It’s a sad week for Two Buck Chuck loving New Yorkers. The city’s only Trader Joe’s location to sell wine closed its doors on Thursday.
Little warning was given ahead of the closure of the Union Square wine store. Customers learned of the news via a printed sign at the 14th Street location. Twitter user @evgrieve documented it a little before 5 p.m. on Thursday, posting a photo of the notice.
It’s true — the Trader Joe’s Wine Shop — the only one in NYC — shut down today on 14th Street in Union Square. pic.twitter.com/Y2yw5LY52M
— evgrieve (@evgrieve) August 11, 2022
The message states:
To Our Valued Customers,
Effective Thursday, August 11 our NYC Wine Shop in Union Square will be closed.
We have been operating our small Wine Shop in the Union Square neighborhood for over 15 years, and we thank you for your business and support throughout the years.
It is now time for us to explore another location that will allow us to optimize the potential of our one and only license to sell wine in the state of New York.
Please know all Crew Members in this store will be paid for their schedule shifts through August 28, and we will use this time to discuss with them the opportunity to transfer to another Trader Joe’s in NYC.
We look forward to sharing with you our plans to offer an even better wine shop experience to our New York customers as soon as they are finalized.
With appreciation,
All of us at Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s has not yet released a statement confirming the closure, but the location is listed as permanently closed on the grocery chain’s website. The Union Square grocery location next door to the Wine Shop remains open, with no apparent plans to shutter.
Dedicated TJ’s fans took to social media to express their surprise and disappointment at the news. On the popular subreddit, r/nyc, reddit users noted their grief for the location’s closure in a thread, and discussed the city’s restrictions on liquor store licenses.
In New York state, an individual or company can only hold one liquor license for a single location. At this time, Trader Joe’s has not yet shared plans for a future wine store.
New Yorkers: Hope you stocked up on Two Buck Chuck while you still could.
