The first grocery store to operate in Merriam in nearly a decade will open in less than two weeks.
Trader Joe’s, a national grocery chain based in California, will open its new Merriam location at 9 a.m., on Wednesday, Sept. 2, according to an announcement Friday afternoon.
The new store, the second Trader Joe’s in Johnson County and the third in the Kansas City metro, is opening at 8700 Shawnee Mission Parkway.
There, Trader Joe’s will anchor the new Merriam Grand Station Marketplace complex, a $102 million redevelopment of the former Antioch Library site meant to complement Merriam Grand Station, where a Kmart used to be, across the street.
It is a nearly 9,500-square-foot store
The new Trader Joe’s is a 9,498-square-foot store that is set to employ more than 50 workers, according to the Friday announcement.
This is the first grocery store that will operate inside Merriam city limits since the Hen House left Merriam Town Center in 2018.
Trader Joe’s is opening on the spot where the historic Antioch Library branch used to call home on the northwest corner of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Antioch Road.
The former Caribou Coffee and a gas station near that library were also demolished for the redevelopment plan, which calls for restaurant space and more than 200 apartments to join Trader Joe’s.
Merriam Grand Station Marketplace is under a community improvement district tax approved by the city council, which places an additional 1% sales tax on purchases made at the redevelopment site.
Grocery stores, per the city’s CID policy, are exempt from the additional sales tax, though, so the tax will not be paid at Trader Joe’s.
A 2nd Merriam grocery store is in the works nearby
For years, after the abrupt closure of the Hen House, Merriam residents had no grocery stores to shop at within city limits.
It remained a priority for residents and the city alike.
Months after Trader Joe’s announced plans to anchor the Merriam Grand Station Marketplace’s redevelopment, the city inked a deal that included a second grocery store nearby: Aldi.
Aldi plans to take over a 24,000 square foot space at Merriam Town Center, replacing OfficeMax, a few doors down from where the Hen House used to be.
At the same time, the city approved $32 million in revenue bonds for upgrades to that site alongside a CID that imposes a 1% sales tax on all Merriam Town Center purchases.
Aldi, like Trader Joe’s, is excluded from that additional sales tax.
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