[The southeast corner of 14th and A yesterday]
It's possible that you will one day have the choice of two Trader Joe's to stand in line at on East 14th Street.
According to DNAinfo, Trader Joe's is looking at taking the retail space in Extell's incoming retail-residential complex along East 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B
“It’s not a totally done deal, but we think that we’re close,” Ari Goldstein, vice president of development at the Extell Development Company, told DNAinfo New York.
If the deal pans out, Trader Joe’s will take over a storefront on the corner of East 14th Street and Avenue A, said Goldstein — in part to help offset the hellish lines at the chain’s most popular city location, sitting just a few blocks way at 142 E. 14th St. near Union Square.
“That is their most profitable store right now, and the line to get in that store … is insane,” said Goldstein. “They’re concerned they’re losing credibility with their customers because they’re not offering a good quality experience. So this would supplement that and pull a lot of traffic away from that store.”
The new location would serve customers in the East Village and Stuyvesant Town who would otherwise have to trek to the Union Square location, Goldstein said.
As we previously noted, a pollster for Fairway was soliciting opinions about the possibility of a new store for East 14th Street and Avenue A back in 2014. (A Fairway to this location isn't happening now.) In March 2014, a Facebook group formed to advocate for a Trader Joe's at Ben Shaoul's condotopia at 100 Avenue A. (Sorry — you got a Blink instead.)
As DNAinfo's Allegra Hobbs reported, Goldstein dropped this TJ tidbit for 500 E. 14th St. during CB3's Transportation & Public Safety/Environment Committee meeting Tuesday. The topic was about a request for loading zones for the development's commercial tenants. CB3 would need to OK all this before TJ would apparently commit to the location.
This grocery talk comes at a time when the owners of the Associated on East 14th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue are attempting to have their lease renewed.
Even if TJs signs up for this location at 500 E. 14th St., you'll likely still have awhile before shopping for, say, bags of Ode to the Classic Potato Chip here. The development appears to have a ways to go before it's ready for action. Workers are still filling in the foundation.
In total some day, the two 7-story complexes — 500 E. 14th St. at Avenue A and 524 E. 14th St. — will house more than 150 units, 32 of which will be below-market-rate.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street
[Updated with correction] 8-lot parcel of East 14th Street primed for new development
New 7-floor buildings for East 14th Street include 150 residential units
1st activity at 500 E. 14th St. since the demolition phase, and when the standing water froze
Community meeting tonight to address construction noise at Extell's East 14th Street development sites
So much for that Fairway coming to East 14th Street and Avenue A then
Construction watch: 500 E. 14th St. (plus, Extell construction site still keeping residents up at night)
Not gonna hold my breath on this one but I have to admit I wouldn't mind a TJ's two blocks away rather than a 15 minute schlepp to Union SQ. I stopped going to to TJ's couple of years ago due to the lines and my determination to shop closer to my real neighborhood and smaller private shops.
ReplyDeleteI lived for five years a couple of blocks from Trader Joes and stopped going after the second visit - I don't care how good or cheap the groceries are (and they were neither), I'm not waiting 45 minutes in line to pay for anything.
ReplyDeleteThey have the same issue on the Upper West Side - where people queue to get into the store - GTFOH.
Who are all these newbies to the city that love to stand in line for bars, restaurants, store openings, grocery stores?
Bullshit. They're just trying to drum up news coverage for their development. TJs has confirmed a location I think on 2nd ave in the low 30s though.
ReplyDeleteconsidering that ALL of trader joe's frozen fruit and vegetables were recalled recently - and that this is not the first problem TJs has had with tainted or inaccurate labeling - i sure hope they clean house.
ReplyDeletemore important to me is the hope that associated wlll be able to survive and perhaps renegotiate their lease renewal. they have been a mainstay for locals for years.
@ 9:40 AM
ReplyDeleteTJs apples are about half the price of anywhere else in the city. At $0.69 each for Fuji apples, that works out to about $1.10-1.30/lbs. Compare that to normal pricing of $2.49-3.99/lbs at other grocery stores in the area.
TJs cereal, milk, and eggs are also cheaper than other stores in the area.
The key to short lines is never to go right after work, especially not on a Monday. If that's when I need groceries, I'll stomach the near 2x pricing and buy a few things from Food Emporium.
If you add up all the time you spend in line at a Trader Joe's and pay yourself minimum wage for that time would it equal the "savings" plus aggravation? A sign of our times is how people become cult followers of corporations and will sacrifice hours during the week to support them.
ReplyDeleteI counted six recalled items from Trader Joe's on fda.gov. That is a long way from "all trader joe's frozen fruits and vegetables". If I didn't know any better I'd call that a malicious lie.
ReplyDeleteI've never waited more than 15 minutes and I started going to TJ's since the first week it opened. And the prices are terrific. In fact unbeatable in the city - except for Whole Foods(buy the house brands, save a bundle.) Welcome to the EV TJ. The more the merrier!
ReplyDeleteLast time I went to TJs in the UWS, no one would line-up behind me. You know how at first you're in a single line from upstairs and once your downstairs it forks to two lines? Well, yeah, after the line split, people behind me opted to get to the other line even though it was longer. Probably because I'm one fugly ethnic-looking mfer. People who shop at TJs only want to be with their own beautiful kind and by rubbing elbows and shoulders with them make them think that they are looking at their own reflection thus they are special and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAnd btw, you stand "on line" in NYC, ain't no "in line", dats fer dem Middle-American and suburban folks who are changing NYC into their own image.
"the people who shop at TJ's"
ReplyDeletedude it's just a grocery store. The paranoia in these discussions is hilarious. Did I say hilarious? I meant sad.
Right on with 1:44. It's fucking absurd. Like TJ's? Go. Don't like it? Nobody is putting a gun to your head.
