Trader Joe’s

I’ve shopped here for years because the service is 1) Friendly. Employees eagerly look for merchandise in the backroom, if you are looking for an item. 2) Fast: I buy a lot of groceries, and every time a long line builds help, there’s some magical employee that shows up to open a new register. This is the key, as I do a lot of food shopping, and find that Trader Joe’s in other cities either don’t have the express lane or the cashier works pretty slow, causing long lines to build up. 3) Items I look for are usually in stock. There have been occasions when items weren’t ordered or not in the warehouse, but they’re happy to help check for those items in the database to see when they’ll come in.
***Disclaimer: I shop during the off-​peak hours, so I can’t speak to what it’s like during peak hours :)

Came in on Saturday mid afternoon and the place was crazier than I’ve ever seen it. Never again! The cashier was visibly miserable and mentioned to the lady in front of me about coming in early in the morning or very late to avoid the chaos on the weekends. Thank god for my eavesdropping powers!
If you are here for the bananas, I’d suggest coming early. I don’t eat them, but my girl does and whenever I come in later in the day, the selection sucks. Think most of the produce is not all that great, but I buy a ton of arugula from here anyways, since it’s conveniently pre-​washed and packaged for me. $ 2.29 does its work for several salad portions.
It’s really hard not to find snacks here that you don’t fall in love with. As for me, my six year love affair with their sea salt and turbinado sugar dark chocolate covered almonds is still going strong. Very strong. Doesn’t take me much to dust off the box over a few stress filled days.
Parking is fine here even when the lot is full. There is plenty of parking nearby in the other lots and not a major issue to spend over a minute walking to a store. Most of the workers are generally happy and smiling, but every time I’ve come it’s usually been pretty chill until this past weekend.

So. Trader Joe’s. It’s great for basics, freezer meals, and snacks. But if you plan to bake something other than chocolate chip cookies, go elsewhere. Things I have gone to TJ’s to purchase, but instead left empty handed (because they simply don’t carry it): molasses, unflavored gelatin, and light corn syrup.
Otherwise, this location is a pretty standard Trader Joe’s. It is, however, spitting distance from Milk Pail Market, Whole Foods, Safeway, and Target/​Walmart. They’re all on the same block, so choose wisely!

Convenient location — close to Safeway and other stores if you’re trying to get ALL DA SHOPPING done. However, the food selection isn’t as great as other TJ’s I’ve been to. I used to come here all the time when I lived in Mountain View, but I stopped by the other night and I was supremely disappointed. This was a Tuesday night, so I’m not sure when they restock food but lemme just say the selection was very sparse and I was sad. No spinach. No quinoa. The two things I was trying to get. T_​T
Free samples were the only redeeming factor though. Gingerbread loaf thing with vanilla ice cream. Yum. Also it was VERY busy. But the lines moved pretty fast. Parking is easy since it’s in a huge shopping center, so tons of spots.
Sadly, not my favorite TJ’s and not close to my current apartment so I definitely wouldn’t come here normally.

Omg! What a mess! The lines were all the way to the back of the store. 40 minutes for me to check out. Shopping was like being at bumper cars at Santa Cruz Boardwalk. No matter where you turn people in the way or in 200 ft. Lines. Stay away from this store. Awful!

This is what you’d expect out of an average Trader Joes, over estatic employees in helping the customer. But the other day, this was taken to another level.
I went over to the demo station and noticed that it was still being made. The demo lady by the name of Beverly told me it’ll be a few more moments until it’s ready. I stood around maybe a moment or two and walked away to continue shopping and planned to return in a later. About 30 seconds later I see Beverly walking half way across the store brining me a demo sample! She really didn’t have to do that. Thanks Beverly!

What’s not to love about trader joes??? Its cheap and they have a lot of healthy choices. My favorites are the veggie chips, prepackaged salad/​veggies for $ 1.99, yogurt, gyoza (dumpling), dried fruits, coconut strips, and MANYYY MORE!
I will continue to shop here until I get married and have kids then I’ll shift to Costco, my second favorite store lol :)

My favorite TJ location in the bay area. Lines are never too long, great customer service who are always available to offer me their suggestions on new and exciting items, such as the popcorn in a pickle, or the ghost pepper potato chips. TJ is on my regular shopping excursion list and I have plenty of regular items it pickup. If you’re price sensitive, there are plenty of items that beat out Safeway and other more commercial stores.

After all the hype about it, I switched all my shopping to Trader Joes only to find that they have such an odd selection that I can’t actually do all my shopping here.
The next thing I noticed is that things aren’t very fresh so if I don’t eat them within a day they go bad.
Next I found that the good deals they sometimes have are only special purchases so I can’t get them again.
All together it just wasn’t worth shopping here because I can’t get what I need consistently and what I do get is no cheaper nor any fresher than anywhere else so after shopping here for years I finally gave up and switched to Sprouts.

