It may be ‘No. 1’ request from shoppers, but Puyallup, others still without Trader Joe’s
In June 2017, The News Tribune explored what it takes to get a new Trader Joe’s store to a community, specifically Pierce County.
Flash forward six years, and, spoiler alert, no new Trader Joe’s stores have opened in Pierce County, with just one, in University Place, still going strong.
It’s not for lack of trying.
“About once a year I submit a pitch, and I know it’s a tough competition to get a Trader Joe’s, but it’s definitely worth continuing and hopefully one of them will stick,” Meredith Neal, economic development manager for the City of Puyallup, told The News Tribune via email in response to questions.
The Monrovia, California-based grocer confirmed with The News Tribune that there were no announcements for Puyallup or Bonney Lake.
“At this time, we do not have a location confirmed in the Puyallup-Bonney Lake area. We list all of the stores that are opening soon on our website,” said Nakia Rohde, public relations manager for Trader Joe’s.
Most recent new-store announcements for Trader Joe’s list new sites in Florida, New York and New Jersey.
“We are actively looking at hundreds of neighborhoods across the country as we hope to open more new neighborhood stores each year,” Rohde noted.
Where Trader Joe’s is, and is not
The grocer has 23 stores in 18 metros in the state, according to its website. Of those, 14 stores are in King County, including five in Seattle, up from four in 2017.
Two are in Bellevue, while Issaquah, Redmond, Kent, Burien, Kirkland, Shoreline and Federal Way have one each.
Nine stores, including the lone Pierce County location in University Place, are elsewhere and primarily in Western Washington. Those include Bellingham, Vancouver, Olympia, Silverdale, Everett and Lynnwood with one each; Spokane, the lone Eastern Washington entry, has two.
Sorry, Tri-Cities, Yakima, Walla Walla, Leavenworth.
Gig Harbor and Lakewood are also still Trader Joe-less. It’s possible that the retailer’s coolness toward Pierce County is now reflected back to the company that seemingly plays hard to get.
“We have not had any specific discussions around Trade Joe’s as of late,” Becky Newton, economic development manager for the City of Lakewood, said in response to questions.
“Unfortunately, we have not made progress with Trader Joe’s,” Katrina Knutson, city administrator for Gig Harbor, responded. “Our last contact was in 2022, and we were again told that Gig Harbor was in close proximity to the University Place location.”
A Facebook page created by locals to attract a Trader Joe’s to the Puyallup-South Hill area shows it was paused by the page administrator in June 2022, and two main participants in the group did not respond to requests for comment.
Neal cited results of a recent market analysis as proof Puyallup could support a Trader Joe’s, as the analysis quantified potential revenue lost to consumers shopping elsewhere.
“It was found that Puyallup has a $49 million leakage in grocery despite having a national chain grocery store downtown along with an ethnic grocery and a provisions store, and many other grocery stores around the city,” she wrote.
Neal then ticked off the area’s strength in its consumer base.
“Puyallup serves as the shopping and medical hub for East Pierce County, and national retailers do really well here as do medical service providers, and medical will continue to grow with the planned second tower at Good Samaritan Hospital,” Neal said.
While Trader Joe’s doesn’t share its specific market-selection criteria, Neal said she’s learned from other cities that have been able to get a store, along with site selectors and commercial brokers who’ve worked with the grocery chain.
“Here’s what I’ve learned: They select their sites based on a formula (which they don’t share) that includes a strong population density nearby that is highly educated and has a household income over $100,000/year, and there isn’t really anything you can do to convince them,” she wrote.
She maintains that Puyallup should be considered a viable contender, citing “population growth in this area and the large number of young professionals and knowledge workers who have moved here over the last 5 years for a better quality of life and proximity to outdoor recreation.”
In 2017, the U.S. Census shows Pierce County’s population was 880,745, growing to an estimated 927,380 as of 2022 — a nearly 5.3 percent increase.
In comparison, Snohomish County, which has two stores, had a population of 803,061 in 2017, with an estimated 840,079 as of 2022 — a 4.6 percent increase.
