Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Impact of Trader Joe's

The South Loop's Trader Joe's at the Northeast corner of Roosevelt and Wabash seems to be progressing quite quickly. As far as we can tell the parking garage is done and the inside of the building is gradually resembling the quirky decor of other Trader Joe's.

We still haven't heard an official date of when the South Loop location is going open, but we wouldn't be surprised to see the doors open by the end of the quarter (maybe September?).

The retail scene in the neighborhood has seemingly been picking up speed over the past couple of months. This is presumably due to a lot of factors (improving economy, increase in residential population in the neighborhood, etc), but could any of this be attributed to the news about Trader Joe's coming to the Sloop?

Seems a little far fetched to associate all of this activity with this chain, but we ran across a post on a Chicago Real Estate blog talking about the new Trader Joe's in Lincoln Park and it's impact on nearby retail:

Not only was Trader Joe's packed on a Friday evening with customers, the popular grocery chain has had another impact: ALL the storefront retail space seems filled on this block by established retailers and services. It's been an impressive transformation with the anchor Trader Joe's leading the way!

Not saying that these are similar situations or that Trader Joe's is responsible for the recent uptick in retail openings in the Sloop, but just throwing it out there for debate.

Regardless, high profile "anchor tenants" are important for neighborhoods and hopefully this encourages other businesses to follow the lead of a proven retailer and open up shop in the Sloop!

(Image from The Chicago Real Estate Local)