Trader Joe’s returns to Germantown panel to seek store signs

Trader Joe’s is back before the Germantown Design Review Commission on Tuesday evening to request signs for the chain’s planned Germantown store.

DRC members will review a sign package proposal that calls for a total of three signs in the familiar Trader Joe’s font.

The main sign on the front, or west-facing side, of the building would be red and located above the main entrance. A smaller sign on the north wall, where there is no entrance, also would be red. The third sign, a ground-mounted Germantown Collection shopping center sign, would be off-white.

Signage review by the DRC is a standard part of the approval process for any new business locating in the city, but the high level of interest in Trader Joe’s has drawn added scrutiny in this case as the chain goes through the motions of making the store happen.

Trader Joe’s has not announced an opening date, but a spokeswoman said earlier the chain hopes to make the Germantown store a reality sometime this year.

Trader Joe’s originally came before a DRC subcommittee in February with a sign proposal, but a vote by the full DRC was delayed as the city and business haggled over details to make the sign request consistent with city regulations.

The DRC staff report for Tuesday’s meeting notes that the request still is not consistent with the shopping center’s sign policy, “especially allowable sign area and allowable letter font.”

If approved by the DRC, the report notes, Trader Joe’s will still need to get a permit from the Memphis-Shelby County Office of Code Enforcement before installing the signs.

Work is well underway at the site, the former Kroger store on Exeter. Trader Joe’s is expected to be the main tenant in the existing building, which will have space for two additional tenants. A development contract approved by the Board of Aldermen in December also calls for a separate 7,000-square-foot building.

Last month, the DRC approved design changes for a retail space adjacent to the Trader Joe’s space. The proposed tenant of the adjacent space has not been identified.

The unidentified tenant would occupy the middle of three retail bays in the existing building.

Tuesday’s DRC meeting begins at 6 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall, 1930 S. Germantown Road.