Trader Joe’s

This is my go to Trader Joes, I’ve been coming here for years and have yet to have a disappointing experience here. I love trader joes overall and I specifically like this location. The times that I go it isn’t overly crowded and everything is nicely organized and clean here. I love all their produce, it is super fresh. Obsessed with their cheese selection, just as good as whole foods in my opinion but with better prices. They have awesome fresh baked bread and always new samples for you to try when you are there. The samples are always so good that I end up buying whatever they are selling at the moment. Now that’s good quality stuff.
If ever I can’t find something, their staff is super friendly and available to help you find what you are looking for. I like their return policy as if you don’t like something, even if you open it, they allow you to take it back. I was once not a fan of their mayo so they let me get something else. Now that’s service I can count on. From their crackers, to different spreads, to ketchups and a fantastic dessert section, they literally have it all in one place. They also carry a lot of organic products which I’m a fan of so I can count on them for that as well.
But seriously, every time I come here I find new and exciting stuff to try and buy making each new experience that more enjoyable. The reason I don’t give them 5 stars is because they have discontinued some of my favorite things in the past like these chocolate covered almonds with cocoa powder that were the bomb as well as these raspberry mousse cups, like why? Why? Do you take away things that are so amazing. That can be a bummer finding things you love that are no longer there. I guess they want you to keep trying new places and that’s just what I will do.

I’ve been to many many Trader Joe’s, and to date this is my least favorite.
I visited on a Saturday at 5pm and the place seemed understaffed– checkout lanes were long, shelves were under stocked and they WERE NOT SAMPLING ANY FOOD OR JUICE IN THEIR KITCHEN. My usual store in Libertyville is always sampling in their kitchen– every single day morning to 30mins prior to closing.
Was very disappointed I couldn’t find some of my fav items, couldn’t sample new items and had to wait in long checkout lines. Won’t be back.

I’d take this Trader Joe’s location over the one in Park Ridge any day. Parking is 1000 x’s better here and the store is much easier to navigate. You aren’t shopping on top of other customers like you are at the Park Ridge location.
Generally the prices are fairly competitive. Our cashier was friendly and bagged our groceries perfectly.
I’m bothered when T.J.‘s doesn’t list where their products were made. Not ‘distributed’, but actually made. Anyone know where the biscotti is made? The package I bought didn’t say. I try to buy things only made in the U.S.A., but Trader Joe’s does carry quite a few items from Indonesia, etc. Maybe it’s just my paranoia, but I like knowing that my food wasn’t manufactured thousands of miles away.
I was satisfied with the produce I bought; apples, green grapes, raspberries and salad mixes. Their pretzel croissants are probably one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. My thighs certainly don’t thank me. Spring water is from Tennessee, thankfully. Fresh flowers are a helluva deal, too. My bouquet lasted 2 weeks. For us the beer selection is top-​notch.
Will try the Schaumburg Trader Joe’s location next.

Best place to grocery shop! I love the «deals» and how quick and easy it is to get your items.

Love coming here. The food is organic for half the price of Whole Food. Staff is amazing, so cheerful and happy to see you. Way to go!

Cooking for «two» is made easy with the food from Trader Joe’s. Just stopped in today & my friend suggested the jalapeño hummus! Delish! Service is always good, the samples are tasty & the store is filled with friendly faces. The portions are great — not too big. The frozen Kung pao chicken is sooooo good and I add broccoli and rice to finish it off. Feels like a small town market.

Best staff, best selection, and best store layout of other local TJ’s.
I’d go to any Trader Joe’s over another grocery store in the area, but this one is worth a little more time on the road– great experience every time for years– should have reviewed sooner!

I haven’t talked to a single person that had anything negative to say about Joe’s. I happen to be one of them. We frequent this location and have never had an issue. The products are definitely unique and reasonably priced. The staff is friendly. This particular location has ample parking and despite the hustle and bustle of weekend grocery shopping in the NW Burbs, I’m always able to find a spot that’s a reasonable distance from the front door. They have these Cinnamon Pita chips that may be made using crack or cocaine because I’m absolutely addicted to them. I know they’re not that healthy but a 4 serving bag barely lasts me 10 minute :(If I continue down this path, I might be posting a review for a local weight loss clinic or bypass surgeon. Stay tuned…

Had occasion to visit this store with some friends. Clean, well staffed. Pleasant cashier.
Great deals here. Huge container of seedless grapes that would be double elsewhere. Love their specialty frozen foods both meals and appetizers.
My sole complaint here is that almost every perishable (ie. bread and bakery) item expired the next day or two days later.

If there’s one thing I love it’s good customer service & the employees at this location are AMAZING. I’ve noticed at another location the employees can be a bit smug & unfriendly. When I come here I know I’ll be greeted with a smile & leave happy. Not to mention their food quality is amazing & very reasonably priced. As a college student it’s hard to justify buying certain things, but trader joes is worth the small amount more you pay.

