Trader Joe's - Allston, MA

Trader Joe's

Opened: 2017

Owner: Aldi Nord

Previous Tenants: none

Cooperative: none

Location: 199 N Harvard St, Allston, MA

Photographed: July 27, 2019

Welcome to Lower Allston, which (as I mentioned on the preview post for this neighborhood) is paradoxically the northern part of Allston. This Trader Joe's is also our final store post in the city of Boston!

This Trader Joe's opened in 2017 in a newly-built mixed use development. It's 13,000 square feet.

Inside, the store feels a lot like any other Trader Joe's, with the produce department on the right side, meats in the back-right corner, cheese/deli at the back, frozen in the middle, and nonfoods on the left side.

I was a bit surprised to see that the store has a somewhat low ceiling (and I think the low-hanging lights and unusually large number of pipes and ducts running across the ceiling doesn't help). You get the feeling of a basement store, although you're on the ground floor here, not below street level. There is a parking lot in the basement. That lower ceiling and significant pipe system is likely a result of the several stories above the supermarket.

In fact, you can see here that the hanging lights and ducts actually are so low that they obstruct the decor and signage. That's definitely unusual for a Trader Joe's.

Still, you can tell it's a newer store from certain signs, though, such as the pristine concrete floor. It's obvious this concrete was poured specifically to be the floor of this store.

This is the only supermarket in Lower Allston, the area of the neighborhood on a small peninsula (is that what you'd call it?). The Charles River curves north, then west, and then south again, forming an upside-down U shape. This neighborhood is in the middle of that U.

Dairy at the back of the store. The Head of the Charles Regatta, depicted in this mural, is an annual rowing race down the Charles River (and essentially right past this store).

This store has a wine department, something that's not too common in northeastern Trader Joe's.

It also has the North Harvard Nuttery.

And a look at the front-end. The floor-to-ceiling windows are a fantastic design choice here, because as I mentioned, the ceiling feels a little low, so it helps keep the space bright and airy.

Well folks, we did it! That's all for Boston. We've now toured every supermarket in Boston (but one) and seen quite a few of the small grocers, too. Thanks for staying with me through our tour of the city! Tomorrow, we'll round out the week with a look back at our Allston and Brighton stores, and a preview of what's to come. And on Saturday, keep an eye out for one big post with every Boston supermarket!