Trader Joe's - Boston, MA (Boston Harbor)

Trader Joe's
Opened: November 12, 2019

Owner: Aldi Nord

Previous Tenants: non-grocery tenants

Cooperative: none

Location: 44 Thompson Pl, Boston, MA

Photographed: May 20, 2022

This is our first Trader Joe's in some time! It's one of four locations in the city, although I've only photographed three of those four. One of the stores is, in Trader Joe's own words, "the smallest Trader Joe's in the known universe." I would say this is the nicest TJ's in Boston, because although most Trader Joe's look mostly the same, this one is in a great refurbished old brick building and inside, they've left the industrial feeling.

You enter on the side to the produce department and floral, with deli/cold cuts behind that. Cheese and meats are on the back wall, with dairy on the right side towards the back. Frozen foods, as is typical for Trader Joe's, are in the middle of the store.

The high ceiling with wooden beams makes the store's interior feel very pleasant and spacious, and a bit rustic.

In the picture below, we're looking up towards the front of the store, with produce visible to the right.

This store is exceptionally well designed, and I particularly like the wood and brick textures around the interior. Plus, the lighting is excellent, with a lot left up to nature with the large windows on all sides. The hanging pendant lights just fill in the gaps, and they're not overwhelming.

This is the only supermarket around the Seaport/Harbor area, and they've made reference to that with the fishing equipment you can see to the left below, which is in the last aisle.

Frozen foods are right in the middle of the store...

The store is approximately 15,000 square feet, but it feels larger than the average Trader Joe's because of the high ceilings. Incidentally, this is one of the few Trader Joe's I've seen outside New York City with no dedicated parking lot, but where they have stores in major cities, they often forgo the parking.

A look at the front-end, with the registers back there behind the bananas...

And that wraps up our look at this Trader Joe's! Being in the Seaport District, as it's called, it's a bit separated from the other neighborhoods. There's some (and increasing) residential population here, but you're separated from Southie by the Boston Convention Center and some light industrial. This neighborhood is really at the end of the peninsula in Boston Harbor, and it's separated from downtown by the Fort Point Channel (where the Boston Tea Party took place). Over the next two days, we're going to see a few independent grocers in Southie, and then a look at some of the past supermarkets around the neighborhood. Stay tuned!