North of the river. Long overdue.
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Tell Trader Joe'sJoin Map

376,000 residents.Two counties.Zero Trader Joe's.

Source: Population: U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 (Clay County 263,370 + Platte County 113,207)

Clay and Platte counties are among the fastest-growing parts of the Kansas City metro, and every one of the metro's three Trader Joe's stores sits south of the Missouri River. We're building the data-backed case for a store in the Northland.

Add Your Household to the Demand Map

This is an independent community campaign and isn't affiliated with Trader Joe's.

The metro store gap

Three locations. All south of the river.

Northland community Metro store

Store source: traderjoes.com

Core signal

The Northland isn’t a rounding error.

The Northland isn’t a rounding error. The numbers below are from the U.S. Census Bureau and other public sources. Every one of them is linked and verifiable.

376,000+

residents in Clay and Platte counties

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 (Clay: 263,370; Platte: 113,207)

$87K–$96K

median household income (Clay $87,408 · Platte $96,227), roughly 25% above the Missouri median

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024

20%+

population growth in North Kansas City (+23%) and Parkville (+22%) since 2020. Nearly every Clay and Platte municipality has grown

Source: U.S. Census Bureau estimates, 2020–2025

The gap map

Three Trader Joe's in the metro. All of them south of the river. Two of them in another state.

Store locations from traderjoes.com. Community markers show Clay and Platte County population centers.

Source: Trader Joe's store directory and official location-page coordinates.

Loading the metro map…

Metro store Northland community

Distance problem

Trader Joe's is close.Unless you live north of the river.

Time calculator

How much time do Northlanders spend driving for Trader Joe's?

Calculations run in your browser and are never stored.

Hours annually

25.6

Miles annually

1,104

Fuel cost

$148

Community demand

This didn’t start with a consultant.

It started with hundreds of Northlanders saying the same thing. The Northland Small Businesses Facebook group has roughly 8,500 members across Clay and Platte counties. When members were asked what business they wanted here most, more than 100 people gave the same answer.

Source: Northland Small Businesses Facebook group membership and discussion, July 2026.

One question

What business doyou want here most?

Trader Joe’s.

Roughly 8,500

group members

100+

gave the same answer

Northland Small BusinessesVisit the Facebook group

The grocery gap

More grocery stores doesn’t mean more grocery choice.

The Northland already has supermarkets, big-box retailers, warehouse clubs, discount grocers, and natural-food stores. Those options matter. Trader Joe’s would add a grocery format and product mix we don’t have.

Formats already represented

01

Traditional supermarkets

Cosentino’sPrice ChopperHy-Vee

02

Big-box grocery

WalmartTarget

03

Discount grocer

Aldi

04

Natural and specialty

Natural GrocersSprouts

05

Warehouse clubs

Sam’s ClubCostco

The missing format

Trader Joe’s

A neighborhood grocery store centered on unique Trader Joe’s-label products, everyday basics, globally sourced discoveries, and an assortment that keeps changing.

  • A distinctive private-label assortment
  • Everyday basics alongside new discoveries
  • Products selected through tasting and value review
Source: Trader Joe’s About Us

We’re not asking for another version of what we already have. We’re asking for the choice the Northland is missing.

Build the case

Add your household to the Northland demand map.

Privacy notice

We’ll only use your email for occasional campaign updates, and we’ll never sell or share it. Your comment appears publicly only if you check the permission box. Aggregate, anonymized results (counts by community, drive times, spending intent) are shared with Trader Joe's, city officials, and commercial brokers as part of the campaign's demand case.

Read the privacy policy

Take action

Three useful actions. One stronger Northland case.

We’ve got the customers. We’ve got the highways. We’ve even got parking.

Join the Demand MapRequest a Northland Store
  1. 1

    Add your household to the Northland demand map.

  2. 2

    Submit Trader Joe’s official location request.

  3. 3

    Share the campaign with another Northlander.

Share the case

Send it to another Northlander.

Where could it go?

The goal isn’t to pick a winner.

The goal is to show Trader Joe's that the Northland can support a store. Four corridors frame the opportunity without endorsing a single site.

