Trader Joe's Coming to Rollingwood/ West Lake Hills - STAT !! (San Antonio: appointed, 2014)

[ImOnFiya]

No joke! And April Fools Day is more than a month away!

For some reason, Trader Joe's cannot wait for the downtown location by Seaholm to open fast enough and they are landing in Rollingwood in a few months as fast as the Russian meteor in the Ural Mountains!

Central Texans might not have to wait till 2014 to shop at Trader Joe’s after all.

While a location at the Seaholm development in downtown Austin is still more than a year away, the specialty grocer appears poised to make its Central Texas debut much sooner with a location in Rollingwood that could open by summer, a city official said.

Documents obtained by the American-Statesman indicate Trader Joe’s plans a store in the Shops at Mira Vista shopping center at 2805 Bee Cave Road near MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1.).

What do you think? How crazy will the West Lake Hills/ Rollingwood residents go for the hiked-up Two Buck Chuck? Will this news bring even more California/ NYC people moving here in droves?!

[owlman]

Cool!

But, I have to wonder if it will survive... That Sprouts location was always kind of deserted and didn't last long. Is TJ's really that different from Sprouts? And once the downtown TJ location opens, can they support a presumably-smaller Rollingwood store 3 miles away? We shall see!

[atxcio]

Awesome news! I'm very, very happy to read that as it is close by for me. I was disappointed when the Sprouts closed there. Hope they do better with that location, Westlake in general can be a kind of black hole for restaurants and certain retail. But if it is the only Trader Joe's in town, I'm sure it will attract people from Downtown/SoCo area, at least until they open more locations.

EDIT ^^^ We were thinking the same thing, owlman

[AustinGuy]

Originally Posted by owlman

Cool!

But, I have to wonder if it will survive... That Sprouts location was always kind of deserted and didn't last long. Is TJ's really that different from Sprouts? And once the downtown TJ location opens, can they support a presumably-smaller Rollingwood store 3 miles away? We shall see!

Yes, no doubt it will survive and thrive. That will be a great location for them. The downtown store is going to be hard to get to by driving and parking (but great for nearby apartment dwellers), I don't think the close proximity will matter one bit.

I bet we will hear at least one more TJs announced and completed before the downtown store is finished.

[austin-steve]

Remind why Trader Joes is something to be excited about? What do they sell mainly?

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by owlman

Cool!

But, I have to wonder if it will survive... That Sprouts location was always kind of deserted and didn't last long. Is TJ's really that different from Sprouts? And once the downtown TJ location opens, can they support a presumably-smaller Rollingwood store 3 miles away? We shall see!

In Atlanta(Sandy Springs), TJ's and Whole Foods were within a mile of each other on the same road(with a large new Kroger 'in between'). Both were thriving when we moved away.

Sprouts carries 5-6 times the vitamin/healthy skin-type stuff compared to TJ's. Different approaches, for sure. TJ's' product offering is much tighter...primarily 'house' brands. The fresh foods dept is almost ancillary to the packaged foods(That's "packaged", not "junk", BTW)...BUT, the fresh foods they offered in Atlanta were fine, just not the main attraction. Remains to be seen how closely they could work with local farmers.

Heck, I've got a perfect location near Lakeline, if TJ's wants to make a blitz attack on Austin. I'd even volunteer to help get it open!

Interesting rumor.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Remind why Trader Joes is something to be excited about? What do they sell mainly?

Steveroo, here's a starter to give you an idea of their approach:
Trader Joe's
In addition to packaged foods, they carry a decent selection of organic dairy, organic and non-organic coffee, a decent selection of fresh produce and meats and a select offering of breads(depending on how they hook up with a local bakery).

All of this is done in a store footprint smaller than a typical Sprouts. Might be a little like the grocery section of Natural Grocers...only with more fun stuff

[woodinvilleguy]

Before the thread turns into a TJ's is great vs. We don't need no stinkin TJ's can people just refer to the other long TJ threads? When and if they open here, try it. If you like it great, if not great.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Remind why Trader Joes is something to be excited about? What do they sell mainly?

I went to the one in San Antonio to see what all the fuss was about (since it seems to be a cult). I even bought a bottle of Two Buck Chuck for $2.99 (plus a bottle of Cul de Sac for $3.00 at HEB - frankly, the Cul de Sac was better, in my opinion, and I can pick it up just about anywhere at an HEB).

What I realized was that if I was the kind of person and at the stage of life where I didn't cook much, I would so be all over the wide variety of frozen and convenience foods that they carry and would likely be a card carrying Trader Joe's enthusiast. A little bit of produce, but mostly processed foods of one kind or another, some of which you can't find most other places that, yes, looked intriguing.

So, whether or not you think they're exciting would depend on whether you're someone who cooks often for the pleasure of it (I am) and has the time to do so (I always made the time, especially when I had kids at home) or not. If you either don't particularly enjoy cooking or don't have time and can't make the time, they'd be truly awesome just because of the variety of easy options.

[woodinvilleguy]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

I went to the one in San Antonio to see what all the fuss was about (since it seems to be a cult). I even bought a bottle of Two Buck Chuck for $2.99 (plus a bottle of Cul de Sac for $3.00 at HEB - frankly, the Cul de Sac was better, in my opinion, and I can pick it up just about anywhere at an HEB).

What I realized was that if I was the kind of person and at the stage of life where I didn't cook much, I would so be all over the wide variety of frozen and convenience foods that they carry and would likely be a card carrying Trader Joe's enthusiast. A little bit of produce, but mostly processed foods of one kind or another, some of which you can't find most other places that, yes, looked intriguing.

So, whether or not you think they're exciting would depend on whether you're someone who cooks often for the pleasure of it (I am) and has the time to do so (I always made the time, especially when I had kids at home) or not. If you either don't particularly enjoy cooking or don't have time and can't make the time, they'd be truly awesome just because of the variety of easy options.

When I used to shop there they had lots of quality non-processed stuff for people who like to cook (like me). Lots of good frozen ingredients too that aren't processed.