Merriam will have a grocery store again.

Trader Joe's announced Aug. 21 that its new location at 8700 Shawnee Mission Parkway will open Sept. 2 at 9 a.m., according to KCTV5. Store hours will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The store will be the first grocery option in the city since Hen House closed its Merriam location in July 2018.

The 12,500-square-foot store sits at the corner of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Antioch Road, on the site of the former Antioch branch of the Johnson County Library. It anchors the north side of the Grand Station Marketplace, a $102 million mixed-use development by Drake Development that includes more than 200 apartments, restaurants and retail space, according to the city of Merriam's project page.

The Merriam store will be the third Trader Joe's in the Kansas City metro, joining locations on Ward Parkway in Kansas City, Missouri, and West 119th Street in Leawood, Fox 4 Kansas City reported.

Grocery access has been a sore point for Merriam residents. In a 2024 city survey, nearly 60 percent of respondents said they supported bringing a grocery store to town even if it required public investment. It ranked as the community's No. 1 priority.

The demand is drawing a second grocer, too. The Merriam City Council voted 7-1 on June 24 to approve a Community Improvement District at Merriam Town Center, according to the city, that will fund a new Aldi store of approximately 23,000 square feet in the old OfficeMax space. A 1 percent CID sales tax takes effect Oct. 1, though the Aldi itself will be exempt from the surcharge. The city has not announced a construction timeline or opening date for Aldi.

Trader Joe's confirmed its Merriam plans in a February press release, noting construction was well underway as of January. The company said on its website it is proud to join the neighborhood and committed to its Neighborhood Shares donation program.

Other tenants already open or announced at the broader Grand Station development include Starbucks, CAVA, HomeGrown and 30hop brewery. That larger project, built on the former Kmart site along Shawnee Mission Parkway at Interstate 35, is a separate $140 million, 14-acre development by Drake Development that includes 361 apartment units, restaurants and a civic activity space.