Trader Joe’s

Best Trader Joe’s I’ve been to. Great selections, friendly workers, and it’s my favorite grocery store.

This store is one my favorites for when I want to be healthy and get special items I can’t get at my usual grocery store (the Aldi in Wicker Park — check out my review!). I like to walk there from my mom’s because the parking lot can get so crazy. But I feel like you never wind up buying that much from TJ’s so if you can carry it out and walk it home, I recommend it.
The store is clean, well laid out, the staff is friendly (although they are the chattiest Cathy’s I ever met) and helpful, and they have a great range of products. The produce is better than at most stores and I LOVE the vegetarian and vegan options! I just had a lovely spinach and edamame salad with carrot sesame dressing. I added the chickenless chicken strips on top and boy was that great! Those are the things that make shopping there worth it for me — despite the higher prices. They also have a great frozen food section again with some really interesting options. I always find something I’ve never tried before and it’s always tasty. So check it out and be adventurous. Try some organic BBQ tofu or a kale salad (still don’t understand why that became a thing, but the salads they offer are still good) or an interesting frozen pizza or stuffed mushroom or quiche! Lots to choose from!

Trader Joe’s is the best! Their customer service is outstanding! I went there on Sunday afternoon, so it was pretty packed, and their card machines weren’t working properly. I spent about 20 minutes swiping and re-​swiping my card. I was paying with two separate cards, the first one went through after about 4 tries but after trying the second one twice they told me the difference which was roughly $ 30 was on them since I had waited so long! AND to top it off, they gave me a bouquet of flowers for free to apologize for the inconvenience. I’ve never had that happen to me when I’ve had issues at other grocery stores. They were also handing out cookies to the other customers who were waiting in line! As I stated earlier, TRADER JOE’S ROCKS!

Trader Joe’s nails it. This particular location has a nice sized parking lot, even if it is a bit of a strange layout. I always know that I can park my car «somewhere» without having to search for an open spot.
This trip I decided to try some of the items off of the Fearless Flyer that I received. The Steamed Mussels from the freezer section were easy to make — you just boil the plastic bag in water for like 10 minutes, they were delicious and we ate it as an appetizer with some leftover spaghetti and Half-​Baked French Bread that was also easy to make. the best thing about it is that they take about the same time to cook/​heat, put one in the oven, one in boiling water to heat up, and spend the free time in between making a steamed veggie. Easy as pie!
I also tried the Avacado Salsa on tortilla chips and found it to be wonderful, way better than their guac, tasting like a creamy salsa but probably more healthy than adding sour cream, although like a good foodie I never read nutrition labels. I don’t know if these are new to TJs or just new to me, but they definitely are winners!
I have shopped at TJs for many years now and it’s a perfect place for a single guy to fill his refrigerator at home.

This location gets 1 star entirely because of the horrible produce department. Everything is either bad or will be tomorrow, always. The last 5 times I’ve been here the ginger has mold growing all over it. Black garlic. The blueberries are always bad. I’m going to have to start going somewhere else. Even the jewel up the street has a much better produce section than this trader joes.

I head to this TJ’s quite a bit. I do most of my grocery shopping here. They have pretty much everything we use and eat in this store, which is nice so I don’t have to make too many other stops.
The staff is friendly, I usually have a nice quick convo with one of the cashiers. Also, if they notice something that sticks out from my shopping choices, they’ll make a recommendation and its usually spot on.
I really like their pre-​made salads there and I never leave with out a couple of their pretzel croissants. oh yes. its a must. And I have to say they have some of the best free-​range brown eggs i’ve had.
The only pain in the butt at times is the parking lot, people get crazy in there and the spaces are so tight. I always have some one park like a jack ass next to me. but oh well.
do it! its a good spot… oh and they always have a yummy free sample!

Great prices, high quality produce and meat. Nice flower selection too. I recommend coming here on weekdays, early hours — evenings & weekends this place is INSANELY busy & crowded. I’ve been coming here for years, and this particular Trader Joe’s remains consistently great.

Nice employees and good food with a great price. Although the manager also known as the captain is very stand offish with the employees and therefore makes you feel awkward especially when he’s dealing with a situation at the register that you are at. I also asked him a question and he felt like he was too high to answer the question so I waited a few minutes for a crew member. All I have to say is come on captain you have been at this store for a while now so get it together and be happy you have a great job so stop making others feel like crap.