This Trader Joe’s continues to be my home-​base and does not disappoint, except for when they are out of certain items.
I went yesterday to pick up a few things, and ended up with way more in my cart than I should’ve (note to self — when actually wanting to only pick up a few items, go with a basket instead.)
Some new discoveries from TJ’s lately:
+ Garlic fries from the frozen section — um, yes. Just make sure you and your SO are both eating them so that you both have stank breath when you’re smooching later.
+ Meat selection is not half bad. I picked up a NY strip steak that looked heavenly, threw that sucker on the grill, it was perfect.
+ Kalamata hummus — I haven’t tried this yet, but by the looks of it, I won’t be disappointed.
+ Inner Peas snack — these are baked whole peas in the pod. The texture is similar to veggie sticks or Pirate’s Booty — delicious and less guilt than chips!
+ Orchids. All of their flowers are beautiful, but the orchids especially. I bought my mom one for Mother’s day, and it’s still going strong!
So, back to their stock sometimes being limited. I was talking to my checker yesterday as he rang my items (we don’t have to go back through how everyone here is super friendly and loves their job, do we? I didn’t think so, he was telling me he started at 3 and was off at 11. I asked why 11 if the store closes at 9.
They get a truck every night and re-​stock. They don’t really keep «back-​stock» in the store — they are as close to truck-​to-​shelf as possible. While that’s sometimes an annoyance, I can appreciate what they’re doing.
Keep it up, TJ, and I’ll keep coming!

Trader Joe’s is one of my favorite places on Earth. It is my happy place. Seriously, I go here when I’m upset and leave feeling better than when I walked in. I’m one of those shoppers that come here just to walk around. Not really needing anything… probably shouldn’t spend anything… but still do. I feel at home here. It’s such a friendly atmosphere. One of my old substitute teachers also works here and I was so surprised when he remembered me over 10 years later.
Some people think this is an expensive store, but the prices here are comparable to any of your other local grocery stores. It just depends on what you’re shopping for. I love their cookie butter and creamy tomato basil sauce. And of course I hit up the free samples… a couple times… and stare at their diverse collection of cheeses…

Trader Joes is like the Apple store of Grocery chain …
They have super cool and friendly geek like people. Always willing to help and give you time…
MANGO MOCHI ICECREAM Is the Biggest reason why i go here… A must try thing for all … You will thank me later for my recommendation …
They have great and cheap wine/​Beer selection … Awesome Dark chocolate almond Cookies. Really good Frozen section with diverse selection options …
Ohhhhh I love Trader Joes !!!

This is my regular Trader Joe’s. I know where everything is and what time to go to avoid the crowds. Staff is always really friendly and helpful. On my last visit I was looking for frozen shrimp and all I could find was breaded popcorn shrimp. I asked an employee and she went in back to search through the stock. She came out empty handed but was really apologetic and explained to me that right now they aren’t carrying the shrimp because there has been a problem with diseased shrimp (yuck), and for them to have shrimp in stock at the moment they would have to sell it at a really high price. I appreciated her honesty and the brand’s commitment to affordability.
⁴⁄₅ stars because the checkout situation is always something of a mess– long lines that get all tangled up and make shopping difficult for those of us who aren’t finished yet.
if you’re looking for suggestions, these are a few of my favorite things:
Unexpected Cheddar– amazing cheese that’s a little cheddary and a little parmesan-​y, and nutty and sharp and awesome.
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups– yesssss
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter & Sage Sauce– in the freezer aisle, amazing for a side dish or just a huge dinner of gnocchi.

As many of the other reviewers have stated, the CUSTOMER SERVICE at this store is TERRIBLE! It seems oxymoronic because these people work in what looks like a beach house wearing their ridiculous Hawaiian shirts… but maybe that’s why they’re so unhappy. I supposed I’d start to go crazy if my uniform required me to look like a retiree from the Florida keys. During my last visit while I was with my toddler who is in her «i want to do everything by myself» stage, an older woman made a snide remark because I allowed her to «help» me carry my basket which had a glass bottle inside.
Yes, the products are cheap and convenient but I have essentially stopped going to this location for the pure fact that some of the employees are awful. I’ve also heard that the TJ stores are some of the worst places to get produce (take some time to read articles regarding their «organic» foodstuffs). Still, if you refuse to accept that their stuff isn’t as healthy as you’d like to believe, save yourself some unfriendly interactions and go to another location. You’ll be glad you did.

