Trader Joe’s

Great place to get weekly shopping done. Friendly staff. Parking can be a bit difficult at peak times.

Trader Joe’s is an incredible grocery store in St. Paul. They have everything I need (except a meat counter). You can get in and out of the store in less than 20 minutes and their staff is friendly and helpful; it’s just a great customer experience.

It’s always a great experience at Trader Joe’s and this location is no exception to the rule. Friendly staff, fresh produce, narrow aisles, yummy snacks, and quick check out. What more could you ask for?

I LOVE living blocks away from this TJ’s. It’s so convenient & they have the best fresh fruits & veggies and the most creative healthy snacks. The staff is SO happy and friendly it makes me want to work there. The liquor store has great variety on wines, beer & even TJ branded liquor a. It closes at 8pm so make sure to get there before close! Some great deals are organic avocados are $ 1, a big bag (6lb I think) of frozen chicken breast is around $ 7, currently they have asparagus for $ 2, and pretty much everything else. Veggies are almost always way cheaper than Target. TJ’s is the best. And they have Apple Pay now!

HUGE fan of trader joe’s. Great food, awesome prices overall, and fantastic staff always. They almost have their own, authentic style with everything they do, from marketing to their customer service. I tend to come here when I need a lot of things. I usually make several trips to the grocery store but this is not possible at TJ’s, there’s just too much good food!
They have samples out always too which can be a perk. The only thing would change are the hours, they close at 9pm most days. I would prefer 10−11pm for last minute/​late night emergencies. Also they should definitely consider getting a BULK section! Great prices on all nuts and dried fruits, but it would be even more convenient if the customer could pick out the amount themselves.
AWESOME PLACE, GO!

We had the best experience and customer service today that I have to write about it! Stopped at Trader Joe’s in St. Paul and was immediately impressed with the underground parking option. Score 1! Super friendly people working, and when we checked out and my son asked if they had candy, they offered a lollipop and sticker. Score 2! I thanked them and explained we recently moved and our old local store used to have treats, and they sent me home with a free bouquet of flowers. Score 3! After service like that, this will be hard to beat. Thanks for a great start to our weekend!

I LOVE Trader Joes. The staff are so friendly and helpful, the selection of foods is great, the prices are always lower than I expect. AND the attached wine/​beer shop is fantastic.
But beware — all Trader Joes parking lots are notoriously awful, and this might be the worst. It’s best to park underground here.

Clean, clean store; like Aldi, it is always a small square footage store site. Often quite busy. But — Even on weekends, shopping can be done with little anxiety. Lines move fairly quickly. The vibe of Trader Joe’s is rather healing, difficult to explain. Kind of brings out the lovely trait of curiosity, exploration, discovery, delight. Today I ‘discovered’ its Raw Honey. Great price.
Excellent excellent attitude of authentic pleasant-​ness by cashiers, Always. Best customer service in St. Paul.
Very fair and economical prices for organic produce choices. Meat is rather expensive. Frozen fruits and vegetable prices: excellent. Great variety of frozen entrees, many choices. Good looking frozen fish. Excellent dairy prices, very fair.
Great choices, exc prices for bread. Best price in town for Coffee. Thumbs down on its Dog/​pet food quality — not very health conscious.
I am SO GLAD that Trader Joe’s is available in St. Paul; Too bad more space wasn’t allowed for the size of its 2 parking lots; and, important to drive carefully and slowly into and out of the underground lot. — location is not really «Highland». fairly speaking, edge of Mac Groveland.

This is my grocery shopping place. We’re members at Seward Co op and I never ever go anymore, unless I need bulk stuff that I just can’t get at TJs. I suppose I should feel bad about not frequenting my local co op, but for real… a girl cannot afford to spend $ 8 on asparagus. I can get organic free range meat, excellent produce and you know… cookie butter ice cream. Don’t judge. You know that shiz is the bomb.
The employees are so very kind. I don’t care if it’s all an elaborate ruse and they secretly hate all the customers. They’re nice to me and my spawn and a couple even remember my baby’s names.
Don’t go on the weekends if you can avoid it. And if you can’t avoid the weekends, arrive the moment the doors open. Only then will you be assured a pain free shopping experience. It gets crazy here with the swarms. Produce runs out on the weekends.
Never park above ground. It’s a major cluster.
Did I mention cookie butter ice cream?

