
Monday, January 27, 2024
Sunny. High 37 degrees.
Temperatures will be slightly warmer this week, but still very chilly. There is no snow expected.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
Monday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Wednesday is the Lunar New Year. Saturday is the first day of Black History Month. Sunday is Groundhog Day.
Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall
The world’s busiest Trader Joe’s is said to be on the Upper West Side, but checking that “fact” was more challenging than you might think.
The topic also provides some insight into how the news cycle can work.
Over the past few weeks, multiple media outlets have published articles claiming that the Trader Joe’s at 2073 Broadway, on the corner of West 72nd Street, is the “world’s busiest Trader Joe’s location.”
Among those outlets was the New York Post, which, on January 21, published, “The world’s busiest Trader Joe’s is right here in NYC — with a ‘bizarre’ layout and insanely long lines.”
The Post story was shared across multiple Upper West Side Facebook groups.
“The busiest Trader Joe’s store in the world sprawls across three levels and features triple the number of employees of the average location to handle never-ending lines that sometimes extend to the street,” the Post article reads. “And even though you might be convinced that your neighborhood branch on a Sunday afternoon is by far the most crowded, nowhere in the Big Apple manages to outdo the scene at 72nd and Broadway on the Upper West Side, according to reports.”
That “according to reports” line is the only time in the story that the Post cites a source for the information that the 72nd Street Trader Joe’s is the world’s busiest.
If you click that link, it takes you to a January 13th story from the online guide Secret NYC, with the headline “The World’s Busiest Trader Joe’s Is Here In NYC—Can You Guess Which Location?”
Again, it is unclear where Secret NYC is getting the information that the 72nd Street Trader Joe’s is the world’s busiest.
“According to Trader Joe’s, this is ‘hands down the busiest Trader Joe’s in the world,'” reads the lone sentence in the Secret NYC story that looks to give a source to the claim. There is no link within the line, however, and it is unclear who is saying it.
The search continues.
On January 11, the website Tasting Table published the first article of this recent cycle on the subject of the 72nd Street Trader Joe’s. The article, “Where is the World’s Busiest Trader Joe’s Location?,” states — “Two blocks away from Central Park is the TJ’s at 72nd Street and Broadway, aka store 542, the location that Trader Joe’s own website calls ‘hands down the busiest Trader Joe’s in the world.'”
It is the same quote from the Secret NYC article, but this time there is a link.
That link takes you to a press release on the Trader Joe’s website from March 3, 2021.
That was 1,426 days ago.
“Situated in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, a mere two city blocks from Central Park, our 72nd & Broadway store is hands down the busiest Trader Joe’s in the world,” reads the release, which is titled, “Top Ten Most Intriguing Trader Joe’s Stores.”
The release never defines “busiest.”
So, nearly four years ago, Trader Joe’s publishes a release that includes one line saying the 72nd Street Trader Joe’s is the “busiest” in the world. That line gets picked up on January 11, 2025, by Tasting Table to build a story around, which then gets picked up by Secret NYC, and culminates in a New York Post story on the topic that receives widespread social media attention.
West Side Rag reached out to Trader Joe’s last week to see if we could confirm that the 72nd Street location is still the busiest in the world in 2025, and how the company defines “busiest.” The grocer, which has a reputation for being difficult to reach, has not responded.
A cashier at the 72nd Street Trader Joe’s did tell West Side Rag last week that the Upper West Side location was always in the top three busiest locations in the world, but interchangeably with other New York City outposts.
The Rag will update this story when we hear back from Trader Joe’s official press team.
Eater NY recently updated its list of the best restaurants on the Upper West Side.
The ranking includes neighborhood staples such as Barney Greengrass, Manny’s Bistro, and Old John’s Diner, along with newer highly praised restaurants such as Dagon, Essential by Christophe, and Tatiana.
“At the start of this century, it was commonplace to say there were no good restaurants on the Upper West Side,” reads the ranking from Eater. “It was wrong then and is even more wrong now, as dynamic new places open.”
You can check out the full list of top Upper West Side eateries — HERE.
Hey Tea, the popular bubble tea shop, opened last week at 2815 Broadway between West 108th and 109th streets, and the Rag received multiple photos of the long line that welcomed the business for its first day of operation.
The chain is known for using real as opposed to powdered milk to create its bubble tea, unlike most American places.
The line literally stretched around the corner toward Riverside Drive.

Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
I appreciate you running down the sourcing of the Trader Joe’s article – lots of media outlets, these days but especially the NYPost publish articles with shoddy sourcing because they get clicks
Agreed! Plus, what’s bizarre about the layout? I don’t get it. I’m there every week and I’ve never thought of it as bizarre in the least.
