Bay Ridge is finally getting its Trader Joe’s.

The popular grocery chain has been announced as the national specialty grocery retailer coming to Century Marketplace, the long-awaited redevelopment of the former Century 21 department store on 86th Street, according to a video posted Sunday by area Council Member Kayla Santosuosso.

The announcement marks a major development in a years-long saga over what would become of the shuttered department store — and delivers news that Bay Ridge residents have been hoping for since Century 21 closed in 2020.

The video, posted by Santosuosso, confirms that Trader Joe's is coming to the neighborhood. No opening date has been announced.

Brooklyn Paper has followed the former Century 21 site’s uncertain future through multiple proposed redevelopments, ownership changes and, most recently, plans for a new retail complex anchored by a national grocery chain — now revealed as Trader Joe’s.

The property was sold for $47.5 million in 2025 to MCB Real Estate and Osiris Ventures, which announced plans to transform the site into Century Marketplace, a roughly 95,000-square-foot retail development. The project is intended to bring new shopping and food options to the busy 86th Street corridor.

In August 2025, the developers told Brooklyn Paper they were working to bring a national grocer to the development, with plans for new retail spaces and a two-story building featuring an interior atrium facing 86th Street.

The announcement followed years of uncertainty after earlier redevelopment proposals for the former department store were abandoned. The Gindi family, which founded Century 21 at the Bay Ridge location in 1961, had previously floated plans for a sprawling retail destination before those plans were scrapped in 2024.

The new ownership’s plans represented a fresh start for the property, which had remained vacant since Century 21 closed amid the retailer’s 2020 bankruptcy.

In December 2025, Brooklyn Paper reported that the former Century 21 holdings had been sold separately , paving the way for two distinct projects on opposite sides of the property. Century Marketplace is being developed on the 86th Street site, while a separate project is moving forward on the 87th Street side.

Santosuosso broke the news with a playful video, capping the long-awaited announcement with a grocery-store sendoff: “I’ll see you in aisle four!”

“The plan has always been to bring 86th Street back bigger and better than ever, and my team and I have been working around the clock behind the scenes to make that happen,” Santosuosso said in a statement.

She said the new Trader Joe’s could help draw more shoppers to the area, benefiting not only 86th Street but also independent shops and restaurants along Third and Fifth Avenues. Santosuosso also thanked Osiris Ventures and her predecessor, former Council Member Justin Brannan — who makes a cameo in her Sunday video — for partnering to bring the grocery chain to Bay Ridge.

Now, with Trader Joe’s confirmed as the grocery tenant, the project is poised to bring a nationally recognized retailer to a commercial corridor that has spent years waiting for the vacant property to find a new purpose.

The California-based grocery chain is known for its private-label products, specialty snacks, and prepared foods, and it has built a loyal following among New York shoppers.