UWS Braces for Closure of Trader Joe’s Busiest Store

A sign reading “temporarily shutting our doors” at the entrance of the Trader Joe’s at 72nd Street and Broadway is stopping customers in their tracks. The store, widely considered the busiest in the national food chain, is set to close for a major renovation for an undetermined number of months.

A sign out front informed customers that store at the Broadway and 72nd St. location will temporarily shut down starting May 17. The company told the Spirit the work will include upgrades to refrigeration systems, improvements to the store’s layout, and fixes to infrastructure such as elevators and escalators. No official reopening date has been announced, but the closure is expected to last several months.

The goal of the renovation is to “improve the overall shopping experience for customers and provide a better working environment for crew members,” according to the company statement.

The 72nd Street store is one of the main grocers in the Upper West Side, drawing crowds from across Manhattan and earning a reputation for its long lines, packed aisles, and multi-story interior. It is known to be one of the most heavily used Trader Joe’s in the world.

”I feel that they need renovation. They do,” said Jean Lithgow, who has shopped at the store for five to six years. “The escalators break all the time.”

Lithgow said the temporary closure doesn’t pose a major problem for her, noting she has other options nearby. “It’s not a tragedy at all,” she said. “It’s something they need to do.”

Trader Joe’s says employees at the location will be given the option to transfer to nearby stores or take time off during the renovation period.

For many regular customers, the closure means adjusting routines, especially in a neighborhood with limited affordable grocery options.

”I think it’s a little bit unfortunate,” said Ehdrine, a frequent shopper who said she often walks from Columbus Circle just to shop at that particular location. “There’s not really another supermarket that is honestly affordable.”

She added that the store plays an important role for residents trying to manage rising grocery prices. “Grocery prices have not gone down... they’ve gone up,” she said. “A lot of people rely on this Trader Joe’s.”

Peter Jones, who said he has been shopping at Trader Joe’s for decades, acknowledges that the shutdown is temporary. “People will survive,” he says. “We don’t have to have Trader Joe’s... although I like Trader Joe’s.”

As of now, the reopening date remains uncertain, with Trader Joe’s only indicating that the renovation will take “several months” to complete.

That at least mean’s it will avoid the fate of the city’s only Trader Joe’s wine store that was doing booming business at 138 E. 14th St. until it suddenly shut down without warning on August 11, 2022, after a 15-year run in which business was booming with long lines for its discounted wines.

In that instance, there had been a union organizing drive afoot and organizers succeeded in its drive to call a certification vote to be supervised by the National Labor relations. The company which is based in California, is a non-union shop. In its August, 2022, there was a sign affixed to the window: “[it] is now time for us to explore another location that will allow us to optimize the potential of our one and only license to sell wine in the state of New York.”

The National Labor Relations Board was critical of the shut down in the face of the organizing drive.

But nearly four years later, there is still no sign of any new wine store. The company did go to court to battle a new liquor store that was opening on East 13th St. with the name “Joe’s Wine Co.” inside a circle. The company claimed that Joe’s was generic and that it should have the right to use it. Trader Joe’s argued that name inside a circle was creating confusion in the minds of consumers and ordered to the store to stop using the name.

The company did open its first “grab and go” store known as Trader Joe’s Pronto on the site of its former wine store in 2024.

While Trader Joe’s won its trademark infringement suit over a year ago, there has still been no new wine store with the company’s brand name in Manhattan, or anywhere else in NYS. State liquor laws mandate that a corporation will be granted only a license for a single store.

There has been no whiff of a union organizing effort at the busy UWS store as far as the Spirit knows. Consumers are hopeful that this time the company will indeed return with a new and improved store.