Loooove trader joes and especially the awesome staff that works at this location.
Everybody is always so friendly – there is probably not one employee that I walked by that didn’t look me directly in the eye, say hello and ask if I needed any help — or hell, even just wanted to talk. I think I once chatted with an older man about Eastern Illinois (had on my hoodie) because he was happy his daughter was starting there in the fall and asked me all sorts of stuff about the campus. (PS: I hope she loves it as much as I did!) You really can’t get those type of attitudes at establishments nowadays.
Now, onto food and wine. As most people know they have awesome wine deals, we will literally leave with 6 – 7 bottles each time. Love, love, love their Pot Stickers and sauce, I mean both are priced around $ 2.49 and they will both last you a long time. Can’t get enough of their Pumpkin butter either, my cashier was even friendly enough to tell me other ways of using it rather than just spreading it on good ol’ bread.
As others have stated, the parking lot is kind of crummy, but oh well. Walking is good for you :)

This is my go-​to store for two things: Chocolate and Booze.
Ovulation ain’t got nothin’ on me.
If you haven’t tried their dark chocolate bar with caramel and black sea salt, well, you just haven’t lived. In fact, one time out car broke down here when it probably about negative 10,000 degrees and you know what? I didn’t even care because we’d just bought 5 of these suckers and I was set.
Otherwise we come for cheap but decent wine (not that I know the difference between sh*tty and good wine) as well as beer. They don’t have any alcohol so there’s definitely a several hour grace period before you can take down a can a brew. What’s also nice is that there’s always at least one person working this area and ready to give suggestions and recommendations, which I normally don’t need or want, but the picks are pretty much always spot on and so all my purchases have been 100% without regret. Also, I just saw last week that they’re now selling BOOZE booze, like vodka and ish. I think it was two different flavors of Svedka or something for $ 6.99. So many options!
The register staff are always really friendly and even though the way the door and carts and parking lot are set up is extremely annoying, they always offer to help you take your groceries out to your car if you have a bunch of heavy ish.
It’s not my favorite TJs (again, because of the maddening entrance/​P-​lot situation), but I often find myself in the area and I’m grateful for it’s existence.

Sigh. I love Trader Joe’s. And this location doesn’t disappoint. While the parking lot can get super crazy on weekends, allow me to share a few reasons why I enjoy TJ’s…
1) Friendly staff: These folks genuinely (or least feign genuine interest) enjoy working here and are just peachy to customers. Whether you’re having trouble finding a specific marinara or your fave salad is no where to be found, these folks have it covered.
2) Super clean: From the bathrooms to the floors, this store is squeaky clean.
3) Tasty items (that you can likely find at many a TJ’s):
–Thai Curry sauce
–Ready to eat salads: Super Spinach, Thai peanut noodle salad
–Spinach and artichoke greek yogurt dip
–Lacey’s cookies
–Cheese: some of the best prices around, especially for goat cheese!
–Chicken Tikka Masala
–Pretty much any piece of produce
–Just the Clusters cereal
I will note, though, that I avoid purchasing meat/​chicken here. Not that there anything wrong with it, actually it’s quite good, it’s just overpriced across the board.
Viva la Trader!

I’ve had pretty good experiences here overall. The store is «set up at an angle» since the front door is on a corner — I like it because the place seems a little more open than other TJ’s I have visited.
Staff here has been OK by me. Parking is a little busy but that’s because the strip mall they’re in has a lot of activity going on — nothing wrong with that! Not too much more I can say that isn’t true of other TJ’s.

This is definitely one of the best Trader Joe’s I’ve ever been to, if not the best. (It’s hard to mentally compare it to the one I shopped at in LA… not to mention a completely different market.)
It’s got a great selection, friendly staff, and is always well-​stocked. They go completely out of their way for customers, including my mom. She is OBSESSED with one very specific yoghurt they carry — one brand, one flavor — and likes to buy as many as possible when she shops here since it’s a mini roadtrip. Recently, she had found only one or two lingering in the back of the shelves, so each yoghurt ended up costing $ 15 when comp’ed for gas, haha. Yikes! She wanted the yoghurts so badly, but didn’t want to make the drive, so we called to check their stock; they had just gotten multiple cases in and offered to save one in back just for us! Now THAT, my friends, is customer service.
Just today, I witnessed one of the employees speaking Spanish with a young boy who was with his mom. The boy was telling him it was his birthday (yay for studying espanol and being able to comprender the conversation!) and the Trader Joe’s worker gave him a box of cookies, marked them with something, and told him they were free as a gift!
I’ve seen this happen at other Trader Joe’s (at the one in LA, another employee gave a customer flowers on her birthday while I was shopping).
Trader Joe’s makes you feel appreciated. I honestly can’t think of any store that does this stuff, much less a supermarket. It makes me want to shop there even more.
Oh, and did I mention the Smiley Face label wine? I always have to walk past that aisle just so I can see it and start smiling at it (the label, not the booze. Okay, guys?) Makes me all happy, warm and fuzzy just looking at it, and their $ 2.99 wine tastes like $ 299. Yum!
Hurray Trader Joe’s!