Trader Joe’s opens in Marina to ‘incredible’ fanfare.

Although Trader Joe’s was scheduled to open its new Marina store at 9am on Wednesday, Nov. 13, a line had already long before formed around the building by 8:50am.

As expected, the parking lot was completely full. Drivers circled the area hoping for a spot to open up, while others parked along two blocks of Second Avenue and inside the nearby Dunes shopping center, making the trek by foot, Trader Joe’s bags in hand.

Once the ribbon was cut, customers began filing into the building in pulses, so as not to overwhelm the store.

While people waited outside for their turn to enter, a call-and-response chant broke out: “Trader! Joe’s!”

Mayor Bruce Delgado was greeting customers in line, asking them what they were going to buy as he was decked out in a Hawaiian shirt, lei and top hat, calling it his Trader Joe’s outfit.

“I’ve never seen so much excitement from people for the opening of a grocery store,” he says. “This is historic.”

The 9,692-square-foot store at 150 10th St. is among the new construction at The Dunes Promenade in south Marina, featuring homes and businesses once fully built out. The Brass Tap recently opened in the mixed-use development.

This is the third Trader Joe’s location in Monterey County, with the others being in Monterey and Pacific Grove.

Marina Store Captain Christian Robbins says the response at the grand opening “has exceeded our expectations.”

“We knew it would be good, but this is incredible,” he says.

Robbins has worked for 22 years at Trader Joe’s, most recently in Capitola after stints in Monterey and Pacific Grove. The store has about 135 employees, including 95 new hires that hail from Marina, Salinas, Soledad and elsewhere in the county, as well as across the county line in Watsonville, he says.

Robbins says he expects the store’s customer base to largely be Marina residents and CSU Monterey Bay students, in addition to residents of Salinas and nearby areas. Seaside residents have also expressed interest in shopping in Marina rather than the store in Monterey, he says, noting that many customers there can get frustrated by the oft-full parking situation.

Shortly after the store opened, CSUMB announced it is partnering with Trader Joe’s to bring food to hungry students. Basic Needs, the university’s food pantry program, will receive the store’s daily donations of food and other fresh items that it can no longer sell and that would otherwise be thrown out. 

“This is a huge community-based partnership and we’re super excited,” Basic Needs Director Robyn DoCanto said in a press release. “This creates much more accessibility for our students and our team. We’re really hoping the Basic Needs Hub won’t be empty at the end of the day.”

Trader Joe’s has pledged to donate 100 percent of products that go unsold to nonprofit organizations through its Neighborhood Shares Program.