In a long-awaited announcement, gourmet grocery Trader Joe's said Wednesday it would open its first Lexington store at 8 a.m. June 29.
Construction is nearly complete on the grocery at 2326 Nicholasville Road, the former site of Joe's Crab Shack.
The 12,000-square-foot grocery will have a separate wine shop of about 3,000 square feet.
This will be Trader Joe's second Kentucky store. The first opened in October at 4600 Shelbyville Road in Louisville.
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Rumors had swirled for several years that the popular chain was coming to Lexington. Interest was piqued after a legal notice last summer that the company intended to apply for liquor licenses for a store.
Trader Joe's gained its name for the way the company searches the world for distinctive products. More than 1,000 items in the store are private-label offerings under various Trader Joe's-type names. Employees wear brightly colored tropical-print shirts, adding to the lighthearted mood of the stores.
The chain's roots go back to Joe Coulombe, who opened the first grocery in Pasadena, Calif., in 1967. A dozen years later, he sold the chain to the Albrecht family in Germany, which also controls the Aldi discount grocery chain.
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