Trader Joe’s planning second Bethesda store

Current Wisconsin Avenue store would remain open

Trader Joe's could be adding a store to the mixed-use building under construction at 7900 Wisconsin Ave. in Bethesda. Photo courtesy of Amanda Farber

The gourmet grocery store Trader Joe’s plans to open a second downtown Bethesda store, two company officials told Bethesda Beat.

The store would be at 7900 Wisconsin Ave., a 17-story mixed-use building under construction. Nikolay Petrov, a manager of the existing Bethesda store at 6831 Wisconsin Ave., confirmed the location in an interview. “For now, that’s the plan,” he said.

“We’re just waiting for the building to get finished, so that we can open the store and set everything up and get everything running,” he added.

Petrov said there is no timetable for when the new Trader Joe’s will open because Montgomery County’s permitting process is not complete.

Kenya Friend-Daniel, a Trader Joe’s spokeswoman, said in an interview Tuesday that there is no definite timeline for the store’s opening.

“We are working to open the store there. We’re still very early on in the process,” she said.

The latest proposal from developer JBG Smith submitted to the county planning board last week calls for 322 apartments and 21,600 square feet of retail space in the building.

Samantha Schmieder, a spokeswoman for JBG Smith, said in an interview Monday that she couldn’t comment on prospective tenants.

“Unfortunately it is too early to make any comments about that specific building,” she said.

Trader Joe’s has four stores in Montgomery County — Bethesda, North Potomac, Rockville and Silver Spring.

Dan Schere can be reached at Daniel.schere@bethesdamagazine.com