Trader Joe's Announces Opening For 2nd Upper West Side Store

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — After years of buzz and speculation, Trader Joe's officially announced a tentative opening date for its second store on the Upper West Side.

The popular grocery chain will open a two-story store inside 670 Columbus Avenue, between West 92nd and 93rd streets, in late 2017, Trader Joe's announced on its website. Trader Joe's opened its first Upper West Side location — on West 72nd and Broadway — in 2010.

The new Trader Joe's should serve as a relief to the entire neighborhood. Customers at West 72nd Street may see the long lines shrink and residents of the northern section of the Upper West Side won't have to travel quite so far for their kale chips and cookie butter.

Trader Joe's negotiated its 20,000-square-foot lease in 2016, the Real Deal reported. The store will occupy ground floor and basement retail space at the base of an existing 30-story condo, according to the report.

The Upper West Side began buzzing about the store in 2014, when tipsters informed the West Side Rag they overheard rumors that Trader Joe's was looking to open a store in the West 90s. At the time the prospects of Trader Joe's opening a second Upper West Side location when other neighborhoods hadn't gotten a first store seemed unlikely.

Trader Joe's opened its first New York City store in Union Square in 2006. Union Square is also the home of the only Trader Joe's wine store, due to state regulations that limit grocery store chains from opening multiple wine locations. The grocery chain has taken the city by storm in the past 10 years, opening stores in Soho, Chelsea, Midtown East, Brooklyn Heights and Rego Park.

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