ReplyDeleteAre we pretending that check out at any grocery store is fast and easy? Trader Joe's is bad but I can't think of anywhere that's any good, especially anywhere that is as cheap as Trader Joe's.
ReplyDeleteExactly, it is just a grocery store, yet people who shop at TJ's make it like another destination place for social hook-ups and status symbol. You'd never see people who shop at TJ's in Ctown or Key Food or Associated. Sad and hilarious indeed.
ReplyDeleteYes, long lines during rush hours at any store with good prices. At least at Trader Joe's the staff makes a concerted team effort to move the line along. It gets long but it moves fast. You want some infuriation go join the queue at 14th st. Whole Foods and watch those cashiers in action. Most shoppers there are holding a scant few items with their bare hands and still the store can never get those lines moving.
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for other TJ's shoppers but for me it is just one of many grocery stores. So already you can see the danger of lumping together all the people you ever see inside particular grocery store. Unless I am the only person who goes to multiple grocery stores on a regular basis.
Damn I've been going to TJ's for years and never once made a social hook-up there and definitely never thought to flaunt my TJ-shopping as a status symbol. I wasted all those years. It ends now. Off to the TJ's! Hello, ladies!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 2:45 You have a blind spot or you are being willingly blind because I shop at Trader Joe's, Associated, and Key Food. I've never seen anyone dressing up for or hooking up at Trader Joe's or the other stores for that matter. It's just people trying to get cheap cheese, milk, eggs, butter, vegetables, and relatively cheap frozen food that's better than Hungry Man, etc.
ReplyDeleteanonymous 12:15 counted six recalled items from Trader Joe's on fda.gov. That is a long way from "all trader joe's frozen fruits and vegetables". If I didn't know any better I'd call that a malicious lie.
ReplyDeletethe first recall was 15 items - i called the customer service numberto find out exactly what was recalled and the representative told me ALL the frozen fruit and vegetables were recalled.
why would i bother to make it up?
Anon. 2:45, I shop at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, C-town, Associated, Key Foods, Food Emporium, the Union Square and Avenue A Greenmarkets, Union Market, the East Village Cheese Shop, and anyplace else that's around when I need something and I know they've got it. Why you seem to think we're all wearing blinkers with big TJ's on 'em, I have no idea. Also, I don't go to any of my food establishments looking for a quickie, I'm usually on the prowl for cat food or eggs.
ReplyDeleteYou stand on line and make eye contact, then head home and check out CL Missed Connex... i.e., "Roach in brown hoodie standing alone in line, you're cute. Please crawl up my block one of these days."
ReplyDeleteI went to TJs the other day and tried to trade some silver candle holders for a bagful of groceries for my crew and they laughed at me. What kind of bs is that!
ReplyDeleteIf "all" of the frozen foods at Trader Joe's has been recalled and "none" of the frozen food at the other stores you shop at has been recalled then you may not have been paying attention.
ReplyDeleteThis lists 6 specific TJ brand frozen items and 361 other brand frozen items that were recalled by "CRF Frozen Foods of Pasco, Washington", the company that was the source of all these items:
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm498841.htm
Check it out. Maybe your favorite store just didn't bother telling you that the stuff in their freezers was recalled. The rent is too damn high to let little things like that get in the way of moving the merchandise.
As someone who shops at Associated (my main go to), Westville Market, C-Town, Union Market, Whole Foods, TJs and local bodegas (F 7-11), the big picture issue here is the now rapid extinction of full service supermarkets in Manhattan and other hyper gentrified areas of NYC. The only places that will be able to afford the insane REBNY rents will be Whole Foods and TJs if we are lucky enough to even have those types of markets at all instead of a Walgreens, Duane Reades, etc. This “hooking up” (?) line in this thread is a distraction. BTW, I had to return rotten meat three times to TJ’s that imploded in my fridge way before the package expiration date. Never had to do that with Associated.
ReplyDeleteTrader Joe's price gouges suppliers in the same way as Walmart; it is just a commodified anti-commodification -- a very hispter-y ironic thing, which is no surprise since most who shop there are self-righteous hipsters and annoying yogis with their endless banalities. Namaste!
ReplyDeleteThis is among the first good news thats come out of the gentrification-destruction of the E Village. IF it happens.
ReplyDeleteAs for those recalls?
Funny how the main targets of "hazard" are the companies making loud noises against GMOs and inorganic corp pesticide cancererous food industry. Whole Foods, Chipotle are others that seem to have a high recall rate. Looks like govt in service of lobbyists to knock out the alt food outlets in favor of agribusiness.
BUY all these products and support TJ, WF and Chipotle business models. Refuse govt corp lies and resist. Vote w/ your bucks
I've walked past Trader Joe's on 14th for years. I cringe at the very thought of being cramped in so tight with others where one can barely move. I also can't imagine waiting for what feels like an eternity to buy groceries. At times, I've seen a bouncer at the door during the holidays and other important events. I am not kidding a bouncer. When I visited a friend last winter in LA, we went to the Trader Joe's in Studio City. It was large and plentiful with ample space. I was blown away literally by how easy it was to buy food and get out in a timely fashion. There should be a few more Trader Joes around and below 14th street. More and more people are calling downtown home. It would be a nice change to have another outpost on A and 14th, which is near my apt. Otherwise, I won't waste my time. Don't get me started on Whole Foods at Union Square. I refuse to patronize this place for the sheer volume of people and time spent trying to trudge thought the aisles. It feels like going through security at JFK.
ReplyDeleteI'll take Trader Joe's over Associated any day.
ReplyDeleteWill this new TJ also be allowed to shut down 2 lanes of traffic on 14th St while they unload their trucks every night?
ReplyDelete