Trader Joe's to open Pinellas County store

Natural food grocer Trader Joe's is opening a new Pinellas County store.

The California chain announced on its website Friday that its seventh store along the Gulf Coast would be in Palm Harbor.

It did not give an opening date, only posting that it was “coming soon.”

The store will be at 33591 U.S. 19 N. in the Highland Lakes Plaza. The center is owned RPT Properties. According to a floor plan on the New York’s firm website, the space for 33591, which is listed as being occupied as “AA/A1 Grocer,” is 40,386 square feet.

A listing for the property also refers to anchor tenant Michaels “and a future grocer.”

The new Trader Joe's will be the Monrovia, California, chain’s third in the Tampa Bay market and its 24th in the state. Its other Gulf Coast stores are in St. Petersburg, Tampa, Naples, Fort Myers, Sarasota and a recently opened location in east Manatee County.

The Manatee County store opened late last year at 8111 Cooper Creek Blvd. in The Shoppes at University Town Center with 25 employees.

The store will be just down the road from a Publix and across from a Sprouts Farmers Market, another chain quickly growing in Florida.