Trader Joe’s

The staff here is what keeps me coming back to this Trader Joe’s location. I’m a fan of all Trader Joe’s, but this one is pretty easy to get to, it has ample parking, it usually has what I need in stock and the workers are SUPER friendly which makes the drive all the way to the South Hills worthwhile.
Trader Joe’s, altogether, is a great place to shop as it carries a lot of organic and healthier options for a relatively low price. It’s kind of a small store so you probably won’t be able to do all of your grocery shopping here, but it has most of your essentials. This location, in particular, is a bit larger compared to the East Liberty location. Although it still gets busy here, I don’t feel like its ever as busy so going through the aisles to get what you need is much easier here. Like I said, the best part about this location is the extremely helpful and friendly workers. They always have smiles on their faces and they always strike up a conversation with you. The cashiers also usually ask if you’ve found everything you needed and if you mention whatever it is you couldn’t find, they will stop what they are doing and check the inventory for you.
Great customer service. Good selection of organic produce, meats and snacks. Quirky ads, packaging and displays.

Honestly, you get the best service at this Trader Joe’s. The food is good quality and the staff always makes my day better. All together better than ANY wal-​mart, giant eagle or other chain store. Who ever is managing that places has awesome employees!

Need healthy and organic food? This is a great place to find it and that it’s affordable. We have tried a lot of their store brand items and have never been disappointed. They usually have a juice out to sample as well as a meal option. They give great ideas for healthy meals. The best part is that they are easy to make. Two of my favorite things are the selection of 99 cent cards and the flowers. I load up on cards every time I go. (I’m old school and love to send cards). The flowers are beautiful, fresh and cheaper than you can find anywhere else. I love fresh flowers on my dining room table. My third favorite thing is the Teajava tea. I buy 6 – 8 bottle at a time. I live iced tea and Teajava is my favorite.
The store is clean and the employees are kind. If you haven’t tried them yet go and check it out. You will be glad you did.

Love Trader Joes… The staff in this store is very helpful and friendly. Always willing to help & make suggestions. This store is on the smaller side, however it’s clean & well taken care of.

Staff always pleasant. I don’t know how they get the nicest people. I like Trader Joe’s because of the organic and non-​GMO. Nice selection of products. I really like their toasted coconut pancake mix.

Although the restaurant does not look particularly inviting from (plastic chairs and tables), but the food is excellent and as far as I can judge, also quite authentic. I love the samosas and the lentil and spinach dishes. However, everything is vegetarian, so not for meat lovers. You can also take it to-​go home or to the hotel.

We love Trader Joe’s. Unfortunately it’s about half an hour away from where we live so we don’t come here often. When we do we tend to stock up on snack and appetizer type foods (nuts, frozen stuff, chips, etc) which are all delicious.
Staff is friendly, I love the theming and pricing isn’t bad… between the cheapest type places like Aldi & WalMart but nowhere near as expensive as Whole Foods & Market District.

I love this joes! The staff is so friendly and helpful and the store is always stocked and clean!
Love the produce and the fresh lunches that are ready to eat!
The Thai pasta salad is a «go-​to» every time!

I love Trader Joe’s. Love it. The best part of shopping here is that you can fill several bags of groceries and still be in budget. They offer a surprisingly wide variety of selections, and most of your staples can be purchased regularly, they have great selection of gourmet cheeses (and they’re so affordable!), and then tons of nice prepared foods that make mealtime planning easy. I’ve had Trader Joe’s as my primary grocery store since moving to the South Hills. They have milk-​like substitutes with no carrageenan and no sugar! Woohoo! They have manchego! And affordable goat cheese! And cheap organic food!
So, the bad. While it is touted as an organic-​type, non-​GMO store you have to be careful on reading labels. MSG will sneak in if you’re not careful and not everything is safe. Ok, I can deal with that. But… the fresh produce is sad. If it something that lasts a while, then it’s OK, but for your standard fresh produce we almost always have to go to another store. :(It’s not uncommon for the produce to be unusable before the expiration/​sell-​by date, and we’ve had to throw away too much of their affordable produce to justify doing that shopping there. The baguettes are already hard enough to be used as a murder weapon, and all of the «fresh» things just aren’t.
But that said, it’s still my grocery store of choice, but I just know that I’ll have to make another trip to a more expensive, but more reliable store for the perishables.

