While my wife edged back toward the sidewalk, pretending she didn’t know who I was, I angled past an unlatched gate and got a look inside. My photo wasn’t much, but it clearly identified a Trader Joe’s in the works.

By David Stone

The Roosevelt Island Daily News

More than a few years passed since my furtive times of sneaking peeks into the closed off adult world. The fun of getting a look, though, at what the adults were up to hadn’t left me.

Keeping myself out of the picture, I placed my camera directly on the glass and angled away. Sure, I looked ridiculous, the foodie version of a peeping Tom, but before anyone came out to stop me, I clicked.

Not until I got home and blew up the photo did I realize what I got… Along the left, a row of TJ’s signature wooden checkouts. With a projected October opening already reported, all they need now are registers, card readers and electrical hookups.

If anyone asks, don’t say where you got this. I may have been trespassing — so, what else is new? — but who needs the hassle?

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Featured

You Can’t Be All Three

Transit for the city, an attraction for visitors, and a liability on the Island’s books. The tram is already part of the MTA system. The only question is whether RIOC is ready to admit it.

Theo Gobblevelt Jul 10, 2026

April 9, 2026, during the full board meeting of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, Fay Christian said something that should have landed harder than it did. She wished RIOC were not responsible for the tram. Then she asked what it would look like if it were given to the MTA. That was not a passing comment.

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