Liberty / I-35 & Highway 152

I-35, MO-152, and the Liberty Triangle

Public data
Retail gravityLiberty Commons, a 315,000 sq ft destination shopping area at the SE corner of I-35 & MO-152Source: City of Liberty
TrafficMore than 120,000 daily vehicle movements converge where I-35 (67,682 AADT) crosses MO-152 (54,697 AADT) at the Liberty Triangle — the highest-volume crossing of any Northland corridor in this comparison.Source: MoDOT TMS Data Zone AADT, 2025
Arterial flowKansas Street, the Triangle's main retail arterial, carries 37,796 vehicles per day westbound alone (directional count), and the single ramp from MO-152 to I-35 south adds another 10,755.Source: MoDOT TMS Data Zone AADT, 2025
DemographicsLiberty median household income $88,542; 39.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, about 25% above the Missouri rateSource: ACS 2024

Metro North / Gladstone

Barry Road, North Oak, and US-169 access

Public data
Retail gravityMetro North Crossing is a $250M, 106-acre mixed-use redevelopment of the former Metro North Mall at US-169 & Barry Road, with ~$100M invested to date, 462 apartment units planned, and new tenants including T-Shotz, Third Street Social, and Furniture Mall of Missouri in the former Macy's.Source: Metro North Crossing LLC / Platte County Landmark
CorridorThe approved Metro North Crossing site plan included a 40,000 sq ft grocery concept. A grocery-scale pad has already been contemplated at this interchange.Source: Kansas City planning commission rezoning coverage, 2016 (FOX4 KC)
DemographicsGladstone: 27,497 residents (2025) with median household income of $79,271; the surrounding North Oak and Barry Road corridors serve the densest residential core of the Northland.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 estimates / ACS 2024
AccessDirect US-169 access via a 41,000+ AADT north-south corridor per MoDOT connects downtown KC, North Kansas City, and Gladstone in one straight shot.Source: MoDOT via North Kansas City Economic Development (2015 count). [TODO - HUMAN: refresh with current segment AADT from MoDOT's Traffic Volume Map before submission]

Barry Road / Zona Rosa

I-29, Barry Road, and Zona Rosa

Public data
Retail gravityZona Rosa is a 1.1 million sq ft mixed-use town center at the NW corner of I-29 & Barry Road with 140 retail spaces anchored by Dillard's, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Barnes & Noble, historically drawing ~10 million visitors a year.Source: Zona Rosa / Visit KC / Wikipedia
CorridorThe center is in an active growth cycle, announcing new 2026 tenants including Burlington, Culver's, MINISO, and Kids Empire. This is evidence of renewed retail demand on the Barry Road corridor.Source: Platte County Landmark, 2026
DemographicsPlatte County has 113,207 residents, a median household income of $96,227 (the highest of any Missouri-side county in the metro), and a median property value of $345,100.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024
AccessThe site is on I-29, five minutes from Kansas City International Airport and its new $1.5B terminal (opened 2023). It is the front door to the fastest-growing quadrant of the metro.Source: Visit KC / Kansas City Aviation Department
Traffic73,821 vehicles a day on I-29/US-71 at the Barry Road node, plus 23,659 on Barry Road itself — and the single ramp from Barry Road onto I-29 south carries 17,148 a day, evidence of a large commuter trade area moving past Zona Rosa's front door every morning.Source: MoDOT TMS Data Zone AADT, 2025

Parkville and southern Platte County

MO-9, I-635, and the western river corridor

Public data
Retail gravityParkville's Creekside development is adding 1,000+ housing units, and its ballfield complex already attracts over 1 million visitors a year. That means new rooftops and destination traffic in one project.Source: Mayor Dean Katerndahl, KCUR, June 2026
CorridorParkville is one of the two fastest-growing cities in the metro: population up 22% since 2020 (7,461 → 9,093), driven by the Park Hill School District and new development.Source: U.S. Census Bureau estimates via Kansas City Star, 2026
DemographicsParkville median household income is $171,271, with 72% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. Both are more than double the national figures and a near-perfect match for Trader Joe's core customer profile.Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year
AccessMO-9 and MO-45 river corridor with I-635 crossing to the metro core; southern Platte County funnels to a small number of well-defined commercial nodes.Source: MoDOT route network
TrafficMO-9 through Parkville carries roughly 12,000 vehicles a day — a neighborhood-scale corridor. Parkville's case rests on demographics, not volume: this is the highest-income, most-educated trade area in the comparison.Source: MoDOT TMS Data Zone AADT, 2025
Comparison of possible Northland retail corridors
CorridorTraffic countMajor retail contextAccess
Liberty / I-35 & Highway 152I-35: 67,682 AADT · MO-152: 54,697 AADT (both directions, MoDOT 2025)Liberty Commons (315,000 sq ft)Rebuilt I-35 / MO-152 interchange (2019)
Metro North / GladstoneUS-169: 41,450 AADT (MoDOT 2015)Metro North Crossing ($250M redevelopment; grocery pad in approved plan)US-169 & NW Barry Road
Barry Road / Zona RosaI-29/US-71: 73,821 AADT · Barry Rd: 23,659 AADT (both directions, MoDOT 2025)Zona Rosa (1.1M sq ft, ~10M annual visitors)I-29, 5 min from KCI
Parkville and southern Platte CountyMO-9 through Parkville: 5,993 AADT eastbound (MoDOT 2025) — ≈12,000 both directionsCreekside (1,000+ units, 1M+ annual ballfield visitors)MO-9 / MO-45 / I-635

