By Gus Saltonstall
West Side Rag is generally in the business of reporting on cold, hard facts.
However, given the gravity of the closure of the Trader Joe’s at Broadway and West 72nd Street, we thought it would be worth letting readers in on some growing buzz we’ve heard connected to the store’s reopening.
Rumors are swirling that the grocery store at 2073 Broadway will reopen in the next few weeks, with a specific goal of either Thursday, September 10, or Friday, September 11. The Upper West Side Trader Joe’s location has been closed since May 17, 2026, for renovations.
At the time of closure, a Trader Joe’s spokesperson told the Rag the closure would last “several months,” but the company has never given a more specific reopening date.
Last week, West Side Rag asked multiple cashiers at the Trader Joe’s at Columbus Avenue and West 93rd Street if they knew anything about when the 72nd Street outpost would reopen. Both of the employees said they had heard it would be soon after the Labor Day weekend.
On Wednesday, a pair of tipsters wrote into the Rag with the following note.
“Just spoke with some of the construction workers inside Trader Joe’s this am — they said they are reopening in a few weeks!!!”
The pair then followed up after one of them returned to the store that same day and asked a construction worker for an exact reopening date, and was told Thursday, September 10.
On Thursday morning, the Rag visited the outside of the West 72nd Street store and asked two men who walked out of the business if they knew when it would reopen; one of them said: “The goal is next Thursday or Friday.”
To be clear, these reopening dates are not confirmed, and when we sent an email to Trader Joe’s, this was their response on Wednesday.
“We do not yet have an opening date to share,” a Trader Joe’s spokesperson wrote. “I can let you know as soon as a date is confirmed.”
We will continue to monitor the situation.
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The sooner the better. I want all those displaced TD fangirls and fanboys out of my markets and back where they belong, which is waiting on an absurdly long line for mediocre products at the most over-rated food store on the UWS.