I have been a fan of Trader Joe’s from the start. From simple «heat and go» meals to unique snacks (and don’t forget the sweets!) you can always find something new to try. Starting as a liquor retailer, their alcohol selection and prices (especially with wine) are great.
I have shopped at this location for a few months and found a few tips specific to this location:
**They are open till 10PM – so go out and grab that last minute item you need!
**Avoid Sunday afternoons/​evenings – like all other weekly regiments that people procrastinate on (cough cough… laundry), Sunday afternoons and evenings are the busiest times. As a small store, the staff is working to restock but they can’t get to everything and you often feel like you are playing twister just to get down the isles. Bottom line, make it easy on yourself and do your shopping another time.

I am a fan of TJ’a but today I hit my head on an outdoor shade tent for the melons told the manager and he said I hear you and then did nothing

Some employees in this store are rude.
1) A clerk that insults the customer
This morning I went there to buy some fresh veggie and raw meat. I got a few extra plastic bags in the cart as they do not have plastic bags everywhere. I used only one bag and have 2 – 3 left in the cart, which I did not even notice myself. When I checked out, the clerk did not put the raw chicken meat in a plastic bag as other trader joe store clerks will do. Instead, he put a roll of plastic bag that almost ran out in my shopping bag and said that since I took free plastic bags, I might as well take a roll as they have lots of them left there. I did not quite understand what he meant until I saw the few extra plastic bags I have when I load the bags into my car. I can’t believe what he said, to insult a customer like this! I was in a hurry so I did not get back to the store to complain to the manager.
2) A clerk that throws the bread to release her anger
This is not the single case I saw this morning. While in the store, I notice another 50+ female clerk who is loading the bread. She seemed to be upset and just threw the bread towards the rack violently. Of course the bread feel off to the floor. Obviously she was releasing her anger using the bread. I don’t know what happened to her. But this is certainly not a staff you want to deal with in Trader Joe.
3) A clerk that never helps the customers load their items into bags
Previously, I met another clerk who simply scanned my items, and then chat with others without looking at me. I can see that she does not want to bag those items for me so I just load all the checked out items into the bags myself. I first thought she is discriminating against me. The next time I saw her, she was chatting with another customer while the customer loads the items into her bag herself. Now I see that this clerk just never helps put the items in the bag and some customers are used to that already.
I went to trader joe a lot but quite surprised by some of clerks here. I believe most other clerks are nice here. But the manager of this store should think about why the employee are so unhappy and treating the customers like this. There should be something the management can do to improve their quality of service.

Great store, good parking, and the employees are always friendly and helpful.
If you can’t spot what you’re looking for, don’t hesitate to ask. I used to be the person who would never ask, afraid of being a pain in the butt, but I usually stop in here to restock very specific things, so my heart breaks when I can’t find them. I overcame my fear of asking (thank you, crunchy chia seed peanut butter. You made me do it.) and always had someone help me out. Love this store!

2 stars for the great selection and how clean the store is.
Olivia is rude. she did not greet me nor offer me and bag. Funny thing is she did it for the person in front and after me

This Trader Joe’s is just what you would expect. This is where I do most of my grocery shopping. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The parking is adequate for the amount of traffic. The restrooms are clean. I like how there are shopping carts for children in TWO sizes. My toddler loves to push around the tiny carts while we are grabbing a few things for dinner.

Love, love, love my TJ’s.
My only complaint is that this store in particular does not always get all the new items in the Fearless Flyer. According to employees, it is because of not enough room combined with just wanting to sell what they have in stock. *shrug*
The place is always a little crowded, but that is to be expected from all TJ’s. Prices are fair. We are always coming back for our favorites and finding new yummies

Came to pick up a couple items the other day and was impressed by the cleanliness of the store. The store features a lot of organic, and quality foods (non-​GMO, USDA Choice Meat etc.)
Checkout was friendly by the cashier too! :)

I am not good at comparing Trader Joe’s branches, but this location is pretty good. San Antonio Shopping center has everything… Most are American stores, but still convenient.
This store has normal Trader Joe’s food. Cashiers are friendly.

I’m not a fan of this trader joe’s location and this is based purely on their stock. I feel they don’t have items that other locations have (such as the citrus body wash) and their produce (actually, this goes for all T Joes I’ve been to) is worse than safeway (in my opinion). The other store in Town and Country by Stanford is a lot better.
Their service, on the other hand, is outstanding. I bought some bad meat and one of the managers told me to bring it back with my receipt and he gave me a refund no questions asked. This is how it should be. They’re also really nice about opening stuff to let you try it (even if you don’t ask).
I love T Joes, just wished this location had more items in stock and (this goes for all stores) their produce was better.

Friendly staff. I used to think Trader Joe’s was a fancy, expensive grocer. I was wrong. This location is very clean and the staff is exceptionally helpful and friendly. When I asked where certain items were located in the store, the employee dropped what they were doing and walked me to both items — in opposite corners of the store.
Upside:
— Quick checkout lines (although it may not look like it). The way the registers are set up, it looks like there are only 2 – 3 lines open at a time, but they funnel out to more open registers
— Friendly and helpful staff
Downside:
— This store is a bit smaller than the other Trader Joe’s stores I’ve frequented