Trader Joe’s, the trendy grocer that entered the Texas market last year and opened a store on Lower Greenville last month, announced Wednesday it will open a fourth store in the Dallas area. Big surprise: It’s not in Oak Cliff. The newest Trader Joe’s is coming to Southlake.
Since Trader Joe’s opened its East Dallas store, I’ve driven over there every weekend for tubs of “vanana” yogurt, tubes of goat cheese and packages of pre-diced pancetta. There’s nothing I really need at Trader Joe’s. I don’t even want to like Trader Joe’s, but it’s as if their marketing wizards have somehow targeted me specifically. I can’t resist it, like when “We Can’t Stop” comes on the car radio and I secretly don’t change the station.
But two new locally owned groceries are on the horizon for Oak Cliff.
Cox Farms Market is under construction at Sylvan Thirty. The developer expects to hand over the 11,000-square-foot building to the grocer next month, and the store could open in December. Mark Cox opened the first Cox Farms in Duncanville in 1991, focusing on organic and local produce, natural foods and nutritional supplements. The Sylvan Thirty store will be the company’s second.
Urban Acres already has a store on West Davis, which opened a few years ago, but the Oak Cliff-based owners recently raised almost $40,000 on Kickstarter to build an “urban farmstead” at Beckley and Greenbriar. Along with the organic, local groceries the store already provides, the new digs will have a cafe, aquaponic system, chicken coop, bee hives and a garden.
Another existing local grocer in Oak Cliff, one that sometimes is overlooked, is Ann’s Health Food Center and Market. The locally owned market opened in 1984, predating Whole Foods in Dallas. Aside from groceries, Ann’s also has a cafe, serving smoothies, juice, burgers, sandwiches, salads, wraps and breakfast.
How many locally owned grocers does Southlake have? How many does Dallas have? Come to think of it, maybe we don’t even want a Trader Joe’s here.
