Trader Joe’s reported efforts to expand its store size are getting kudos from industry insiders. Officials from the offbeat grocery chain won’t comment on the record about its current expansion strategy, but brokers on the ground say Trader Joe’s has been looking at a lot of real estate recently, particularly in smaller big-box formats. This would be a departure from its smaller stores, which have historically ranged between 8,000 sq. ft. and 12,000 sq. ft.

In Houston, for example, Trader Joe’s considered as many as six new sites in the past few months, according to Jason Baker, cofounder and principal of Houston-based retail brokerage firm Baker Katz and a partner with X Team International, a retail real estate brokerage alliance.

Most of those sites have been between 15,000 sq. ft. and 20,000 sq. ft. and were located in highly affluent areas with high levels of education.