When The Burn broke the news Thursday morning that the popular grocery store chain Trader Joe’s was opening a Leesburg store, it sent some minor shockwaves around the town.
We heard Mayor Burk was getting asked about it by citizens while out running errands and we got a call from some town officials looking for more information.
As we always say — The Burn doesn’t report rumors. When we break news, it is either something for which we have seen documentation — or we’ve been told by a reliable source in a position to know.
We knew our Trader Joe’s source was rock solid but, nevertheless, now we have confirmation from the company itself.
“Trader Joe’s plans to open a store in Leesburg, and we look forward to being part of the neighborhood,” Nakia Rohde, the Public Relations Manager for the company, told The Burn Friday afternoon.
Rohde declined to confirm an address for the new store or comment on a timeline for construction and opening, but as we reported yesterday, the new location is all but certain to be in the Fort Evans Plaza II retail center on Fort Evans Road NE.
We reported that TJs is planning to take over the roughly 15,000 s.f. vacant space to the right of the HomeGoods store.
Previously, there was a JoAnn Fabric store there and an Aaron’s Rent-to-Own center. Those two stores closed and HomeGoods came in and took a portion of the vacant space. Now, Trader Joe’s will take the remaining square footage.
(Image at top: Trader Joe’s)