Wildfire-damaged Trader Joe's on Cleveland Avenue reopens to throng of eager shoppers

Shoppers were greeted with colorful leis and free grocery bags as the popular Cleveland Avenue grocery store, closed since damaged in the October 2017 wildfire, reopened Friday in Santa Rosa.|

Jammed parking lots, long lines and crowded aisles weren’t enough to keep hundreds of eager shoppers from the Friday morning reopening of Trader Joe’s market on Cleveland Avenue in Santa Rosa.

Greeted with colorful leis and free grocery bags, shoppers shared smiles, hugs and tears of joy with store employees. The popular grocery store, severely burned in the October 2017 wildfire and closed since then, was back in business at 8 a.m.

Pamela Van Halselma and her husband, Dwayne Mulder, who lost their home in Coffey Park, were among the first shoppers early Friday. Van Halsema, the new president of the Coffey Strong neighorhood group, brought her “Coffey Strong” sign with her, hoping to plant it somewhere near the store.

“We just want to show that we are so happy to have Trader Joe’s back,” Van Halsema said. “This is a community hub.”

Steve Schafer, the store manager, said the Trader Joe’s reopening represented a “rebirth” for the local community.

“This is a tremendous thing for my customers and my crew,” Schafer said. “A lot of tears today, tears of joy, tears of relief. It really represents a rebirth.”

Van Halsema and Mulder, who now live near Pacific Market in the Town and Country Shopping Center, said she has shopped at the Cleveland Avenue Trader Joe’s three or four times a week for 18 years - as long as she’s been living in Coffey Park. The couple are rebuilding their home on Kerry Lane at Hopper Avenue.

“It feels like home,” Mulder said of the neighborhood grocer.

During the first hour of business Friday, finding a spot in the store’s parking was extremely difficult. Many shoppers drove to neighboring parking lots and walked to the store, many of them carrying their Trader Joe’s reusable grocery bags. At the entrance, customers were greeted by smiling employees. Some expressed a sense of relief and “healing.”

The store’s closure for about 13 months caused patrons to drive south for groceries to the city’s other Trader Joe’s along Santa Rosa Avenue in the Santa Rosa Marketplace. Marco León, the manager of the Santa Rosa Avenue store, said that after the Trubbs fire a year ago his store added 100 Cleveland Avenue store employees to its payroll.

He said business at the Santa Rosa Avenue site increased by 65 percent, but his staff doubled.

“Everyone got full hours the entire year,” he said.

The grocery chain spent $1.3 million to repair and remodel the Cleveland Avenue store. The work included a new roof, a new heating and air conditioning system, a new ceiling, new restrooms, new refrigerated cases and new offices within the store.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.

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