Suburbs, parking matter
Trader Joe’s for its part offers a Request a Trader Joe’s in My City form online for people to fill out.
The retailer’s podcast, Inside Trader Joe’s, in 2018 discussed in very general terms its location process with company executives who oversaw the process.
No specific list of location qualifications or strategies were cited, other than considering sites with “a nice, big, beautiful parking lot,” suburban locations, and looking at growing in a controlled, “smart” way.
They also weren’t particularly concerned with how competitors were doing in a particular area, though that often was the focus of any pitch from commercial brokers.
“We don’t live in a bubble,” said John Pasilone, company president. “But that doesn’t drive us to make decisions that aren’t right for our business.”
Bert Hambleton is president of Sammamish-based Hambleton Resources, which performs strategic planning for retail grocery, including site selection and evaluation.
The News Tribune asked him in October whether Pierce County, specifically Puyallup, Gig Harbor or Lakewood, are in any better position now than in 2017 to attract Trader Joe’s?
“Food stores, in general, do find additional opportunity in population growth. However, each format, Trader Joe’s included, is looking for a certain kind of growth,” he said via email.
“That company seems to be more attracted to areas with urban and mature-suburban density. A review of the hundreds of markets now occupied by Trader Joe’s also finds those trade areas to exhibit greater income-per-capita and formal education levels,” he added.
Ultimately, Hambleton said, “It is hard to tell if this tips the scales toward or away from the communities you mentioned as they are not extreme with respect to these demographic characteristics.”
Pierce County’s median household income 2017-2021, according to the U.S. Census in its most recent update, was $82,574, with 28.4 percent with a bachelor’s degree or higher among those age 25 and older..
In comparison, King County’s median income in the same U.S. Census measurement was $106,326, with 54 percent holding a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Snohomish County showed a median income for the same period at $95,618, and 34.1 percent with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
It’s worth noting, Hambleton added, that trying to figure out the company’s prioritization of markets for growth is challenging.
“Their scope is so wide: the entire continental U.S. is in play for that company,” he said.
Could the Kroger-Albertsons merger and spinoff of some stores potentially create more opportunity for another Trader Joe’s in Pierce County?
The short answer from Hambleton is probably not.
“I don’t believe the Kroger-Albertsons merger changes things for Trader Joe’s.,” he wrote. “They will not acquire any of the units ‘spun off’ from the new, large company because they don’t operate stores that big.”
He also noted that “present plans do not call for any store closures, which is the only thing that would change market conditions in a useful way for competitors looking for new site opportunities.”
Still vacant
Vacant sites remain in the area that potentially could welcome a new Trader Joe’s.
“Puyallup should be a prime location for Trader Joe’s to consider,” Neal said via email, and shared some possible locations: Meridian Place shopping center, with leasing available 4423-4621 S. Meridian, and space available at 716 S. Hill Park Driver.
Gig Harbor also has at least one high-profile site — Peninsula Shopping Center. The center was anchored by grocery in the past (QFC) and more recently did not reach a deal with another (Town & Country Markets).
Knutson told The News Tribune that in July, city leaders and representatives from the Downtown Waterfront Alliance met with Peninsula Shopping Center representatives to discuss the status of the site, located along Judson Street between Soundview and Pioneer in downtown Gig Harbor.
“The purpose of the meeting was to determine what, if any, development is expected on those properties in the future, and to discuss the public’s desire for a grocer and other amenities. Parking and housing were also discussed,” according to the department update she included in her email.
Another meeting is anticipated to discuss “zoning codes and design,” according to the update, while adding that “no formal proposal has been made to the city.”
Hambleton told The News Tribune in January that Gig Harbor already was “slightly overstored,” when compared with the statewide average of grocery space-per-capita. For now the city has Albertsons, Fred Meyer, Metropolitan Market and Harbor Greens all within a few blocks of each other.
Meanwhile, back in Puyallup, Neal thinks her city’s time will come, eventually.
“To date there hasn’t been progress on bringing a Trader Joe’s to Puyallup yet, however it is the Number One request I receive from the community, and we think it’s about time,” she said.
This story was originally published October 20, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