Traffic counts are MoDOT Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) from the MoDOT TMS Data Zone, 2025 unless noted. MoDOT publishes one count per travel direction; totals here are the sum of both directional segments. Liberty — I-35: 34,361 NB ("IS 35 N") + 33,321 SB (inventoried as "MO 110 W"; Missouri co-signs I-35 southbound as Route 110, the Chicago–Kansas City Expressway) = 67,682. MO-152: 28,856 EB + 25,841 WB = 54,697. Zona Rosa — I-29/US-71 at the Barry Road node: 35,066 NB + 38,755 SB = 73,821 (the adjacent segment, inventoried under the concurrent US-71 designation, measures 87,244). Barry Road: 11,836 EB + 11,823 WB = 23,659. Parkville — MO-9 (inventoried as "River Park Dr E" through Parkville): 5,993 EB; both-direction figure is the directional count doubled and marked ≈.

Why the Northland

Trader Joe's looks for specific things in a market. The Northland has them.

Income. The chain targets middle-to-upper-middle-income trade areas. Clay ($87,408) and Platte ($96,227) county median household incomes both run roughly 25% above the state median.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024

Access and parking. Trader Joe's has said site decisions hinge on traffic flow, ease of entry and exit, and ample parking for a 10,000–15,000 sq ft store. The I-35/MO-152 corridor was rebuilt in 2019 and anchors 315,000 sq ft of existing destination retail.

Source: Trader Joe's location podcast, MoDOT, and City of Liberty

Proven customers, not hypothetical ones. Northlanders already shop at Trader Joe's. They just drive 30–45 minutes each way to do it. Our survey measures exactly that.

Source: Northland demand survey

FAQ

Questions worth answering before anyone asks.

Clear answers about the campaign, the data, and what happens after you add your household.

Is this an official Trader Joe’s website?

No. This is an independent community campaign and isn’t affiliated with Trader Joe’s.

Why focus on the entire Northland?

Because the customer demand spans Clay County, Platte County, and Kansas City north of the Missouri River. This is a trade-area case, not a single-city petition.

Why not campaign only for Liberty?

Liberty may become a logical central location, but the campaign isn’t Liberty competing against other Northland communities. Put it where the data makes the strongest case.

Does Trader Joe’s pay attention to store requests?

Honestly: Trader Joe's has said that social-media pleas alone don't drive site selection. These are business decisions based on demographics, access, parking, and traffic. That's exactly why this campaign exists. The request form puts the Northland on their radar; this site builds the market data that makes the business case. We're doing both.

Where would the store go?

No final site is endorsed. Possible corridors include Liberty / I-35 and Highway 152, Metro North / Gladstone, Barry Road / Zona Rosa, and Parkville / southern Platte County.

Where do your numbers come from?

Every statistic on this site is sourced. The trade-area population combines U.S. Census Bureau 2024 figures for Clay County (263,370) and Platte County (113,207). Income, education, and growth figures come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey and population estimates. Traffic and corridor data come from MoDOT and the City of Liberty.

What happens to my survey data?

Submissions are stored securely. Your email is used only for campaign updates you opt into. Only aggregate, anonymized results (counts, percentages, and drive-time distributions) are shared publicly or with Trader Joe’s, city officials, and brokers. You can request deletion any time via the contact email in the footer. Full details on our privacy page.

How can city leaders or commercial brokers participate?

They can contribute verified demographic, traffic, parcel, parking, and commercial availability data for the comparison section.

The Northland’s got the population, income, growth, customers, and now the receipts.

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