Thursday, October 19, 2023

What's happening at the former Trader Joe's Wine Shop on 14th Street?

Multiple EVG tipsters have pointed out the arrival of some (somewhat generic) Trader Joe's signage outside the former Trader Joe's Wine Shop at 138 E. 14th St. near Irving Place. 

One EVG commenter said the Wine Shop is reopening... the signage could also be to spruce up the bare storefront. Anyway, we haven't gotten anyone to confirm what's happening here. The signage simply lists the Trader Joe's website. We contacted the TJ's home office for comment about the space. So, chalk this up to a RUMOR at the moment.

The shop, representing the brand's only liquor license in New York State, abruptly closed on Aug. 11, 2022, after 15-plus years in business. Workers here reportedly planned to unionize when the company announced the closure.

Since the shop closed, Trader Joe's had held onto the space for storage here in the base of NYU's Palladium Hall. At the time, the company announced that the "space currently used for the wine shop will be used to improve the overall operations of store 540, our grocery store in Union Square." 

In a statement to Gothamist, a company spokesperson said that its decision to close the store had nothing to do with the unionizing efforts ... calling the outpost an "underperforming wine shop." To which anyone who saw the lines out the door disagreed with.

This past AprilTrader Joe's workers at Essex Crossing narrowly voted not to join Trader Joe's United... this followed a vote against unionizing by workers at a store in Brooklyn in October 2022.

Previously on EV Grieve
• Here's the midnight email that employees of the Trader Joe's Wine Shop received about the closing on Union Square (Aug. 12, 2022)

7 comments:

  1. Doubt anything is happening. They just replaced the paper.

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  2. I think theyre converting the space into a pop up rave.

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  3. This is embarrassing. I was in LA. Every Trader Joe's sells wine, beer and liquor. Every grocery store, CVS and Walgreens has a beer,wine, liquor section larger than NYC liquor stores. Even 7-11 has it's own wine brand.

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    Replies
    1. The liquor store lobby in NY state is to blame, along with legislators who are beholden to them

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  4. Word amongst TJ’s crew is they’ve been using the space for training. Probably gussied up the windows for the new regional manager. Company has wanted to move the wine shop for awhile so they can sell liquor (prohibited by NYU landlords). New wine & liquor store should be by a grocery store… there’s what, two years left on the Union Square lease? That store is way too small and there’s plenty of bigger retail spaces right on Union Square…

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  5. I saw a number of workers going in and out of the space yesterday (Feb 2). Snuck a peak...the space looked pretty raw, but there's something going on inside.

    ReplyDelete

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