Did Trader Joe’s Just Open Its First C-Store?

Trader Joe’s has replaced its former wine store in Manhattan with a new grab-and-go concept, Trader Joe’s Pronto, offering a limited assortment of prepared foods and snacks.

The mini-store is next to Trader Joe’s first traditional store in Manhattan at 142 E. 14^th St., which continues to see checkout lines snake around the store since it opened in 2006. A store already opened less than a mile away at 436 E. 14^th St. in 2020 to ease in-store congestion, and Pronto is particularly suited to customers seeking just a few items.

Pronto offers a selection of sandwiches, salads, yogurts, beverages, and other ready-to-eat snacks. According to CSP, a trade publication supporting the C-store industry, Pronto measures about 2,800 square feet, compared to about 15,000 square feet for a traditional Trader Joe’s store.

“Trader Joe’s Pronto is a one-of-a-kind extension of our store in Union Square,” Trader Joe’s said in a statement to NBC News. “This additional space allows us to carry more of the products our customers in this neighborhood purchase daily.”

Trader Joe’s has no current plans to open additional Pronto locations. The name “Pronto” harks back to Trader Joe’s founder Joe Coulombe’s original chain of convenience stores, called Pronto Markets, which opened in California in 1958. The first Trader Joe’s location opened in 1967.

The opening comes as Whole Foods in March announced plans to open smaller, “quick-shop” stores, called Whole Foods Market Daily Shop, aimed at the “unique, fast-paced needs of urban lifestyles” with a similar focus on takeout meals and prepared foods. The concept, however, is much bigger than Trader Joe’s Pronto, expected to measure between 7,000 and 14,000 square feet in size.

Pronto’s size more closely resembles a smaller C-store. Many C-stores have transformed from selling junk food fare to now offering a wide array of grab-and-go meals, whether those that can be eaten as is or quickly warmed for a hot meal. Grocers and restaurants are also trying to take advantage of the grab-and-go trend.

According to a survey from May 2023 commissioned by NCSolutions, 75% of U.S. consumers still eat meals or snacks on the go either “sometimes,” “often,” or “always.” Lunch (52%) and breakfast (50%) are the most popular grab-and-go convenience item meals, followed by snacks (41%) and dinner (36%).

Locally, the opening of Trader Joe’s Pronto met with some controversy, with labor organizations claiming the wine store was abruptly shut down in August 2022 to prevent its workers from unionizing. Trader Joe’s denied the charges, claiming it was seeking a larger location “that will allow us to optimize the potential of our one and only license to sell wine in the state of New York.” 

Since the closure, Trader Joe’s has held onto the space for storage.

Commenting on the Pronto opening, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) said in a statement, “We believe Trader Joe’s is doing everything in its power to prevent a profitable unionized shop from reopening.”