Morton Williams is good, but man, imagine having Trader Joes...2 (or 3) buck chuck, their delicious ales, great vegan/veggie ingredients (at a very cheap price), great bread all in one location...it would make living here the last 10 years all worth while!

Nobody is mentioning Morton Williams ??

I would think it would be easier for someone living near Grove Street to move to East 14th Street than to move a Trade Joe's here.

For example, I think the Grand Canyon is lovely, so I drove to see it. Seemed easier than trying to move it to Jersey City.

I particularly like the Metropolitan Museum of Art...so I go there frequently. Manhattan is Manhattan because all the things that are there are THERE, and not here.

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The TJ in Edgewater is a very routine/boxy look. My biggest gripe with that location (apart from having to drive all the way there) is that they don't sell alcohol! TJ's has a pretty good beer selection and you can build your own 6 pack. According to a salesperson, its very hard to get a liquor permit in North Bergen!!

I applaud your tenacity, but I really don't see this happening anytime soon.

1) Last I looked, Grove Pointe is essentially filled with Duane Reade (soon to be Walgreens). Even if they did smaller than their standard size, where are you talking about putting it?


2) The commuter argument makes no sense.... no one living in a suburban environment that parks in JC to go to NYC is going to grocery shop here before getting HOME to an easier-to-park, less frenetic TJ's than anything in JC.


3) TJ's likely feels they are already serving what amounts to be a VERY small group of potential JC customers with TWO locations.... Edgewater if you have a car, 14th St. if you don't. And I only say a small group of potential customers because running demo's on 07302 shows VERY poor incomes, despite new condo's all over the place. For all the higher income families in downtown now, it's a demographic drop in the bucket against ALL of 07302, which is all they have to measure it on. That store in Edgewater is there is because they have crazy density with a MUCH more well-off shopper.

ALSO: for all our density and relatively poor incomes, we're arguably saturated with supermarkets... yes, yes, we all hate them for one reason or another but with PathMark, ShopRite AND A&P all here and thriving, TJ's doesn't stand a chance of performing where they need it to to justify the rents.


4) The new market at 77 Hudson is going to be an independent for exactly this reason: No national chain (Whole Foods, TJ's, Fresh Market, etc.) wants Downtown Jersey City, even in a brand new luxury building.

Please request TJ for the location on the following website. http://www.traderjoes.com/static/contact_us.html
I am not going to give up on this anytime soon!
Thank you.

I don't know anything about retail business but I think "Walkable" is a key for this TJ. Jersey City Down town is unique area. Some people have cars, some people don't have cars. But there are so many commuter parking around here. Don't they want to stop by at TJ before they hop in the car? It should be 3.5% tax, right? It must be cheaper than where these people live.

And for those who commute by PATH, don't you want to stop by at TJ before you get to home? I do grocery shopping on weekends but there are always something I need in the middle of the week (Bad planning, I know... ) or I just want to get lazy and just buy TJ's excellent frozen foods (Yaki onigiri anyone?) or prepared foods. Or if they really come to the down town, I maybe able to ditch weekend grocery shopping altogether.

How about Grove Pointe retail space? Is that too small? If it's empty for such a long time why don't they just lease to TJ much cheaper? I am sure that will atttarct more people to live there.

I personally like the C-town location idea but I guess that won't work for so many people...

i go to the one in Westfeild, its about 20 minutes away and they have beer and wine. gets a little crowded on Sunday's but its a great TJs

would love for one to be here in JC, it would make a KILLING.

I LOVE Trader Joe's, I have been shopping there for years and I would be thrilled if they came to JC! (I did sign up on their website!). I actually went to the one in Edgewater last night...it's nice but kind of far (driving up River Rd. with all the buses can make it feel further than it really is). I have been to nicer TJ's than this one, I feel like everytime I make the trip up there they are out of stock of a lot of my favorite items!

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That's a perfect location for almost any other business beside C-Town.

I don't know how the location in Edgewater looks, but the one in Brooklyn is impressive. Its a historical building, possibly a bank, and when you walk in, its like you are in a museum. I would like those same qualities for a possible store in JC.

I think a location like this would be nice (i guess its some auto place). Given, its not downtown, but it would be a good way to spread some shopping traffic throughout the city and still relatively close to transport / major road.