Oh, it’s awful!!! You have to do half your shopping while standing on endless lines, it is a ridiculous way to shop.
The 59th Street Bridge store opened in December 2021 and is generally accepted as the busiest store now. Information from before that is out of date. The cashier was probably right that a few stores are similarly busy. None of these stores are “hands down” the busiest.
Why does it even matter??
“Generally accepted” by whom, please? In response to an article about a lack of sources, you take a stand based on your notion of “generally accepted”?
C’mon.
It’s not hard to believe 72 St TJ is the busiest. I once spoke to.a WF employee who told Mr 59th St location was the busiest.
Yesterday (Sunday), I was at the E. 59th St. Trader Joes by the bridge and the line was wrapped around every single aisle in the store. It was surprisingly quick considering, but I have never seen a line that long. It is a beautiful store on one level, and much larger than the one on the UWS where I am a regular.
Maybe Trader Joe’s can finally fix the escalator with all the money they are making at that location.
Have you ever walked by a big line and felt relief that it wasn’t for anything you were particularly interested in? That was me walking by Hey Tea yesterday. Complete and utter relief!
Note that the line to Hey Tea extends north from the store. If the line ever changes direction and people line up to the south, I know that West Side Rag will be there to cover the breaking news!
Also quite a stretch to say the 72nd St. TJs “sprawls across three levels.”
You are right. “Sprawling” is only possible on FLAT areas. This TJ’s is not horizontal. It is the opposite. Which makes shopping difficult.
Right?!? Makes it sound like the ground-level is for shopping as well. And I’d use a word other than “sprawls”, like “meanders”. Hah!
I dislike shopping at Trader Joe’s – but of all the times I’ve been there, the line has never been more than 10 minutes.
I hope it’s not inappropriate to mention that Trader Joe’s is very anti-union. The workers have been trying to organize for years. You can support them at: https://traderjoesunited.org/
Not inappropriate at all.
All viewpoints welcome,
All the more reason to shop there.
Or you could always rush on over to your friendly neighborhood Target store.
“Target latest company to roll back DEI programs” (https://thehill.com/homenews/race-politics/5105514-target-dei-programs-trump/)
Thanks for the tip.
The produce at TJ may be cheap, but generally it is also just awful., inedible. I don’t eat the junk food, cheese, meats, prepared stuff, because it’s unhealthy for our bodies and it’s also destroying the Earth. But I guess people just love to get a deal. Kind of the story of our civilization in a nutshell. Oh, I almost forgot: they have great deals on nuts!
I would agree that much of the frozen meals are u healthy eaten to excess and there are aloof of unhealthy snack foods but I do about half my shopping there – not frozen dinners and snacks!
hmmm. Is the produce rotten? lol!
“Just awful, inedible” produce?
Curious where you shop.
Breaking News: The HeyTea shop gave Columbia U. students 2 for 1 coupons for use in the first 3 days of operation! Line are less today.
Good for the West Side Rag for doing some reporting on the Trader Joe’s story! The New York Post is a gossip sheet, not a newspaper.
It’s certainly a gossip sheet, I would also add its a Republican propaganda mouthpiece
Yesterday a dozen eggs at TJ’s cost $7,50. Take that, Trump voters!
I’m rather amused about the description “world’s busiest Trader Joe’s”, given that there are no Trader Joe’s outside the U.S.
Exactly! I’m surprised no one else pointed that out.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, I remember my escape from Vienna on a Kindertransport. My mother was already in England: She had gotten a visa to be a cook in a rich household. My father and some friends went illegally over the border to Switzerland, then to France. He tried to get a Swiss lawyer colleague of his brother’s to sponsor me to come to Switzerland, but the man wouldn’t do it.
My maternal grandmother found out about the Kindertransports and got me a place on the second one to leave Vienna. I was six at the time. My grandmother perished in a concentration camp. My mother said that she had refused to leave Vienna, but she may not have been able to by the time that she realized what was happening,
Loved seeing your name in the Rag and reading your poignant story. We may have left the UWS but we’re still and always will be Upper Westsiders.
Thank you for your story. 80 years ago, just as relevant today. Never forget.
How did Dagon get on a bear of list? It is not bad but it is not great, and it used to be better.
The piece about Trader Joe’s is an example of excessive time and effort spent on a trivial claim about an unremarkable supermarket. On the other hand, as an example of respect for the truth, care for the meaning of words, and diligence in fact checking, all appearing in a media outlet on January 27, 2025, it nearly brought tears to my eyes.
Would you cry for joy if fact checking existed on social media, where many people only get their “news”?
