Trader Joe’s to Enlarge Its Darien Store

The Trader Joe’s store in Darien is increasing its size and reconfiguring its floor plan after getting approval for the changes from town land use boards.

The extensive reworking of the store space may close the store at some point, along with its next-door neighbor, the Orvis store, as Trader Joe’s expands into some of Orvis’ present space and Orvis takes over the 2,046 square feet formerly occupied by Darien Spa & Nails, which moved.

A plan showing how the Orvis store would move to the left and Trader Joe’s would expand at the Post Road Shopping Center.

When the construction is over, Orvis will be a bit smaller — 5,753 square feet instead of its present 6,271 square feet. Trader Joe’s, now occupying 8,449 square feet, will be increased in size to 11,077 square feet. A Chase Bank branch, also in the Post Road Shopping Center, will remain in its same space.

Trader Joe’s Darien store, which opened in Darien 18 years ago, is smaller than the grocery store chain’s standard size for stores (12,000 to 13,500 square feet), and smaller than the more recent Trader Joe’s stores opened on High Ridge Road in Stamford and in Westport, according to documents the business filed in Town Hall.

Town Planning & Zoning Director Jeremy Ginsberg said at a recent Planning & Zoning Commission meeting that he expected Trader Joe’s would want to have the expansion project done before shoppers start buying food for Thanksgiving.

The reconfigured floor plan, according to documents filed in Town Hall, shows the diagonal aisles in the store would be running perpendicular to the way they run now, and there would be more cash register counters. They’ll be located on the other side of the store (on the Chase Bank side rather than on the Orvis side).

Trader Joe's

With a store expansion approved by Darien officials, aisles at Trader Joe\’s would be wider and easier to walk through, according to representatives of the store..

Trader Joe’s management does not expect to have more customers with the expansion, town officials were told. The shopping center will continue to have 108 spaces in the parking lot.

The larger size will mean employees won’t have to restock store shelves as much, and a fire exit in the back will be less likely to be impeded by boxes in the store room, which will be expanded, according to documents filed with the P&Z Office.

The area in the store where free tastings are given out is expected to be moved in a way that makes it easier for customers to get around the store, according to the filed documents.

Getting out of the shopping plaza’s parking lot and making a left turn onto the Post Road has been difficult because of traffic and the nearby traffic light. That’s going to get worse.

Part of the project is to reconfigure the entrance and add signs forbidding left turns out of the parking lot. The Old King’s Highway entrance and exit in the back of the parking lot, by Chase Bank, can still be used for customers going in that direction (the direction where most Darien customers live).

The Zoning Board of Appeals approved the plan this spring and sent it to the Planning and Zoning Commission, which approved it on June 23, pending the resolution of some details, which were approved at the commission’s July 8 meeting.

The details involved getting state Department of Transportation approval for changes on the Post Road near the store. The town approved the application without a formal document from the state agency, but town officials are satisfied that the state’s approval will come.