Hold your horses Trader Joe’s fans, there won’t be a Wausau location any time soon.
Some unknown pranksters hung a banner saying “Trader Joe’s, Coming Soon” outside a vacant ShopKo building over the weekend.
Bill Schofield, who owns the property, says he doesn’t know who started the rumor, but it wasn’t him.
“We’d love to have them, but it’s not time for them. There’s only two, three Trader Joes in the State of Wisconsin. And we’re not high on the list for a while.”
Scholfield also had to reassure other grocery store that sits right next to ShopKo that, no, Trader Joe’s isn’t moving in right next door. “She stayed on top of it, and we arranged to make sure the sign got down. So not too much damage control, but it certainly got around quickly.”
While the prank may have been chuckle-worthy for some, it did bring Schofield some headaches and cause him to do some damage control.
“Just a reminder that pranks have both a laughing side, and a reaction side that we have to accommodate, so it’s not always the best thing to happen. We don’t encourage it!”
The sign was gone by Monday morning, but it was posted to a number of Facebook groups over the weekend, fueling rumors and speculation.
WSAU