I’m not sure if this is a serious question, but I guess I am grateful that my comment suggested to someone that my opinion on this topic might be worth hearing. Social media is different than journalism. My lament for the dismal state of fact checking applies to journals, of which I consider the WSR to be one. I don’t think it is feasible or useful for social media to fact check things written by the general public. Of course, whoever manages social media sites should be free to delete any material that is clearly offensive, including things that are obviously wrong, but other than that it should be left to readers to know that most of what is posted on social media is garbage and to react to it with that understanding.
WSR ALWAYS aims to be accurate and succeeds, and when a mistake has been found by a reader and reported, WSR makes every effort to correct it.
Agree. If you read my original post, I was contrasting WSR with the sorry state of many other journalistic publications today.
Good critical article for pointing out needing to search claims and not just repeat them. I appreciate that. There is a difference between “busy” or even “very busy” or “often busy” and a claim of “busiest” – there are different times of day, different days of the week – When did they measure? How did they compare? Seems plausible to me that someplace reported a ‘feels like’ as a fact, and then everyone else just copied-pasted in as a ‘everyone knows’, to try and bandwagon some clicks. Busy? Sure. Busiest? Who knows.
Busiest or not, I’m just grateful for Trader Joe’s at 72nd. I’m normally adverse to waiting in lines, but it is aways worth it. They don’t carry everything I need, but I do a good portion of my weekly shopping there.
I’ve NEVER encountered a problem at that Trader Joe’s. The sales associates are unfailingly pleasant and helpful. Whoever manages that particular location deserves a raise. They know how to hire and how to train their employees.
Whether the 72nd Street Trader Joe’s ranks first in volume or not, they certainly rank first in customer service and quality.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
“The World’s Busiest Trader Joe’s” sounds like an americanism considering there are no TJ’s outside the US.
I, for one, am very grateful that Trader Joe’s exists. Like any store, there are “healthy” choices and not so healthy ones. But overall, you can get good pantry basics and some quality fresh and frozen foods that are healthy options and otherwise unaffordable. Would I buy their produce? No, I used to get from the much missed Hans (and now West Side Market) as well as from Fresh Direct (selectively of course) and Amazon Fresh.
Oh, to have a real deli and great produce vendor where Hans used to be.
FYI: Trader Joe’s has no more good/bad foods than any other food retailer. In fact, I would guess it has less since they have so many of their own products.
Gus on the job! I appreciate you so much.
That just means we need another Trader Joes further Uptown, like W 90’s or 100’s.
Umm. There’s one on Columbus at 92nd Street.
The building ‘Hey Tea’ is in looks beautiful! That stretch is great, under appreciated/known and has a lot to upside potential (105th-110th on Broadway).
I actually went to look for the source as well and believe I found the source article from Trader Joe’s https://www.traderjoes.com/home/discover/stories/ten-most-intriguing-trader-joes-stores it might be true at the time but that was published 4 years ago.
I avoid the 72nd street store if I can. I dislike the two floor arrangement and the staff that doesn’t have a clue where anything is and if an item is in stock. The Columbus Avenue and 93rd street store is so much better. I can often get in and out in five minutes.
Really appreciate your thoroughness with the Trader Joe’s reporting!
Would that everything tried to be as well sourced.
Re Trader Joes at 72nd st. – that’s a myth. The store is grungy and dirty and claustrophobic. The street in front is filthy and a vendor is selling cheap clothes. Welcome to THE THIRD WORLD. We wouldn’t go down that escalator for anything. This was the beginning of the downturn of this neighborhood. Our neighbor broke his wrist sliding on a plastic bag in front of this store. GO ELSEWHERE PLEASE!! The TJ at 59th & 1st is wonderful.
Give me Zabar’s or Citarella store’s anytime….I never shopped Trader Joe’s and never been in there, couldn’t care less.
So that’s what Trader Joe’s is all about getting a good deal of food you eat!
Give me a break! How cheap can you be to your body and your life…Get out there and splurge…. Treat your body as it should be treated every day…. After all you’re not taking it with you at the end. Enjoy life. Life is short, not meant to be standing on lines at Trader Joe’s or Hey Tea! You people make me laugh🫵🤪
I walked by the tea line on Sunday. They were doing buy one get one free, which may explain the excessive line.
Another reason why not to shop Trader Joe’s! 🤮
Claustrophobia/dirty store… Garbage on the escalators steps …Can you imagine the bacteria on the hand railing👎 not to mention the rude staff…
No thanks!!!!
Hallelujah Zabar’s👍
Wow, that’s an awfully long article about something so inconsequencial!
Not for nothing but a person working the register told me it was the busiest in the US over 8 years ago. Pre xovid, there used to a bouncer on Mondays. It’s not really a secret that it is, or at least used to be the busiest.