TJ's is in Atlanta. We honestly went to our local one in Burbank upwards of 3 x's a week. They are like no other store, a real one of it's kind. Very inexpensive quality food, mst of if not all of their stock is Trader Joes brand thus the low prices. The checkput people wear hawaiian shirts and the store emphasizes customer stisfaction, you can return anything in any condition, anything. lol

Anyway, can't wait for Charlotte to open and then G'ville. Thanks again

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Gang,

First time, long time. First of all I want to thank all of you so much for all that you do and the info that you provide on this board. I've been lurking for almost a year and this site had an impact on my wife and myself choosing to move here from SoCal. we moved from Burbank (nice suburb of LA) to Greer about a month and a week ago. We love it here however we find ourselved lamenting the fact that the nearest TJ's is in Atlanta. We honestly went to our local one in Burbank upwards of 3 x's a week. They are like no other store, a real one of it's kind. Very inexpensive quality food, mst of if not all of their stock is Trader Joes brand thus the low prices. The checkput people wear hawaiian shirts and the store emphasizes customer stisfaction, you can return anything in any condition, anything. lol

Anyway, can't wait for Charlotte to open and then G'ville. Thanks again

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.