High school seniors fool ENTIRE town with epic Trader Joe's prank - leaving residents devastated when they uncover the truth

A group of high school seniors has successfully tricked their town into thinking they'd soon be getting a Trader Joe's by erecting a banner declaring that the beloved grocery chain was 'coming soon.' 

Like many high schools around the U.S., Northeast High School's graduating class in Pasadena, Maryland, traditionally pulls an annual prank on its community, which has 24,000 residents.

This year, they got up the hopes of many residents with a fake banner announcing that a Trader Joe's location would be up and running by spring of 2025. 

While Trader Joe's does have 10 out of its nearly 600 locations in the Old Line state, sadly, none are in the town of Pasadena - though the closest location in, Annapolis, is just under a 25-minute drive away.

A town got its hopes up that they'd be getting a Trader Joe's in spring of 2025 after high school seniors placed a fake sign near an empty lot

Word soon got around on social media that the whole thing had been a prank - though even those fooled appreciated the joke

Were passers-by to scan the QR code on the fake banner, they were taken to the music video for Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up - also known as being Rickrolled - a telltale sign that the promise of a Trader Joe's was a mere illusion.

Maryland local Marlena Calobong broke the news of the Trader Joe's hijinks on Facebook, writing: 'To my Pasadena friends… Yesterday the Senior class of our local high school pranked the ENTIRE town!

'They hung a banner in front of an empty grocery store property that said 'Coming Soon: Trader Joes' with a QR code that Rick-Rolls you ('Never gonna give you up' by Rick Astley).

'The whole town was abuzz yesterday morning, thinking we were getting a Trader Joe's!

'AND again this morning to find out it was just a prank… Well, they got us all!!! That was a good one!!!'

And this news left people devastated. 

'Lol disappointing but oh well. All in good fun I guess,' one person commented. 

'Kids can be so cruel,' a second joked, adding a laughing-face emoji.

Trader Joe's has 10 of its nearly 600 national locations in Maryland - but the closest one to Pasadena is in Annapolis, a little under a 25-minute drive away

Local realtor Alyssa Smith admitted she was among those to be fooled - and congratulated the seniors on the deftly executed prank

'Nice clean prank! Way to go!' a third praised. 

Yet another continued to hold out hope, however, chiming in: 'I have a weird feeling traders will get wind of how thrilled everyone on fb (Facebook) was yesterday to be getting one in our area that they will put one in here. Just sayin.' 

Local realtor Alyssa Smith took to TikTok to applaud the seniors, admitting she, too, had been fooled by the signage.  

'Well played, Northeast High School seniors,' she commended the students.

'If you are a victim of the senior prank that a Trader Joe's was coming to Pasadena, raise your hand,' she added with her own hand raised.

She further explained they'd put the banner in the 'Mars parking lot, which has been empty for ages.'

Alyssa may have been referring the former location of the now-defunct Mars Supermarkets. According to Supermarket News, Mars closed its Pasadena location in 2015.

She further speculated that the kids perhaps had accepted some intergenerational guidance on the project, given the aspect of the Rickroll - an internet prank dating back to the aughts. 

'These kids had to have had help from older millennials or Gen Xers because how do they even know what a rickroll is?' she speculated.

'I mean, come on. Too funny.'