Where Is Trader Joe’s Headed Next?

There's still room for growth in California for native grocer Trader Joe's, which is prepping three more stores in that state.

Trader Joe’s is springing ahead with plans for new stores. The grocer remains in expansion mode, following more than 30 store openings in 2024.

Two of the planned outposts will welcome shoppers in the retailer’s home state of California. Trader Joe’s announced this month that it is readying sites in Yucaipa, Calif., in San Bernardino County east of Los Angeles, and Tracy, Calif., in San Joaquin County east of San Francisco. No official date was given, but the markets will open this year, as will another Trader Joe’s in Sherman Oaks, Calif.

The Big Easy is also set to welcome more Trader Joe’s stores. The grocer’s first location in New Orleans Parish at 2501 Tulane Avenue in New Orleans, La., is in the works, and another is underway in the Uptown neighborhood. Trader Joe’s currently operates a store in the nearby suburb of Metairie.

Texas will be getting more TJ’s outposts, too. The San Antonio Express-News recently reported that initial plans for a third site in that city have been submitted, this time on the north side of the city.

Meanwhile, Trader Joe’s is spotlighting some of its new products that are dropping for the spring season. During the latest of Inside Trader Joe's podcast, co-hosts Tara Miller and Matt Sloan chatted up springtime offerings, including Trader Giotto's Caro Sugo Italian Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce, Trader Joe's Garlic Butter Irish Potato Chips, Hardywood Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter (a riff on the grocer’s popular Dark Peanut Butter Cups) and Easter items such as a Break Apart Bunny, Chocolate Truffle Eggs and Easter Joe-Joe’s Cookies, among other limited-time products.

With more than 500 stores in 40-plus states, Trader Joe’s is No. 33 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named the company one of its Retailers of the Century.