Trader Joe’s

Not as big a selection as the one up north. They don’t have broccoli here, and have been out of the green juice and yogurt that I like for three weeks. However, unlike other Trader Joe’s locations that I’ve been to in other states, they have their own parking lot, as opposed to sharing with other businesses, so they get some points back for that.

I just moved to Albuquerque from the SF Bay Area where I shopped at Trader Joes all the time, and I loved the California locations. Well this Albuquerque location fails BIG TIME! I purchased my regular organic chicken, and even the guy at the register thought something in my groceries smelled spoiled, but when we smelled the sealed chicken package it smelled fine. I got the chicken home and opened it the following day (the expiration date was dated for the following day of opening), and the chicken smelled rancid, so I took a picture of the package & expiration date, and threw the chicken away immediately. The store manager refunded my money no problem. The next time I went shopping I bought 2 packages of organic chicken, one for myself, and one that I boil for my dog to add to his dog food (spoiled pup, I know), the next 2 batches of chicken smelled a little off but not too bad so I cooked it. My chicken had a strange flavor so I threw it away, and the dog wouldn’t eat his chicken either and I had to throw his batch away too.
Furthermore, I realize that most produce is shipped into Albuquerque, but I noticed the produce from TJ’s spoiled a lot faster too. So with all said, I will no longer be shopping at Tj’s and will have to plan on spending more money for groceries at another popular (and expensive) health food store.

Trader Joes is great. Has affordable, fun, interesting food. Fresh produce and the variety of goods is awesome.
The staff is helpful and nice.
The parking lot is absolutely atrocious!!! Terrible. Seriously bad. I think I might go to the Ventura/​Paseo one just to avoid this parking lot.

Best service, at place to shop clean, friendly, and the products are varied and provide interesting food choices. Can not be beat for good, fairly priced wine.

Yeah, I’m a fan. But only at certain times when other people aren’t there. The place fills up with folks who have one foot in this world and one foot in, I don’t know, twinkle ding dong land. They can stop anywhere they like, but if you block their access stand by for the lightening bolts from their eyes cutting you down! Pew, pew!
Anyway, the store is pretty awesome. I love the selection of frozen fish — always handy to stock that in case you need to make a good meal on short notice. There is a big case full of tofu and meat alternative products which I love — shout out to the Soy Chorizo! That stuff is seriously good and after you try it you’ll admit that there is no reason to ever again eat greasy, ass on fire, regular chorizo. The selection of coffee and tea is wonderful and they have lots of seasonal varieties. The over abundance of pumpkin spice stuff right now is funny, and some of it is good, like Pumpkin O’s, but for the love of everything that is good — do not/​not try the instant pumpkin oatmeal. Other stuff I love — the frozen deserts like the lemon bars and the apple pastry, triple ginger snaps, tofu spring rolls in the produce area, bags of brocolli slaw, fresh basil, ravioli that you can buy on sale and put in the freezer. Lots of other stuff.
Just look out for those people. Pew! Pew!

Nice place w very friendly people. Always making small talk. One strange thing I found was NO aluminum foil. Kinda weird, but outweighed by all the good stuff.
Frozen fruit and microwave section is clutch
Little bit pricey, but overall a nice place to shop

The store has lots of great options. It’s always well organized and clean at his location. The employees always seem like they’re having a good time which in turn makes me have a good time while I’m shopping. They’re always willing to help out and show me where I can find what I’m looking for. I highly recommend their Charles shaw ($ 3 buck chuck) wine. If you like wine but aren’t picky, it’s the best!

I’m quite surprised I’ve never reviewed TD. I love TD. My favorite things to buy from TD are their frozen veggies and fruit, whole wheat pasta, dried mango, wines, coffee, and cheeses. The staff make this place completely worth going to. Everyone is always nice and helpful. There aren’t people moping around and rude like in WalMart or a big box store. They ask you how your day is and genuinely mean it.
What else can I say… I love me some Trader Joe’s!

I love trader joe’s! I just wish they had better fruit choices (more organic) and a bigger parking lot. Sometimes I feel like I’ll never escape the parking lot, it’s crazy. But the choices and staff are really great. It would also be awesome if they had a fresh deli!

