Tag: traderjoes

Our long national wait is over. Our new Trader Joe's grocery store, which can alternately be referred to as the Carson City, Douglas County, Clear Creek, Jacks Valley, or Indian Hills store, opened today! There apparently was a grand opening celebration at 9am, and when I swung by the place an hour and a half later the parking lot was packed. I didn't go inside myself, because my wife would have killed me if I went without her. But we're meeting tonight to go.

This is a great addition to Carson City's shopping selection, because Trader Joe's carries a lot of specialty foods that you can't get anywhere else in town, or that you can get but are priced super high. It's a perfect match with Wal*Mart, in fact, since there's practically no overlap in what they carry. I'll still be shopping at Wal*Mart, don't get me wrong, but there are several items that can only be had at Trader Joe's. So having them right next door to each other is actually a great idea.

In case you still don't know where the new Trader Joe's is located, it's in the Clear Creek Plaza shopping center, which is just across the Douglas County line south of Carson City. It's in the parking lot of the Wal*Mart store right there. Turn west on Topsy Lane, then go into the shopping center and look for Trader Joe's. I've marked it on the map here. (Don't worry if you follow that link; that's an old picture, and it's not a dirt lot anymore.)

It looks like we're getting an early Christmas present here in Carson City. Our new Trader Joe's has posted signs in the window announcing that they're going to open on December 8th, just a week and a half from now.

There were also several people in tonight frantically stocking the shelves, getting ready for opening day.

Can't wait!

They've been keeping the lights on inside the new Trader Joe's at night. This is good to discourage anyone from breaking in, but it's also good for letting us take a peek inside.

I got a little scare last week when I drove past the location of our new Trader Joe's and saw that the "Coming Soon" signs had been removed. A wave of panic washed over me: had the deal fallen through? Is Carson City not getting a Trader Joe's after all?

My mind was eased a little last weekend when I talked with someone who has connections in Douglas County, who said that it was still going in, there had just been some permitting delays. But it wasn't until today that I was able to breathe deeply again. That's when I drove by the Clear Creek Plaza strip mall and saw this:

They only took down the small signs so they could put up bigger ones! That's good news, and it also means that construction should now be starting in earnest. Not only are there work trucks piled up in the parking lot, there's also a job trailer parked out front.

So now it's just a matter of waiting while the inside of the store is built, the employees hired and trained, and the shelves stocked. And then Carsonites won't have to drive to Reno anymore to go to Trader Joe's. They'll just have to drive to Douglas County.

Here is one of the first pictures of the inside construction:

Let's hope they get it done quick!

Contributor Cheryl sent in this picture of a Trader Joe's sign in the window at Clear Creek Plaza. I guess I really did miss the sign when I went down to look the other day.

There is life inside the empty storefronts at Clear Creek Plaza. The "For Lease" signs have come down, paper has gone up in the windows, and workers are going in and out of Suite 401. Could this be the start of construction on the fabled Carson City Trader Joe's?

I had an anonymous commenter yesterday who said that the Trader Joe's in Carson City is scheduled to open on September 29th of this year. That's great news, but there's one big piece of the story that's still missing; where is it going to be?

My bet is still on this place:

That's in the Clear Creek Plaza next to the Douglas County Wal*Mart. These buildings are brand new, and right now there are only a few tenants, like Subway and a rent-to-own place. Tons of storefronts are still available, and I could see Trader Joe's snatching up several of them to build their store. Also, the few news reports I've seen on the topic have said it's moving into the Clear Creek Plaza.

Which brings on more confusion. I saw a report on the Channel 2 news out of Reno that mentioned Trader Joe's, but showed video of this building being worked on:

There's a problem here: this is the Carson Valley Plaza. And, there's no way this is going to be done by September 29th. Plus it's way to small.

So that puts us back across the street at Clear Creek. I'm sure that's where it's going, and everytime I drive by I look for signs of activity. But still, even today, the For Lease signs are up in the windows. So I can't be sure until I see workmen move in to start converting the building.

Which should be happening soon, if the store's going to open in 10 weeks. Get hopping, guys!

It seems that Trader Joe's is interesed in building a Carson City store. This is both a good and bad thing for us. Good because we like shopping at Trader Joe's, but bad because we'll end up spending a lot more money there.

I remember reading a few years ago that 50,000 was the magical population threshold before these big nationwide chain stores would consider moving into a community. Carson City hit that number sometime in the last ten years, and sure enough, look at all the new stores that have been built in that time. Best Buy, Old Navy, Bed Bath and Beyond, Costco, even In-N-Out Burger. Trader Joe's just represents the latest in that long march. Some people probably would say that the big boys coming to town like this drives out the small businesses, but I think that's a trend that's happening nationwide, not just here. And when people are already driving all the way up to Reno to go to these stores, they're not shopping at the little places anyway. Having these stores locate in Carson City just means we'll use less gas getting to them.

The Nevada Appeal article doesn't have this tidbit of information, but Dave Morgan's News Carson City says (in this streaming video) that Trader Joe's is looking at sites in Douglas County, down at the Carson Valley Plaza or Clear Creek Plaza by Wal*Mart. There are a couple of empty pads down there that were recently cleared out, so maybe one of those is getting ready for TJ's. Or maybe not, since the Appeal says TJ's hasn't signed any leases yet. So I guess we'll have to wait and watch.

Update:

This storefront in Clear Creek Plaza is open and awaiting tenants, and it's plenty huge for a Trader Joe's. Maybe this is the site they're looking at?