Rumor: Trader Joe’s is looking at Autumn Hall
A woman who saw our Trader Joe’s bag said she’s received an email petition about letting Trader Joe’s know that we do in fact want them here. Apparently — the petition doesn’t mean this is true, of course, and others who’ve received the email can’t confirm either — specialty grocery store Trader Joe’s is looking at a space in the new mixed use Autumn Hall, off Eastwood where the old golf course was. Maybe this will make that unpopular development more popular with its neighbors.
Anyone know more?
I have gone to the Trader Joe’s web site and sent a plea for our very own TJ’s in Wilmington. They have a link for location requests. Keeping my fingers crossed that this is no rumor…
http://www.traderjoes.com/location_requests_form.aspx
Cool! I sent a note too, with this comment:
I am a strong supporter of my local coop, Tidal Creek. But to be blunt, if they can’t get it together, I can’t just stop eating until they do. The grocery situation in Wilmington is simply obscene. Even though the Chapel Hill area supposedly has such a high cost of living, whenever we visit we bring back lots of groceries that we can’t get as cheaply here at home, primarily from Weaver Street Market and Trader Joe’s.
So here’s to hoping that Trader Joe’s does come to Wilmington and that the increased competition leaves Tidal Creek stronger then before.
Ironically enough, Bryan :-), I was just about to write something up about our current economic straits and the fact that Tidal Creek’s business has improved in the last few weeks. I heard something about this paradox nationally on NPR’s Marketplace the other night and thought to ask a friend of mine who works as Tidal Creek. He verified that yes, in fact the Creek’s business is booming.
When people are a little worried about their money, they go to Walmart. When people are really worried (so my hypothesis goes), they worry equally about their health, about the fundamentals — they worry about putting the right food in their body, about the Actual, biology-class equilibrium.
(I think I will write this up as a post soon. It’s just too interesting, this paradox, and I mean to get the juicy details from my TC buddy tomorrow.)
But I’m with you on the Trader Joe’s thing. It’d be GREAT to have them here. As many of have written to them, we’re a perfect site for their expansion into the south. Last I checked — and I worked there cutting boxes open madly for some three weeks back when I was between things, and in another state — Trader Joe’s business was to purchase only those things it could acquire at genuinely close-out prices, which accounts both for its killer deals and for its still-somewhat-weird collection of fare. It’s not quite grocery.
An interesting discussion here. One quick insight: the main reason that Wilmington’s groceries are so much more expensive than Chapel Hill’s or other centrally located cities’ is that we are out in the sticks, relatively speaking. There is no warehouse remotely close to us, and because of that, we pay more in fuel/delivery costs. Unfortunately, that is often passed on to the customer.
Tidal Creek does its best to keep prices low by particpating in CAP, the Coop Advantage Program, which allows coops all over to combine their buying strength and thus get deeper discounts than if they were acting on their own. It’s still tough to compete with the big boxes, though.
Just some food for thought… (get it?)
Get it Mindle!