Have you ever wished you, the average, non-millionaire type person, could choose which stores open in town? Well now you can! Or you can try, anyway.
West of Shockoe alerted Richmond to a “location request form” for Trader Joe’s grocery store where you ask them to open a store wherever you want. Trader Joe’s, for those that don’t know, is only the best grocery store ever. They sell mostly natural and organic and imported foods at really good prices. And every store has a plastic lobster.
I’m not optimistic that they’ll move to town; I can’t imagine that with loyal Ukrops and Ellwood Thompson’s customers this would be an easy market for them.
And even if they come here, my bet is they’ll locate in West End suburban strip mall hell (sorry West Enders, but I grew up there, I know whereof I speak) . But I’ve put in my request for a TJ’s in the city limits.
April 18, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Management at 2 different NoVA TJ’s stores told me “don’t hold your breath” for a Richmond store. They tried that once and got burned, thanks to the Local Grocery Cabal, so I don’t think they care too much to try again.
April 18, 2007 at 9:11 pm
I’ve heard rumors to that effect here in town. My (not very reliable) sources tell me that the victory over TJ’s caused a certain local grocery store to celebrate and name their high end specialty store “Joe’s Market.”
I’ve never been able to verify that story, and I doubt anyone would admit to it in print.
April 18, 2007 at 11:53 pm
I’m pretty confident that the name Joe’s Market was the company’s way of paying homage to Joe Ukrop, founder of Ukrop’s, not because of “celebration” over Trader Joe’s not entering the Richmond market. And I fail to see how a niche/specialty grocer like TJ’s would be viewed as a threat by the “Grocery Cabal” given their more traditional grocery format, but I’m no expert on the industry.
April 19, 2007 at 8:50 am
Richmondpics- you’re probably right about the name of Joe’s Market. It’s likely the cynicism of my friends who’re frustrated by the overwhelming influence of a few major players in town that led them to that conclusion. My uncertainty about the veracity of that info is why I didn’t mention it in my post. But I have heard that Ukrops is a fierce competitor- and one of the few grocery chains around the nation that isn’t losing money with the expansion of Wal Mart & other big box stores entry into the grocery game. So I think they’re wary of anyone that would strip away ANY portion of their customer base.
I have absolutely no idea HOW they might keep another store out of town, but that’s what I’ve been told, and Bill echoed that in his comments above.
April 19, 2007 at 11:47 am
My understanding was that TJ’s had at least a verbal deal (if not signed paperwork) in place for the space on Libbie, but Ukrops subsequently bought the space out from under them. I also seem to recall the opening of Joe’s Market being touted as “the first of many” such stores. I doubt Ukrops saw TJ’s as a threat so much as they figured if anyone was going to open a semi-natural specialty store, it was going to be them. They likely can’t outright keep another store from opening in town, but they can certainly make things difficult.