Shoppers could be buying groceries at Trader Joe’s new Merriam store as early as this fall.
Last week, drivers may have noticed signs going up at the Trader Joe’s coming to the northwest corner of Antioch Road and Shawnee Mission Parkway, on the site of the former Antioch Library.
Merriam Mayor Bob Pape said during a recent city council meeting that the construction would be turned over to Trader Joe’s — for interior work — in July. Pape said at that time that he anticipated a fall opening.
Once Trader Joe’s opens, it will be the first grocery store inside Merriam city limits since Hen House closed in 2018.
Trader Joe’s anchors a $102M redevelopment
The California-based grocery store chain’s new Merriam location anchors a $102 million redevelopment of the former Antioch Library and a gas station along Shawnee Mission Parkway.
Overland Park-based Drake Development embarked on the project to complement Merriam Grand Station across the street, which was itself the redevelopment of an old Kmart.
The Trader Joe’s development, now dubbed Merriam Grand Station Marketplace, features the 12,500-square-foot grocery store, 4,000 square feet of retail or dining space, as well as more than 200 apartments.
It replaces not only the former Antioch Library but also a Caribou Coffee and a gas station that were previously there. The only remaining business left untouched by the development is a Chipotle at 8800 Shawnee Mission Parkway.
A second grocery store is headed to Merriam
After years of residents saying a grocery store is their top priority in city-backed surveys, Merriam secured the Trader Joe’s and appears to be adding more options.
Recently, plans to upgrade nearby Merriam Town Center near I-35 and Johnson Drive, home to a Cinemark movie theater and Home Depot store, revealed a new tenant coming to the former Office Max space: Aldi.
In 2018, Hen House permanently closed its Merriam Town Center location, leaving the city with no grocery store for the past eight years.
The Aldi coming to Merriam Town Center was announced last month and is expected to be the company’s largest grocery in the Kansas City metro at 24,000 square feet.
When the Aldi was announced last month, the city also approved $32 million in revenue bonds for upgrades to the site alongside an additional 1% sales tax levied on all purchases at Merriam Town Center.
Per the city’s policy, purchases made at the Aldi — like at Trader Joe’s — will be excluded from that additional sales tax imposed within the community improvement district.
The 1% sales tax goes into effect on Oct. 1.
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