Trader Joe's opens Johns Creek store near Forsyth County border

Trader Joe’s opened Thursday at Johns Creek Parkway and McGinnis Ferry Road, putting one of the region’s best-known grocery brands just over the Forsyth County line. For south Forsyth shoppers who already use that corridor for errands and dining, the roughly 9,200-square-foot store adds a closer stop for specialty groceries, prepared foods, seasonal items and the chain’s private-label staples.

The opening also expands Trader Joe’s footprint in north metro Atlanta. The company now has 11 locations across metro Atlanta and north Georgia, and it has plans to add three more Georgia stores in the coming years. In Johns Creek, the chain hired 30 team members, with some transferred from other locations, giving the store a built-in staff from day one.

That matters in a corridor where retail is growing alongside housing and mixed-use development. The store is part of Medley, a $560 million, 43-acre project at Johns Creek Parkway and McGinnis Ferry Road that Toro Development Company says will include 164,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and entertainment space, 883 luxury residences, 110,000 square feet of lifestyle office space, a 150-key boutique hotel and a 25,000-square-foot plaza. Another project description says Medley will also include more than 100 townhomes and more than 700 multifamily homes.

Medley is slated to open Oct. 29, and its retail district is already more than 75% leased. Alongside Trader Joe’s, the tenant mix includes Shake Shack, Kontour Medical Spa, Moop’s Boutique and Northern China Eatery, a lineup that points to a broader shift from office-style land use toward a denser neighborhood center with more daily foot traffic.

For Forsyth County, the opening is as much about shopping patterns as it is about one store. Johns Creek’s estimated population reached 80,401 in July 2025, while Forsyth County’s estimated population was 280,096 in July 2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. Johns Creek’s median household income is $153,882. Those numbers help explain why national brands keep clustering around the county line: the customer base is large, affluent and already moving along the same roads. Trader Joe’s has also said the Johns Creek store will donate 100% of unsold but edible food to local nonprofits, adding a community piece to a commercial opening that could pull more shopping trips toward the McGinnis Ferry corridor.