Trader Joe’s is a popular grocery store chain that has taken over America with 597 locations across the nation as of January 2025. The chain is known for its unique, high-quality food items, low prices and eccentric branding. All of these qualities make for a good company welcoming to all ages, including college students.
Out of the 597 locations Trader Joe's has to offer, Auburn, AL is not one of them. However, there has been a want for this chain to open a store in the Auburn-Opelika area for a while.
In 2020, a petition to open a Trader Joe's in Auburn earned 341 signatures. Another petition formed in 2022 that garnered 807 signatures.
"Auburn Alabama is a mixed community of people who could greatly benefit from Trader Joe's. This is a college town filled with people who are accustomed to having a local Trader Joe's to shop at, but now they have been stripped of that luxury," read the 2022 petition's description.
Facebook is one of the places where the petition to open a location in Auburn started. Pages like Trader Joes Auburn Fan Page and Bring Trader Joes to Auburn, Alabama have expressed their want for a location in Auburn.
In a section of the 2020 city of Auburn citizens survey that allowed participants to voice what they wanted to see change in downtown had a response calling for a Trader Joes.
"Downtown needs a grocery store like Trader Joe's. No more condos and apartments and more parking," the answer read.
There are only three Trader Joes locations in Alabama, with stores only in Birmingham, Hoover and Huntsville.
According to Buzzfeed, the most popular items available for purchase include their frozen hashbrowns, peanut butter brookie, steamed pork and ginger soup dumplings and peanut butter protein granola.
Though there are already a wide range of grocery chains in both Auburn and Opelika, citizens are still pushing their desire for a Trader Joes location.
“I think opening a Trader Joe's in Auburn would be such a good idea. They have these things called Gone Bananas and Gone Berry Crazy that I love so much,” Morgan Chisholm, a junior student in nursing at Auburn University said. “It is better than Publix and Kroger.”
Sydney Massey, a junior marketing student at Auburn University, expressed her love for the chain and explained why it would be a benefit to her grocery store needs.
“There are healthier alternatives at Trader Joe’s and it is cheaper,” she said.
Outside of online petitions, those requesting an Auburn Trader Joes have used the "Request a store" form on the chain's website.
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