Great store, location food and people. They are all friendly and happy! At times parking in the lot can be a challenge but hey it’s got a parking lot so I can’t complain. I go there every week.

Read all the reviews before coming here, and so glad I did because I could have avoided a really annoying parking situation. I hate looking for parking in parking lots, and by coming late at night on a Saturday night, there was plenty of parking available!
Staff here is very friendly and they have the same variety of foods that they have at other Trader Joe’s.
products I have recently discovered found !
Kumato Brown tomatoes
Dried flattened banana (not avbl at all locations)
Butternut squash risotto
Caramel Chai Latte (new)
Holiday macarons!!!
Lemon Ginger Echinecea drink
Seeded sourdough baguette
Light brie
Gingerbread cake mix
I always look forward to shopping at TJ’s because of all the unique and affordable products they have.

I love this store for many reasons. The great food, quaint atmosphere, quirky packaging, fragrant flower selection, cheap wine… I mean, I could go on and on. However, what particularly strikes me as wonderful is the staff. They are so genuine in their willingness to go above and beyond customer service. Perfect example:
While checking out, the TJs employee struck up conversation inquiring about my summer (which is a big deal in Chicago) which somehow led to my career, a Palliative/​Hospice Care Nurse. The cashier saw that I had bought a bouquet of flowers and upon hearing about my work, insisted that he buy one of my bouquets as thanks for my job. I was flabbergasted. He had made my day in so many ways I cannot begin to count. Needless to say, I left with a tear in my eye and a promise to pass the good deed along.
Not only are the items unique at TJs, but the employees are as well. Definitely recommend this fun little chain.

Love Tjs great cereal in a bag, canned crab is only 10.00 what a steal. Found in refrigerated section. If you like try their chocolate espresso beans. Dried spicy mango is good, spicy lime cashews, delicious corn bread with pieces of corn. They have this salami that tastes like butter just savory enough. Starts with an s has a white covering two small links. Decent frozen section where you will find the almond Biscotti. Don’t forget their 17 dollar bottle of scotch,

A-​ok. Except for my almost tripping over some alcohol stacked on the floor, that was my own klutz issue though.
We found berries, framboise, chocolates and hummus & pita. Life is good.
–Careful on the hummus though, I think they have a recall going as of now-​ish (not sure of the states where this is applicable). May 2014.

Two and a half months. I worked at a TJ’s in NY for about 2 and a half months before I quit. Everyone compares it to Whole Foods, and it’s not even close. I don’t care about any of that though, because TJ’s has cheap enough food that doesn’t take long to cook, and in my lazy world, that’s a good thing. The produce is pretty awful though, and the cheese section is a joke. Convenience. That is why I go here.
My main issue with this particular store is the employees. Let me just get one thing out of the way right now. I’m a nanny. This doesn’t mean I think children are the greatest thing and meant to be cherished and everything they do is cute. Some of them are fantastic, but I don’t expect other people to find them as adorable as I do, nor do I expect special treatment «because I have a child», so don’t assume that’s the case.
Back to the employees. They are some of the rudest, unhappiest and least helpful people I have ever met, and I was a pretty surly employee myself way back when. They never say excuse me when they need to get by. You can be against a display with 5 ft of passing room and they will nearly clip your heels and huff and puff because you’re in the way. You need help? Good luck getting that without a side of attitude. They also hate children. I’m in some weird minority here. I dislike people, but generally like children. When I have a problem with a child, it’s really the parents I have a problem with. Seriously, the employees here HATE children. They hate them breathing. They hate them smiling. They hate them learning and helping in the middle of the day when other parents/​nannies are there and they hate when I have my charges use manners, such as «please», «thank you» and «excuse me». I’m not even joking. Their hate for children surpasses my feelings of displeasure when I’m forced to interact with adults. I can understand that people forget we were all once small and obnoxious and/​or adorable, and some people just don’t like children. However, I’ve come in here on my own and it’s the same thing. I’m not asking for a smile. I just want help without the attitude.
I’m not being entirely fair here, because there are a handful of employees who are actually pretty fantastic (seriously, just a handful), but most of the time that isn’t the case. Most of the time I’m sending an angry text about how it’s a good thing I had small children with me before I said something rude right back. I’m aware of how craptacular a job at Trader Joe’s is. I really am, so I’m slightly more sympathetic than the average Joe when it comes to not being a douchebag, but this location really tests my patience, and I work with kids. I have a lot of patience. Again, this location is all about convenience.
Oh, one more thing. The parking lot is absolutely horrible. Avoid it at all costs.

