Trader Joe’s opens relocated Milpas Street store

Trader Joe’s opened the doors of its newly relocated store Friday.

It’s moved three blocks up to 222 North Milpas Street from it’s old location which was closer to Highway 101.

“Pretty busy! That’s for sure. There was a line out the door,” said Steve Bly, Trader Joe’s store captain.

The new location moves into a 22,000 square foot space once rented by Fresh Market and Scolari’s Food and Drug Company. Trader Joe’s shares 129 parking spaces with PetSmart.

Crew members have been working around the clock the prepare for the store’s opening.

“We’ve been working on the transition period for the past few weeks in regards to bringing products over and the transition of products to the new store. So it’s been going really good,” said Bly.

Employees decorated the store with Santa Barbara-inspired pieces of artwork to make the store even more inviting and unique to its location. However, they did leave some familiar touches that only loyal customers would notice.

“I went to the cheese counter and I was looking at the quattro formaggi that I always buy. It was in the same place that it was at the old store for 18 years back,” said Dick Rosendahl, shopper.

This store location is open from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. everyday.