We Need a Trader Joe’s in the City of St. Louis
The Spring issue of “New Towns” just arrived in the mail today. Formerly known as Town Paper the quarterly focuses on Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND). There on page 12 is a story titled, “Little Trader Joe’s, Big Business,” which tells the tale of a Trader Joe’s in Old Town Alexandria, VA.
“The Old Town Alexandria, Va., Trader Joe’s has become a standard-bearer among other outlets of the national chain. This store’s success commands the attention of company headquarters and the devotion of the Old Town community. The Old Town Trader Joe’s is four years old, ranked sixth on the East Coast, and slated to do $21 million in fiscal year 2005. Under manager Peter Uli, growth is strong and profits are high, with an average purchase of $35 and weekly sales averaging $300,000. Yet, its retail space is a mere 6,100 square feet and its location understated.”
Trader Joe’s is such an awesome place to shop for groceries. I know many city dwellers that make the trek out to Brentwood to do their shopping. But where would be the best location?
Some ideas that crossed my mind are the old Aldi at Jefferson & Lafayette. Someplace downtown West of Tucker would be good but we don’t want to ruin business for City Grocers. Perhaps in Midtown near SLU? Perhaps on Delmar in the new East Loop area?
Anywhere closer than Brentwood!
What do you think? Have you been to Trader Joe’s in the St. Louis area or in other cities? Are you fine without a Trader Joe’s in the city? Can you see a Trader Joe’s fitting into the mix? Where would you like to see a Trader Joe’s in the city? Use the comments below to let me (and others) know what you think.
Also in this issue of New Town is a great insert with part of DPZ’s SmartCode – A Comprehensive Form-Based Planning Ordinance. This is available online as a 24-page PDF document (6.6mb). I highly recommend checking this out – click here.
– Steve
I pass by Trader Joe’s on Queen Anne Hill (Seattle) every day on my way home from work. I have yet to visit the big new one on Capitol Hill in my own neighborhood. Nothing compares to Trader Joe’s. It’s essentially “heat n’ eat yuppie fast food”, which makes it the first stop in preparing for a party. St. Louis needs one. But in the meantime, while it is absent there, I will continue to rub Steve’s nose in it. How does Cartman say it? “Ha Ha Ha Ha – Ha”.
[I do have a TJ’s less than 11 miles from my house. If I still worked out in the ‘burbs it wouldn’t be so bad. As it is I go out there every week or two and stock up. A TJ’s in the city proper will just save many of us from going out to the ‘burbs.
At least I’m not developing strip centers in suburban Seattle. hahahaha
– Steve]
I think that the old Aldi space you mentioned would be a great location, as would the old Foodland directly across the street from it, although the space is probably too large.
That location would draw customers from downtown and Lafayette Square, Soulard, Tower Grove, etc.
There’s also the old National store on The Hill at Southwest and Macklind, although I think half of that is occupied by a dollar store.
I was going to chime in and suggest the old Foodland/National/Aldi’s location at Jefferson and Lafayette.
Then it dawned on me – the former Family Dollar store on Morganford, between Wyoming and Connecticut. That would be a fantastic anchor for the neighborhood.
Making it part of the new building at Grand and Lindell seems like a no brainer.
Lots of students within walking distance, CWE to the west, new lofts on Locust to the east, and pretty easy access from the North and South.
I know I would make frequent trips from TGS.
Also the Comp & Soft space on S. Grand I believe is once again available and much larger than it appears from the street.
Also how does this fit in with your plan to give up national chains?
[I think I made an exception for TJ – I do need to eat. I am going to do Soulard Market more often as well as City Grocres. But I love TJ! – Steve]
How about in the ground floor spaces of the planned renovations of the Melba Theater or the SSNB?
RB
Love the idea of the Aldi space on Jefferson. Having it close to hwy 44 might actually draw grocery shoppers back to the city from the burbs, hows that for a change! Is the alderman or city developement office listening?
Or what about a new building on the large SSNB parking lot? Or how about that empty lot next to the Vess Bottle? Or, coolest of all to me: inside of the laundry building at City Hospital?
The “triangle site” between Vandeventer,Tower Grove and Highway 44. Designated for commercial.
The former Schnucks site at Kingshighway and Delmar. If Walgreens can find room for so many stores in one town, surely creative thinking from the best urban thinkers (ie those of us who live here year in and year out) can come up with some good options. All the ideas for locations in the previous posts have merit. I especially like the City Hospital locale and the SSNB area. Some competition would serve to raise the quality of customer service at the Schnucks Grand and Gravois store. TJs might not like two competitors right next door. WRT the “box design”, I can envision a store whose facade is close to the adjoining building line, with parking behind. European supermarkets in historic towns have employed such designs (some with existing building renovations) for decades.
I’d love to know what Rollin thinks.
You speak the truth, Steve. Trader Joe’s has the quality food products that you can find at Whole Foods but with Schnucks prices. They should put one on South Grand.
I just wish they had more fresh produce.
I’m becoming a food snob as I get older. Wait.. I hope no one reads this so I don’t lose any street cred.
Um.. what I ment to say was — Hell no. I don’t need your hippy food! I eat pocklet knives and motor oil for breakfast!
We need one further south in the county,too!Somewhere around the Crestwood/Sunset Hills area.Plenty of space in Crestwood these days and I know LOTS of people in that area who have to sclepp all the to Brentwood for lobster ravioli and pistachios.It’s a much more convenient area than the Brentwood bottleneck.
Trader Joe’s is great. I actually spoke with some people at TJ about the Aldi spot at Jefferson and 44 but at that time they were just looking at the brentwood location and one in west county. Since then the Aldi and the car wash across the street have been purchased and are going to be developed, but into what we don’t know yet. Foodland on Jeffereson is also being developed. They were in talks with I believe Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Straubs but I think it has been mainly focused on Whole Foods. That development will be mix use and will have residential and retail including a higher end grocery store. The Foodland will be torn down. The st. louis business journal and npr ran the story. I think that any of the three would be great! Until then I will have to break my shopping up between City Grocer, TJ, Whole Foods and Dierbergs but it would be nice to keep that tax money in the city rather than in the county.
But yes Trader Joe’s in the city would be great!
It would be perfect if they put one near the Delmar loop. There is a desperate need for a decent grocery store within walking distance of that area. There are many foreign graduate students who live there who do not have transportation and have to walk to the Schnucks on Olive which is fairly far and has limited selections for healthy foods (and it rather smells as well!!!
[UR I think you are onto something here. Vacant land is available on Delmar just barely east of the MetroLink station. Build a new Trader Joe’s in that location and you’ll have great proximity to the loop, to the MetroLink for workers and shoppers as well as good proximity to the West End. I’d certainly go to that store over Brentwood. – SLP]