Can you believe I just stopped here for the first time yesterday? I am sad I waited so long, I LOVE it!!! The prices are so reasonable and the store is so cute and clean. It seems like everyone working is so friendly. The one worker was even talking to a customer on how to prepare this one meat he was interested in, how nice. I think I definitely found my new place to purchase groceries! I am so happy I found this spot!!!

This store is wonderful! It doesn’t have everything you would need to complete a full grocery shopping trip, but it does have the basics and a ton of other very cool items! What I really love are the prices! Especially for fresh produce and organic products… you can’t beat it!

This trader joe’s blows! Unlike most Trader Joe’s there’s no diversity in the customers, employees, or items on the shelf.
The vegan options are lacking as well as fresh produce. The bagged spinach is wilted and wet, the apples are soft and mushy, and the berries are moldy. I bought muffins and they were moldy the next day — 3 days before the sell by date. These are just a few of the many things that I have bought from this store that have gone bad before their sell by/​expiration date.
I’ve been in many Trader Joe’s across the country, and usually they feel fun and lively — everyone’s sharing their contagious happiness, but I don’t feel that here.
It bothers me that this store is as bad as it is, since it’s close to home, but I won’t be shopping here anymore.

This is by far my favorite place to grab groceries in the South Hills! Sure, there are trade-​offs with products and variety, but it’s overall a much more pleasant place to shop than nearby competitors.
While it’s smaller than the nearby Market District, it’s much easier to access. Yes, the parking lot is a hot mess, so be sure to keep your wits about you before your expedition into TJs.
This Trader Joe’s treads the line between having everything and not having enough. It’s perfect for a quick trip for milk, produce, or other essentials, but I’d think twice before doing a massive shopping trip there. If you need to do a massive haul, or shop for more obscure ingredients, I recommend going over to the Market District. There have been trips where I ended up needing to go to both, since TJ’s just doesn’t have everything. But, for basics and most shopping, it’ll do the trip.
On the other hand, it is so pleasant to shop there. Like every Trader Joe’s, the store has a very friendly, well-​trained staff. I always leave with tips to try new products, or suggested recipes for my purchase.
I also love the store brand soap and skincare line. The hand soap smells awesome, and I love the shampoo!
When I’m in the South Hills, I’ll always stop by Trader Joe’s. Fingers crossed someday we can get some Two Buck Chuck!

Miriam W. made an extremely valid observation, TJ has a lot of prepared and prepackaged product which is nice to have around for busy days. I mainly go for produce, cheese and hormone free grass fed meat and to stock up on frozen out of season veggies. The prices are better suited for my budget than the one’s found at Fresh Market down the hill.

Let me just start off by saying… I ADORE THIS PLACE. Everything about this place, I love. I love that they do not have plastic bags and only carry paper brown bags. I love their healthy selections, their incredible produce department, their beautiful flowers that they have year round. And all of their products. Here are some of my favorite things: Indian veggie burgers– these are incredible, potato like burgers with a slight hint if curry; they go perfectly with trader joes Mango chutney– which is also incredible. I love their tangerine juice, it’s such a nice unique twist on orange juice and super sweet. Trader joes unsweetened vanilla almond milk is the best almond milk I can find. Their meatless mandarin orange chicken is my FAVORITE. I buy it by the dozen. Trader joes is the cheapest place for healthier options like quinoa, coconut milk ice cream and meatless options too. Their meatless ground beef is my favorite. They have amazing customer service and will take back anything if you have your receipt. I have tried a lot of their dried fruits and I bought dried peaches once and hated them– they took them back without even blinking. The only item that I do not prefer from trader joes is their meat items– my boyfriend loves their rib eye, but considering they do not have a butcher on the site, I do not buy their meat. I don’t know how fresh it is and therefore I do not trust it. That’s the only reason they have not received 5 stars from me. I love trader joes overall and it’s a must for my biweekly grocery shopping sprees.

