WARWICK –– Offbeat grocery-store chain Trader Joe’s will open its first Rhode Island supermarket on Bald Hill Road this fall.

Known for its Hawaiian-shirt-wearing employees, $3 bottles of wine and inexpensive, gourmet-style goods, Trader Joe’s has expanded rapidly in recent years.

The grocer now operates about 300 stores in 23 states and Washington, D.C., according to company spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki.

Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian called the grocer’s imminent arrival a coup for the city and the commercial corridor along Bald Hill Road, also known as Route 2.

“It’s a win for us because it creates a reason for people to go to Route 2,” he said. “People do drive to Massachusetts for Trader Joe’s.”

The grocer, which operates 16 supermarkets in Massachusetts, will be at the 1000 Bald Hill Rd. shopping center, owned by Linear Retail Properties, LLC, of Burlington, Mass.

Joel Kadis, a partner at Linear, said Trader Joe’s would fill a space to be vacated by GCO Flooring Outlet.

Kadis said Linear would spend $1 million this spring and summer renovating the shopping center, which also includes Panera Bread, AT&T and Supercuts, among other businesses.

Trader Joe’s is expected to open its 12,700-square-foot store in October, he said.

Mochizuki said the store would be about average size for the grocer, which sells some 80 percent of its goods under its private label, Trader Joe’s.

The company is owned by the German family behind the no-frills ALDI Food Market chain.

ALDI moved into the Rhode Island market this year, opening its first store on Quaker Lane. The company is also planning a market for Smith Hill, in Providence.

dscharfe@projo.com