Health-conscious discount grocer Trader Joe’s is making great progress on the former Sugar Land Sprouts location it announced it would take over earlier this year. After Sprouts left in 2023, the location remained vacant, and fixtures were auctioned off. Sprout’s rationale for closing the store was that it was oversized for their operations, and Trader Joe’s has walled off about 2/3 of the original store for their use, with the other portion for potential subleasing. According to an inside source, Trader Joe’s is pushing hard for a 2024 opening, with it potentially coming this Fall or Winter. This store will be Trader Joe’s first addition to the Houston market since 2015. At this point, Trader Joe’s has not given an expected opening date, but a 2024 or early 2025 opening seems like it could be in the cards. The first TJs in Texas opened in the Woodlands in 2012. According to filings online, the store, numbered #430, was initially slated to open on the Northwest side of town at Cypresswood and 249 around 2014. It’s unclear why these original plans were called off.
