Is Trader Joe’s really coming to Riverdale? It’s complicated

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — At the end of last year, the mayor of Riverdale announced that a Trader Joe’s store was coming to the city sometime in 2025. Months later, city officials and the company are offering seemingly conflicting details.

After a Weber County resident — who wished to remain anonymous — shared their concerns about whether the store would be opening or not, ABC4.com reached out to the national grocery chain for clarification.

“At this time, we do not have a location confirmed in Riverdale,” Nakia Rohde, public relations manager for Trader Joe’s, told ABC4.com.

While the company has not yet publicly announced or confirmed the location of the new Utah store, Riverdale officials have said the store is still coming — and it is still “likely” to open in July or August of this year. City officials previously announced the store would be opened near an Ashley Furniture store.

Brandon Cooper, Riverdale City’s Director of Community Development, said the announcement in December was made after a representative for the building owner reportedly confirmed “that a lease is in place between Trader Joe’s and Ashley Furniture.”

“Construction on the space has been permitted by the City and is scheduled to start in March,” Cooper told ABC4.com. “It is our understanding that it is common for corporate Trader Joe’s to delay formal announcement of new locations until closer to the date of opening.”

The grocery company said all of its stores that are opening soon (15 locations at the time of writing) are listed on its website. Each location that is said to be coming soon has a specific address accompanying it, and a Riverdale location is not on that list — yet.

Riverdale Mayor Braden Mitchell originally announced the arrival of the grocery store chain at an event that was live-streamed and posted by the city’s social media account in December 2024. As of March 2025, there had been no further public announcements by the city or Trader Joe’s, sparking concern from the resident who reached out to ABC4.com.

“The mayor’s announcement was definitely a huge win for the community and has provided much needed excitement and something to look forward to,” the anonymous resident said. “But, no one wants false promises or to be misled.”

Riverdale officials said the city is continuing to work with both developers and retailers “to bring quality businesses to Riverdale.”

“We understand the community’s enthusiasm for a Trader Joe’s in Riverdale and will provide updates as soon as any new information becomes available,” Cooper said.

How does Trader Joe’s decide where to open new stores?

Utah currently has Trader Joe’s stores in Orem, Draper, Cottonwood Heights, and Salt Lake City. Salt Lake is home to the state’s two northernmost locations, but Weber County residents had expressed excitement about a location closer to home after the mayor’s initial announcement.

“We are actively looking at hundreds of neighborhoods across the country, including a few in Utah, as we hope to open more new neighborhood stores each year,” Trader Joe’s told ABC4.com.

Rhode, the PR manager for Trader Joe’s, said some stores have taken more than 10 years to open in a certain neighborhood.

When asked about what goes into opening a new store, Rhode pointed ABC4.com to an October 2024 episode of the official “Inside Trader Joe’s” podcast in which the hosts, Tara Miller and Matt Sloan, discuss the topic of opening a Trader Joe’s store in a specific neighborhood.

The hosts said the company is typically looking to put new stores in areas with lots of people, but also said it takes more than a social media or letter-writing campaign to get a store, with Miller saying, “…that’s really not what’s driving the decisions about what brings a Trader Joe’s.”

Sloan said there’s “a list of criteria” for new locations, which includes traffic patterns, parking availability, population density, and more.

“We’d like to be in neighborhoods all around the country, but it takes time,” Miller said in the podcast. “We’re not going to rush it because rushing it would result in stores that don’t live up to our expectations or, quite honestly, to our customers’ expectations.”

Riverdale officials encouraged residents to keep up-to-date by following the city’s Facebook page, checking its website, and looking at the meeting agendas for the City Council.