What the heck happened to this company? After years of liking everything about this place (and I mean all locations) I am starting to have all kinds of problems.
Until recently I have never gotten a sealed package with a spoiled or stale product. But, this has happened 3 – 4 times in the last 6 months.
The prepared Asian Chicken/​Pasta salad I used to get was always dry until you added the (no-​oil) sauce. Last time the noodles had at least a table spoon of oil on them (way too much) and oil is still not even on the package ingredients at all! This is a bigger problem than people might realize (and not just the additional 100 calories that DO NOT show up on the nutritional label — was it tainted or tampered with?). I contacted customer support via their web-​site and never got a response.
The hot multi-​grain cereal just went through a package redesign. They removed the (black text on white background) grid that tells you how to adjust the proportions for the number of servings (it’s NOT a linear combination so the grid is actually necessary). Instead there is dark blue text on a medium blue back-​ground that is hard to read and only has the proportions for the smallest serving. If you make a bigger batch by doubling the quantities you will get oat-​soup rather than oat-​meal.
I understand the realities of discontinuing products I happen to like but since everything is «store-​brand» once they discontinue something you have to go to another store just to get your second choice.
There is more to say but this much makes my point. If not for the quality and value of many of their other products this would be a 2-​star rating.
* Update 1: 6 days after contacting customer service I got a form letter response. The letter doesn’t even mention the product so it is probably an auto-​reply. The letter reminds me that I may return the product to the store… Really, something in the package that is not on the ingredients list is something to be taken a little more seriously.
* Update 2: I was in the store the other day and noticed that the grilled chicken strips had a use-​by date of THE NEXT DAY. WTF? That was the case for every package. I like Trader Joe’s and I hope they get their act together. This stuff can’t go on long before it starts to affect them.

Trader Joe’s is one of my favorite places, and I can’t wait until we get one near me in Orlando! Super friendly staff, delicious free ice cream samples when I was there, and everything is remarkably well priced!
Hurry to Orlando, Trader Joe’s!

Just have to give a shout out here for behavior above and beyond the call of duty. The other day, I picked up a bottle of wine and a bag of chips, was fresh out of cash from the nearby pet store, so I used my debit card. For some reason, that did not work. I just apologized and said I needed to check with my bank. At that point, the TJ team member, Kate, dug out her wallet and paid for MY purchase, and told me just to pay her back later. Now how «Mayberry» was that? It made my day, and to be sure, I will pay her back with interest, and write a note of thanks to TJ’s Customer Service.

I always love Trader Joe’s for the great food selections, cheery staff and great prices. However, I’m dropping a star for the parking at this location… it’s basically impossible to find a spot if you go during the evenings or weekends. If you are lucky enough to have time during the day, you might find a spot, but even then, it’s hit or miss. I usually try to walk so that I don’t have to mess with it, but that also makes it just about impossible to buy everything I want (last time, I made the very bad mistake of buying beer and a bottle of wine along with some groceries and I’m pretty sure I pulled a shoulder muscle…).
In any case, this spot is clean, neat and as usual, it has friendly staff. Their wine and beer selection is excellent and as always, the food is top notch.

Super friendly people and yummy selections in fresh produce. I try to visit this location at least a few times a month to pick up almond butter and brie. Yes, I’m a strange one.
The people working here are very helpful and eager to please you. Just the other day I spilled a little of my cup of coffee inside my basket and warned the cashier of it so he wouldn’t get it on him. He ran off and got towels and cleaned my items. I felt so bad, I didn’t expect him to do that but he was super sweet and concerned with my goods. Excellent customer service. Totally unexpected and totally appreciated.
I usually pick up «junk food» for my team. Junk food is typically really decadent cookies, chocolates and chips. They even have crumpets and fig jam, yum!

When you see a wine special– BUY IN BULK!
Love this place, but I miss the variety– years ago it was a seller of other people’s products and while I appreciate that they are consolidating their market share, I miss many things that were better quality and NOT the TJ’s brand. Tomato Sause, Polenta, and some condiments come to mind.
Oh well. I’m a fan anyway.
(oh– and parking is a bit kooky at this one)