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TJs doesn't even need that. The original location in Pasadena, CA wasn't any bigger than 2000 sq feet. They've since made it a little bigger now but the lot still only has space for about 20 cars. It's off a main drag coming off a very busy freeway but it's still pretty manageable. Many, many TJ's in the LA area are probably 5000 sq feet or less and they do just fine. TJ's could do very well at a smaller location here.

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Yeah it was a big dream. I wouldn't even mind if they would just clean-up the contaminated soil and just pave a parking lot.

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Seems like the construction has been delayed by the whole ground contamination thing... the empty space between the towers is a Superfund site. Once they get the chromium out of the soil things might get back on track, but who knows at that point?

Pretty much anything would look better than the fenced-off concrete slab that's there now.

Perfect location would actually be where C-Town is in harisum cove.

When I lived in Hoboken and Quick Check went out of business on Washington Street, I was so smitten wtih Trader Joe's that I called them and urged them to check out the space....even giving them the phone number posted in the window.

I had never done this before or since...but really wanted them closer to home.

Trader Joe's New Location team called back a few days later saying "sorry but the rent on that location is way too high."

So who opened there next?
Garden of Eden and it's PACKED every night until closing.

Read a recent article about atypical retailers leasing available mall space across the country: i.e. banks, grocers, etc. So maybe Newport Mall is an option?

TJs runs about 10,000 ft.

A good location would be the new tower at Metropolis (Between Marin and Warren). The approved project calls for 40,000 sq feet in Retail. It will be facing Columbus at the street. That would be much more appealing than the suburban super market like Shop Rite & BJ's.

The only problems are:

-project does not look like it will get off the ground for awhile.
-40,000 sq feet will be too small for a trader joes.

I can dream i guess.

We need another walkable supermarket downtown. Shoprite actually isn't that bad of a store - I'm generally happy with the selection there, it's just too damn crowded because it's the only walkable supermarket for much of downtown.

Is there really room for a full-size supermarket at the grove PATH plaza?

I'd put it in Bergen Lafayette to attract Bayonne residents. Also face it that in Jersey you drive. Hell I drive to Manhattan for gigs.

I would love to see TJ's come to Jersey City, but would prefer the business to come to the Heights. Specifically to the large vacant lot on Summit Ave. across from the fire station. The lack of a quality grocery store in this area has been long-standing and the plethora of dollar stores in this area is disappointing to say the least. A store like Trader Joe's would be an attraction to the area which might just shine a light on some of the better restaurants and shops (though few) up our way.

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This is exactly why it won't happen. Simply not enough "appropriate" customers in a relatively small area to justify an "infill" store when you WILL travel to Edgewater (or 14th St for that matter) for them. Same reason why Hoboken will never get one.. Edgewater IS being shopped by Hoboken/JC. Companies like this also depend on a lot of demographic studies, and when you boil down the JC zips, they always come up with terrible income numbers... despite the pockets of better incomes downtown. It's hard to justify a store when the sales projections modeled on this zip info comes up so poorly.

Just submitted my request as well. A Trader Joe's would be huge in Downtown JC.

Some of you guys want to make bad traffic spots even worse. I'm all for a store like TJ's downtown, as long as there is no parking. Of course, that could be a dealbreaker for the store.

That empty lot right off the Grove PATH at Chris Columbus and Marin would be pretty perfect actually. I'm from L.A. and am pretty fond of TJ's. I go to the Edgewater one all the time. A closer one would be pretty awesome.

I think every fairly large grocery store outside of Manhattan needs parking. A lot of people aren't going to think of going to a place to stock up without having a car that allows them to lug their groceries home. Also, like it or not, JC is largely a car town. A lot of people drive from place to place. It's sort of urban AND suburban. And I think that if TJ was going to consider a location, they'd probably want to have a parking lot to attract more customers. Maybe it would even help JC's small businesses by bringing in people from other towns.

I don't see why a Trader Joe's would need to have parking. I think it just needs to be near mass transportation. Having parking lots, etc. just encouarges more cars.

I just put in a request as well :)

there also is that big lot on the corner of grove and montgomery that would be ideal, plenty of space for a building and parking.

It's just one idea. It's close to the PATH, too.

Wherever it is (if it ever happens), it should have parking and would ideally also be close to public transportation.

BTW, if you shop at Trader Joe's and they ask for your zip code, be sure to give it. That's one way they determine where to put new locations.

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I think the point is we live in Jersey City and would like the great/new options to be here!!