New Upper East Side Trader Joe's Finally Opens: See Inside

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Trader Joe's threw open the doors Thursday morning to its cavernous new supermarket under the Queensboro Bridge, giving throngs of shoppers the chance to fill up their carts after months of anticipation.

The 20,000-square-foot store occupies the so-called Bridgemarket space on First Avenue and East 59th Street. Built in 1908 and home until 2015 to a Food Emporium, it was once dubbed the city's "most beautiful" supermarket venue for its vaulted, tiled ceilings.

First in line for the 8 a.m. opening were Andrew Rosen and Kevin Cross, who had arrived at 6:30 with the goal of entering the store before anyone else.

"We really like Trader Joe's," Rosen said. "Before this, we were too far from one, so we couldn't get all the branded products."

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A jazz band serenaded shoppers as they wandered through the market's six aisles, which include all the quirky, low-priced products that have led Trader Joe's to amass a devoted customer base as it expands across the U.S. from its original home in Southern California. By 8:30 a.m., a fast-moving line snaked around the rear of the store, which an employee said is one of the company's largest in the city.

Like most Trader Joe's locations, it features murals depicting nearby landmarks: in this case, the Queensboro Bridge, the Roosevelt Island Tramway, and the United Nations Headquarters.

"My fridge has been empty"

Kelsey Fowler, a 25-year-old photographer and actress, was among the dozens of people queued up outside the market before Thursday morning's ribbon-cutting. Since moving to the Upper East Side two years ago, she had gazed at the empty Bridgemarket and fantasized about Trader Joe's moving in — before learning through a Patch article that it would.

"My fridge has been empty because my grocery store is a Gristedes and it's just so expensive and feels ridiculous to shop there," she said, echoing a common complaint about the neighborhood's dearth of grocery options.

Once inside, she planned to livestream a walkthrough for her Instagram followers — and also purchase some of the company's chocolate-dipped mini-ice cream cones.

Thursday's opening followed months of renovations to the sprawling space, for which Trader Joe's needed special approval due to Bridgemarket's status as a city landmark. Trader Joe's first applied for the store in February 2020, after City Councilmember Ben Kallos pushed to open a grocery store in the city-owned building.

This shop is the company's 12th in New York City and ninth in Manhattan — but its first near the Upper East Side, whose residents previously had to trek across Central Park or south into Midtown for a taste of Trader Joe's.

Though it seems as popular with customers as ever, Trader Joe's has come under criticism during the pandemic from its own employees, in part due to the company's initial policy barring workers from wearing masks. in March, an employee at an Upper West Side location said he was fired after requesting better workplace protections — prompting calls to boycott the chain.

A six-year wait

After Food Emporium closed in 2015, the craft store Michael's put together an early proposal to move into the space, but plans fell through after getting a cool reception from the landmarks commission.

Hoping to find a worthy occupant, Kallos told Patch last year that he began working with the Economic Development Corporation, the city-run entity that owns Bridgemarket, to search for possible tenants. Early candidates included Whole Foods, Fairway, or a public food hall inspired by Chelsea Market.

Adding to the urgency was the fact that the Upper East Side had lost multiple supermarkets in recent years, including two Gristedes locations, a D'Agostino's and the Food Emporium itself. Eventually, the front-runners were narrowed down to Trader Joe's or the public market, which would have been operated by EDC with a community partner, Kallos said.

"Just as I got elected, A&P went bankrupt and we lost our flagship Food Emporium," Kallos told Patch in a statement on Thursday. "We spent the past 8 years working with EDC and multiple owners who cycled through the space."

"After years of working to fill the space, I couldn't be prouder that the Trader Joe's everyone's been asking for is open. I promise I didn't put in all this work just for the Thai Lime & Chili Cashews."

Trader Joe's will be committing to the space through June 2026, with an option to renew until 2036, according to a copy of the lease which was shared with Patch. About 99 percent of the store's workers are from the New York City area — including 100 percent of new hires, the company said.

The store will be open daily from 8 a.m.-9 p.m., located at 405 East 59th St.

The market under the Queensboro Bridge first opened in 1908 along with the bridge itself. That market closed in 1930 and finally reopened in 2000 as a Food Emporium, following years of renovations.

Have an Upper East Side news tip? Email reporter Nick Garber at nick.garber@patch.com.

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Previous coverage from Patch:

• UES Trader Joe's Set For 2021 Opening After Yearslong Move-In
• New Trader Joe's On UES Gets Green Light From City
• Trader Joe's Applies For New UES Store