I don’t get everything I need here, but this is the place to go for a few essentials. First off, they have the best priced artisan cheese selection. Second, decent whole bean coffee (I have a burr grinder and use a french press) for a great price. Last, but not least, they have a few awesome veggie selections that I either can’t find other places or that they have the best price on (brussels sprout stalks, rainbow carrots, heirloom tomatoes).

I love Trader Joe’s. No matter where you go always have good food. And they always make you feel welcome. What’s this Trader Joe’s is dear to my heart just because it’s in my home state.

I just have to say that all trader joe’s staff, anywhere in the country has that damn fake smile, act like I give shit or i’ll be fired attitude and it’s sad.

I love this place. I am a bit of a health food junkie and I find this place amazing. The workers are friendly, the choices are good and the prices are reasonable.
People typically think that healthier food will be expensive, but that is not the case here. I typically get a cart full of food for only around $ 120. That is about 60 – 80 different items. They sell great options for those with food sensitivity issues. Their non-​GMO and organic selection is massive.
They have a huge selection of breads ranging from all organic to gluten free. Their gluten free tortillas have won me over and I have no issue with gluten. They are fluffy and large. I forget the brand of them, but I will edit if I figure it out.
They have some of the best Balsamic vinegar for sale there, as well are some lovely organic olive oil. They have coconut oil as well, but it is one of their pricey items (you can get the same brand of coconut oil at Costco for quite a bit less money).
Some of my favorite options start with the cheese section. They have organic, grass fed cheese for low prices– it tastes great and fresh. They have handmade pastas in that same section as well, which you can keep fresh or freeze. Their pre-​made salads are great for lunch time and are large enough to be filling. They have a wide selection of pre-​made vegetarian lunch items that are GMO free and healthy.
They carry my favorite brussel sprouts in the freezer section. They come in a light butter sauce with spices and are wonderful. They have organic tater tots, organic pizzas and other such items for the nights that you are craving traditionally unhealthy food. Their organic wood fired mozzarella and sun dried tomato pizza is lovely. It’s small and low in calories and comes with a special dipping sauce. It’s great for a quick meal.
They have a fresh goat cheese pizza in the deli. I used to hate goat cheese. Honestly, I still do. They made me like this goat cheese with this little personal sized pizza.
They have boxed soups that are all organic– my favorite being the tomato. Most of their canned foods are organic or at least GMO free.
So much produce! They have some of the best apples there and a large selection of fruits that are harder to find. Unlike lots of stores, they always have good, fresh produce out.
They give out samples daily. They are nice enough to provide you with recipes, as well. They even sell a large selection of fresh flowers.
I love cooking at home and cooking for scratch. They sell amazing, basic ingredients that add tons of flavor. Something as simple as organic bread crumbs and hemp seed mixed together over organic roasted chicken is delicious. Their squash is lovely and fresh– the best kind of roasting is fresh, since the texture will not come through well if your squash is a bit aged.
Even their chip/​junk food section has options that are guilt-​free.
Their wine section is expansive– need I say more?
They have great options for natural vitamins and health products. It’s cheaper than Whole Foods, while still having tons of options.
I am a very loyal customer.
The fire stars goes away because sometimes Joe’s own brand has some extra ingredients that I do not like– such as adding corn syrup where it is not needed or in places where cane sugar could have been used instead. For a health store, I think that is something that should be evaluated– but no worries, they have other brands that do not add such things.

