California Trader Joe’s Faces Unexpected Sinkhole Collapse

Trader Joe's has developed a devoted fanbase, thanks to its unique selection of products and affordable prices. Known for cult-favorite items like Peanut Butter pretzels, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, Speculoos Cookie Butter, and its popular spice blends, the grocery chain markets itself as a neighborhood store with high-quality items at budget-friendly prices. It's no surprise that shoppers keep coming back for more.

But imagine showing up for your weekly grocery outing only to find the doors of your local Trader Joe's closed with no explanation. This was the exact scenario for shoppers in Greenbrae, California, last year when they arrived at the Larkspur Trader Joe's. The doors were locked and a sign on the door gave the vague explanation that it was closed for "unexpected construction."

According to San Francisco's KRON, the store was closed because a sinkhole opened up in the back of the store. To find out just what a sinkhole is and why Trader Joe's had this issue, keep reading.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a sinkhole is defined as "a depression in the ground that has no natural external surface drainage." In layman's terms, that means when it rains, water is retained within the sinkhole space underground. The water eventually eats away at and dissolves the soluble rock beneath it, causing the phenomenon to occur.

Types of soluble rocks that can dissolve in groundwater include carbonate rock such as limestone and dolomite rock. When the space left behind by dissolved rock gets so big that it can no longer support the weight of the land or buildings above, it collapses, consuming the collapsed content into a massive void.

While there is no data recorded for the number of annual sinkholes that collapse each year in the U.S., there is record of the largest sinkhole ever recorded. Known as the "Golly Hole" in Shelby County, Alabama, the sudden collapse took place in 1972, and was a massive 325 feet long, 300 feet wide, and 120 feet deep. The image above shows a massive sinkhole that opened up in Winter Park, Florida back in 1981.

There are no national statistics on annual sinkholes, but the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation states that from 2006-2010, sinkhole claims in the state totaled $1.4 billion. In terms of annual deaths, a University of Florida professor, who is also a contractor and has spent his career studying sinkholes, says that only two people have died in the past 40 years from sinkholes.

In 2013, Jeff Bush was sleeping when the earth opened up and consumed his home. His body was never found, and though the home has long since been gone, the sinkhole has opened up two more times.

A post on Reddit from more than a week ago states the following: "TJs employee here. Gonna keep it short and sweet, the dairy fridge is literally sinking into the crawlspace below and there are visible cracks in the floor and a noticeable slope.

An engineer/inspector is coming over soon to survey how bad it is, but there's no official word on if it's unsafe or not. Additionally, we were told to limit our answers to questions about it to just being a "construction project" (since the fridge is closed off), which seems pretty sketchy."

While the unexpected construction was originally thought to be due to a bad subfloor that started to sag due to the weight of the refrigerators, KRON reported that the Marin County Trader Joe's was closed because a sinkhole opened within the store. Trader Joe's remained incredibly silent about the matter.

However, it was reported that there was no sinkhole in the store. The destruction was caused because of water damage that led to a structural issue. According to officials, “Water damage, probably from all the refrigeration condensate, was occurring without the owner’s knowledge for an extended time.”

The most recent update on Reddit states that the Larkspur store is now reopened, but is still undergoing construction. The former dairy section is currently closed and has been relocated to a new area in the store. There is a makeshift wall where the sinkhole occurred, to cover up all construction zones.

The TJ's website states that this location is open. You can still head to the nearby Trader Joe's in San Rafael for their Everything But the Bagel and Green Goddess seasoning or some Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups.