By Gus Saltonstall
It happened under the cover of darkness.
A new escalator was delivered in the middle of the night to the temporarily closed Trader Joe’s at Broadway and West 72nd Street.
The delivery took place around 1 a.m. on Friday, according to the photo and eyewitnesses.
“My husband was walking by Trader Joe‘s at 1 a.m. last night and snapped this picture of a new escalator being delivered,” Iris Engelson wrote in an email to West Side Rag.
The Trader Joe’s location has been closed since May 17 for “major renovation plans.” Among the stated renovations at the time of closure were upgrades to “vertical transportation,” which refers to the escalators and elevators.
Over the past couple of years, the escalators at the 72nd Street and Broadway store would routinely be out of service, including in February of 2025, when the escalator cart was out for an extended period of time as the store waited for a part from China to fix the equipment, according to a Trader Joe’s employee.
At the time of closure, Trader Joe’s said the store would be shuttered for “several months,” but did not specify a timeline beyond that.
West Side Rag reached out to Trader Joe’s this week to see if we could get an update or expected timeline for the reopening, but the business did not respond.
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How do they even…well hats off to them.
You live right there, you can ride the escalator up and down then comment on here about how you’re right about everything.
If I’m riding escalators wrong, well then I don’t want to be right.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but — huh?
It should give the renovation a lift.
I hear they now have a new frozen entree too. The pack of six nothing burgers.
I feel that escalators should be referred to as “diagonal transportation.”
Who opens first: TJ’s or Wegman’s? Place your bets!
I DO think TJ’s will reopen before Wegman’s. But also THIS WEEK, numerous reports have been circulating saying that Wegman’s has changed its mind and is working to actually open the Lincoln Center store – hopefully by Spring! That’s exciting, huh?
Where did these reports originate from?
Wegman’s executive at a suburban store told me months ago that Wegmans has no plans to open. He said they misjudged the number of nearby grocery options (lots) and decided it was less loss to just let the lease run out without the construction and operating costs of actually opening.
Oh, no!
Wegmans has no plans to open. If you go to their website they list Future Store Locations and there is no mention of it.
It will TJ’s as re-oprning. Wegmans isn’t going to happen anytime soon. They’re focusing on the location they have downtown. They said it themselves quite awhile ago.
Are they going to upgrade the horizontal trans-planar latitudo-longitudinal mono-hominid bio-kinetic thrust transportation?
Yes, they are going to upgrade it by installing steps.
I am greatly reassured by Trader Joe’s replacing its escalators. Every time I was there I was afraid about the Gen Z’ers who would be trapped on the escalator if it went out, with nothing but their AirBuds to listen to and their TicTocs to read until they were rescued.
@Cato As a boomer let me correct you. It’s air PODS, not buds. And it’s not spelled TicToc, it’s TIK TOK, which you listen to and watch, not read. This is why there must be term limits in all branches of government! 🙂
I think she’s kidding… you can’t really get stuck on an escalator lol
Probably the biggest news on the UWS in a while. My hair is on fire!!!
So they took delivery of the escalator during the night … ? This is a plot? I am not seeing what is the point here.
It’s a mundane thing which many on the uws are on the edge of their seats for. So it’s a bit of playing to the audience and tongue in cheek spicing up of an otherwise very boring story that isn’t even news. But it is here, because we say it is darnit! So might as well deliver it as such! 😀
I rode by Thursday morning around 5:15am – Several guys busy at work.
Really sad about this. The old escalator was the most quaint item on the UWS. And the operator Maurice was such a gem.
I am surprised to know TJ buys escalators from China instead of buying Made in America like Otis.
You know that Trader Joe’s is not an american company right? It is actually german now.
How else would they keep food items cheap?
I sure hope they plug it in once or twice before the reopening, but what I really want to know is will there be a special edition Trader Joe’s tote bag for the reopening.
The old escalator was malfunctioning on the day this Trader Joe’s originally opened. Let’s see if they get it right this time.
I pray they’ve redesigned the idiotic layout of the main floor
Wow-Amazon delivers ANYTHING!
To the person who is surprised TJ would buy something from China, would you also be surprised to know that it is privately owned by Aldi Nord, the German supermarket group.? Aldi Nord acquired Trader Joe’s from its founder, Joe Coulombe, in 1979. So it is not new news. But if you did not know here goes the dream of the Wild West!
Lawyers at work – you want it delivered when there are few pedestrians for you to smack in the head with it. I know my people …
That escalator looks suspiciously like the Trojan Horse’s kid sister.
Thanks to Yvonne for pointing out so gracefully that Nothing is not nothing and a bench beneath a leafy bough is really Something.