So glad that the South Hills now has a Trader Joe’s! They have a great, easy to navigate layout. The employees could not be friendlier! Everyone was so nice and helpful. My favorite part of the store has to be the «Kennywood» art right above the restroom’s – There is even an «Open» sign included in the art work.. .well played Trader Joes, well played :)

This is a great Trader Joe’s. They are always sampling chips and dip or some other food. Workers are also knowledgeable about products.

I am very loyal to the Trader Joe’s in East Liberty, however this location has wider isles and more parking. The staff is very friendly and helpful. I like the free samples. There are hundreds of products that are unique to Trader Joe’s and it’s fun to talk to other Trader Joe’s fans about what products I enjoy the most.
In particular, I buy a lot of yogurt, cereal, and frozen foods. I also like their breads, OJ, trail mix, nuts, and flowers.
The prices beat Whole Foods and also Giant Eagle. Shopping at Trader Joe’s is fun!

I practically used to LIVE off of the food and drinks that I bought at our Trader Joe’s store in Irvine, California, so I was quite pleased when they opened up their South Hills location, saving my partner and I trips all the way out to East Liberty in order to experience a joy from our past. When I was under doctor’s orders to eat vegetarian food, this place was a lifesaver with a wide variety of prepared foods that are delicious and affordable. I definitely have a few favorites at Trader Joe’s including their pizza doughs, Lacey’s cookies, breakfast cereals, hummus, guacamole, and seasoned meats like carne asada and carnitas. But they are always introducing new things for us to try, and it is rare for us to be disappointed with anything we buy there. And if we don’t like something, we have the option of taking advantage of a very customer-​friendly return policy.
Trader Joe’s stores are always very clean, and the employees seem very happy to be working there and friendly to their customers. Few people realize that Trader Joe’s has a relationship with Aldi, another one of our «alternative» grocery favorites. When Pennsylvania finally gets rid of their antiquated depression era liquor control system, then we’ll all find out about a major strength of Trader Joe’s: Beer, wine and liquor sales the way that only THEY can do it.

Finally, Pittsburgh gets the Trader Joe’s that it sorely needed. This store is much larger than the East Liberty store with the same amount of products. I’ll weigh the pros and cons of the new Bethel Park location.
Pro — much larger store, wider isles, same amount of products. I asked one of the associates I recognized from East Liberty and she said that both stores carried the same items. I was here an hour after it opened, it was a zoo, every old lady wanted her free Trader Joe’s reusable bag that they were giving away that day. I’m sure once the newness wears off it will become less congested. (Update, a month and a half after opening, this store is still highly congested. I did come one night at 8pm and had no trouble parking, and didn’t have to navigate through congested isles)
Pro — Traffic moves well on the road TJ’s in located on, much like the Penn Ave store
This leads me to the first con, the parking lot is a nightmare! There are other shops using the Iot besides TJ’s, so it gets a little confusing especially with lunch crowds wanting to hit up chicken place next door.
Another con, with the extra large store, I was a bit underwhelmed that they didn’t have more vegan items, although I saw a few fat free cheeses that I allow myself.
One item at TJ’s that I have to send props to is the Spanish Extra Virgin olive oil. It’s 5.99 for a giant bottle, in Giant Eagle that bottle would be 12 bucks! The Spanish olive oil is full bodied with a dark green color, and a slight peppery finish. I love to use this oil with whole wheat pastas, this oil compliments the nutty taste of the pasta. Add some olives, pignoli nuts, and a good earthy mushroom and you have a meal you’d pay 17 bucks for in a restaurant.
This store is in a more conservative part of town, no hippy, college, crowd. This is the true South Hills crowd. Which doesn’t really mean much to the shopping experience, it’s just the vibe you get inside the store.
If I had a choice I think I’d still go to the East Liberty store, I just wish the South Hills store was in East Liberty. Maybe the third Trader Joes will be the perfect store.