Health

Southeast Portland Trader Joe’s Reopens After Asbestos Closure

The toxin had been found during a remodel, prompting the closure of the store for weeks.

By Andrew Schwartz
A Trader Joe's grocery store. (Tony Webster)

Just over a month after closing for asbestos decontamination at the request of state health officials, the Trader Joe’s on Southeast César E. Chávez Boulevard reopened Monday morning.

“We look forward to welcoming customers back to their neighborhood Trader Joe’s,” grocery store spokeswoman Nakia Rohde said.

One of several Trader Joe’s stores in the Portland area, the Southeast Portland location abruptly closed to customers and employees the evening of March 4, after testing on old flooring material revealed during a renovation project turned up trace amounts of asbestos—a fiber once common in construction materials that can damage lungs when inhaled over long periods.

Health officials asked the store to close for decontamination, but they also said at the time they believed the asbestos risk to Trader Joe’s employees and shoppers was low.

The asbestos abatement contractor completed the project last week, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality spokesman Michael Loch tells WW.

He added that one of the state’s asbestos compliance specialists visited the store on Thursday and did not observe anything of concern.

Andrew Schwartz

Andrew Schwartz

Andrew Schwartz writes about health care. He's spent years reporting on political and spiritual movements, most recently covering religion and immigration for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, and before this as a freelancer covering labor and public policy for various magazines. He began his career at the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.

Willamette Week’s reporting has real-life impact that changes laws, forces action by civic leaders, and drives compromised politicians from public office.

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