Students, family, and community members all came to support the grand opening of Trader Joe’s at the Stonestown mall today. As the doors to the store opened, Traders Joe’s staff politely welcomed shoppers to the store and directed them to the escalators leading down to the store.

“I'm very happy that Trader Joe's is close to where I live now. I used to have to go to the one in Daly City, or Rainbow in the SOMA. They are both co-ops and I like to support them. Now Trader Joe’s is so close, it's only a bus ride away,” said Sade Ronco, Parkmerced resident.

The store was supposed to open in October, but had a delay because there are only two state elevator inspectors. It took them a while to come out, and when they did they were in process of training new inspectors, according to Robert Barnhill, store manager.

There are escalators, elevators, stairs, and a verma port at this location. The verma port is a device with which customers put their grocery carts on and it moves it smoothly to the street level.

“The escalators stopped working earlier today, but they are up and running now,” said Barnhill, as he was thanking customers and helping load the verma port.

It took roughly six months for construction to finish. Before Trader Joe’s, the location used to be a sporting goods store, and was vacant after it closed for about two years. The reason why it took a while for Trader Joe’s to open was lease negotiations, according to Barnhill.

“This is great to have Trader Joe’s so close to campus now. I’m going to stop by a lot before class and get something healthy. I usually get something to eat on campus but it’s not always the healthiest thing,” said Courtney Schledervitz, art major and SF State student.

Trader Joe’s is expecting a lot of foot traffic because it is located so close to campus, and Barnhill said that about a third of the customers today have been students.

“We are always trying to cater to the neighborhood, so we understand that there are a lot of students. We are not concerned about being close to campus; we just want to find our sales trends. We want to know if students want more energy bars, frozen foods or juices and just be able to cater to their needs,” said Barnhill.

As well as student shoppers, some of the employees are SF State students.

“This is so convenient, I can walk to school from work. Compared to the other Trader Joe’s, this one really does cater more to the students. This store understands that students will be coming in and out of here, because the majority of people living close by are students,” said Blanca Bawden, Trader Joe’s employee and SF State junior.