Why I love Trader Joe’s, an unabashed amateur cook’s manifesto:
This I believe: gourmet cooking can, and should, be crafted in the home. Our universal foe: The Man. The ²⁴⁄₇ work week of tweets, posts, late night emails, and smart phone insanity have strangled everyday home dining exploits and threatened serious foodie aspirations to an alarming extent. Collectively, we seemingly have no time to spare, and our diets suffer, endlessly. Where can you look to find healthy, often organic alternatives to our fast food culture, cooked up in a jiffy?
A revolution is afoot, people: shop at Trader Joe’s. Stating the obvious: the aisles aren’t grandiose, thus every product on the shelf is specifically chosen to tantalize an amateur chef like myself. I love the pre-​peeled garlic, goodbye five minutes. Sliced apples in a bag, there’s another five. Chopped onion, five more and so long tears. Pre-​cooked hard-​boiled eggs, that’s another 15 minutes. Oh, you boxes of pre-​fried bacon, you know my agenda; no grease in the plumbing, to boot. Frozen brown rice, nuked in an instant, that’s 20 minutes. Pre-​cooked Korean short ribs, warm ‘em quick on the grill, goodbye one solid hour.
My inner chef simply loves this brand and I’m constantly reminded, at home, between texts and status updates, why great eating matters. Give yourself an hour, cook up glory. Keep a close eye on those expiration dates, though. Fresh foods sour quickly, and this location often stocks produce and supposedly fresh-​baked breads that sour, quickly.

Yep, it’s a Trader Joes! All the same stuff. Unfortunately they were out of their branded lime-​aid, so we had to make due with lime-​juice and seven-​up for our mojitos that night. The store is clean, generally well stocked (except for the above mentioned lime-​aid) and the employees are friendly and helpful.

Trader Joe’s is a great place to find those food items that are just a bit different. From their chocolates, salsas, wines, and chips they have many quality products at reasonable prices.
I do find that their frozen foods are a bit expensive when feeding a family of 5, but I love their other food selections. The uptown location is so popular that parking is a pain, but it’s worth the hassle.

Great, granola-​esque store. I don’t mean that in a bad way. Trader Joe’s is not your average grocery. They have a lot of their own brands, which are usually quite excellent. They also carry a lot of more unusual kinds of products. Think organic, free-​range, etc. But it’s all good. Great produce. They do have a great beer and wine selection, actually. And they get some folks to make some really good beers under the Trader Joe’s label. Sounds kinda lame, but they are really good. The staff is really helpful and friendly. The only down side — when you get this specialized and high end, you’re gonna pay for it.

I love shopping at Traders for Cheese, frozen Wontons, Carbs, pasta, canned/​jared foods, cooking oils and nuts. I am not crazy about the produce there I think it is overpriced. But fine for a avocados citrus and a melon.
Parking is atrocious! We came at 2:00 on a Monday and the parking lot was full. Do not even try to come on a weekend unless you are a masochist, or want to chance a parking lot fender bender. People in the store are often the most absent minded cart wielders. Locking you into a position because they are in Lala land. Still I found out later it was a holiday today maybe that is why shopping was unenjoyable. But this is a common occurrence shop early or late.
Love the cheese selections the Delice de Bourgogne 11 $ a lb is one of my favorite cheeses of all time. They have Manchego and as much Brie as anyone could possibly want. As well as Stilton, Fresh mozz, parmesan, I have had their lox and I prefer the whole foods offering. Charcuterie in general is not very present– kind of sad. The frozen Wontons are awesome I usually get the chicken ones 3 $ a bag. They also have a quality mixing gin for 9 $. I also got a VS Cognac around Xmass for 20 $ went great in eggnog and sidecars.
2 buck chuck though cheap is not stellar. The whites are drinkable, reds are for cooking or making Sangria out of with sugar fruit and cognac. Their wine selection is okay very hit or miss-​ask the staff about any hidden gems. Around X mass they had a Cotes du rhone for 8 $ a GSM which was fabulous. It was obviously sold out today.

I’d give the store 4 or 5 stars if it wasn’t for the poorly designed parking lot. I’ve been to a lot of Trader Joe’s around the country and this one takes the cake that I’ve seen for worse parking lot design. That’s including some of the ones in Boston where space is more of a premium than Albuquerque.
The isles at this store are wide and easy to navigate with a cart which isn’t always true at the TJ’s in larger cities.

This place gets packed and so does the parking lot. I like this place but couldn’t afford to shop here all the time. The staff are nice and the lines move some what fast. I hate how they put the live plants and flowers right by the front door. Dont bring your daughter or your mom cause you will be buying some kind of flower or plant you never heard of. My 40 bones turned into 70 …