When will Trader Joe’s open in New Orleans? Here’s the latest, plus photos of the space

Trader Joe’s, the national grocery store chain with a cultlike following, is set to open its first location in New Orleans this August in the city’s medical district, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans.

Construction of the store on Tulane Avenue, near the New Orleans VA Medical Center, has been completed and Trader Joe’s local construction firms are putting the finishing touches on the interior of the building.

The famously tight-lipped company hasn’t yet picked a firm opening date, but it plans to hang the signage sometime in August, according to company spokesperson Nakia Rohde. Typically, the company hangs its signage immediately before it opens its stores.

Trader Joe’s has built a devoted following with its quirky private-label goodies, friendly staff in Hawaiian shirts, and fun in-store vibes — jovial signage, free samples, occasional stickers or lollipops for kids.

They are also known to pick densely populated, higher-income and educated communities — places where smaller store formats perform strongly. So, a Trader Joe’s is seen as an endorsement of a neighborhood.

The Tulane Avenue store has been much anticipated as a sign of economic development in the city’s medical district, where billions of dollars have been spent since Hurricane Katrina to build the University Medical Center and the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System between Canal Street and Tulane Avenue.

A plan to create a BioDistrict that would run through parts of Mid-City and incorporate the medical district, as well as parts of the Central Business District, finally secured a regular source of tax funding two years ago.

The first BioDistrict budget was approved in November, and much of its early work is aimed at improving Tulane Avenue streetscapes. It will include new bus shelters, lighting, landscaping, and crosswalks all along the thoroughfare. Some of those improvements have already been made at the Trader Joe’s site.

The aim of the BioDistrict is to foster an “innovation district” similar to those found in other parts of the country, such as the Cortex Innovation Community in St. Louis. Cortex helped spur a revival of a neglected part of St. Louis around its downtown university campuses, attracting hundreds of new businesses and creating thousands of new jobs.

Zach Kupperman, one of the developers of the Uptown project, said demolition has been completed and initial work started. It is “full speed ahead,” though there is no firm timeline yet for completion of the store.

Trader Joe’s, which was founded in the late 1960s by Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, California, cultivated a laid-back image with an eclectic range of affordable, high-quality grocery items for a well-educated and well-traveled consumer.

Unlike many successful chains, expansion was slow for decades, even after the chain was acquired by Germany’s giant Aldi Nord in 1979.

Trader Joe’s in Baton Rouge opened its doors on Oct. 31, 2013, at the Acadian Village Shopping Center. The Metairie location — at 2949 Veterans Memorial Blvd. — opened three years later.

More recent Trader Joe’s CEOs have accelerated the chain’s expansion, and now there are three more stores slated to open in Louisiana. Trader Joe’s also has begun work on a new location for Camellia Boulevard, near River Ranch in Lafayette.