I love Trader Joe’s. I usually just go for specialty foods because I often times can’t find normal things I need. (No cottage cheese? Ever? Or am I just blind every time?)
Tasty things you can’t find anywhere else with awesome prices.
Employee’s always seem happy and engaging.
The aboveground parking is terrible and messy but the underground is great and much needed.
Overall a fun place to shop for groceries and goodies.

I truly love Trader Joe’s because of their selection of organic, sustainable, foods. They make it easier to get the things I need for my family when I can’t find them at the co-​op or farmers’ markets. Their staff is also very helpful when require assistance. Despite being a big company, they don’t feel corporate.

This is bar none my favorite trader joes! The employees and super nice and the space is always clean. Parking could be better but the neighborhood is busy — not much they can do about that.
The fresh produce is always priced right! My favorite feature of TJ’s is their commitment to customer satisfaction. If you aren’t satisfied with something, they are happy to exchange it or give a refund.
Bonus — adorable & festive window art!

New to Unilocal,but a customer since opening…
Everyone quite rightly adores some/​many/​all of TJ’s product offerings. Given!
What’s truly special about this location is that although the staff is widely diverse, the trait they all share is attentiveness/​helpfulness! There isn’t a single disappointing staff member in the bunch.
I cannot count the number of times I received first-​rate recommendations from their wine shop staff.
We are so fortunate to have this crew aiding and assisting me, and my Highland Park. neiighbors.

I think I’m learning… how to avoid the «ant hill» frenzy at this place. Go on a morning after a very heavy snowfall, or late in the evening, just before they’re closing up. Their $.19/​each banana is a great deal, although you ought to be careful when making your selection because (I think) they get tossed around a lot, which leads to mushy brown spots once you open the fruit. Also, having recently tried their tomato-​roasted red pepper soup-​in-​a-​carton, get yourself some. It’s really good!

This is the one grocery store chain in the TC that actually makes me excited to grocery shop. Everything in the store is so aesthetically appealing– I love the product packaging, cute hand-​made signs on shelves, and bright colors.
This location in particular is always SUPER busy– whether I go on a week-​day afternoon or sunday night, the isles are flooded with hungry tj fans.
favorite tj products: frozen chicken tikka masala, frozen chicken samosas, frozen chicken pot pie bites, frozen chaat (are we seeing a pattern here?), white shells and cheddar mac and cheese (it’s actually annie’s!), butter (cheaper here than anywhere else), tomato basil pasta sauce, tator tots, and their fancy cheese selection.
Their liquor store is also really worth checking out! I love their three buck chucks, hard cider, and vodka of the god’s (this is the smoothest vodka I’ve ever tasted, and ti’s only 8 bucks per bottle).
YAY FOR TRADER JOE’S!

Five stars for the variety of different foods available. The frozen selection of Indian dishes makes my lunch at work Great! The Palak Tikka Masala is AWESOME, Dried fruits (baby pineapples yum!), specialty cereals, gourmet cheeses, fancy vegetables like mini patty pan etc. are why I love to explore and find new items to take home. My kids love to find the hidden animal (I think it’s a rabbit here?) so that they can get a prize.
The prices are very reasonable for what you get; I’ve tried a couple things that didn’t end up being super, and the parking situation is really not cool, but who cares, the other greats make up for the not so greats.

I do my shopping at three places: Target, my Co-​op and Trader Joe’s.
I love the atmosphere and the friendly staff. My kids love coming with me for a number of reasons: They like to park «underneath», they like «Bunny Hunting» for Lexi and Randolph the resident stuffed rabbits and they like their treasured reward at the end of the shopping trip. This is one place where you rarely hear any parent’s kids screaming because they don’t get what they want.
The staff is outstanding in their customer service. They are always at the ready to help you out.
I enjoy the variety of unique products TJ’s has. We have added so much to our family menu because of TJ’s variety.
We have a lot of favorites: The only OJ we will buy is from TJ’s. We love the high fiber Joe’s O’s, the raisin bran, the trail mixes and the teeny tiny potatoes. As a vegetarian family, we also really enjoy their brand of sprouted tofu and the seasonal meatless roasts. This year I bought around ten of them for serving through the whole year: D
We enjoy using a number of TJ’s personal care items. I am a big fan of the face soap and my preteen daughter loves the cleansing pads and the face cream. We always have a number of bottles of Midsummer Night’s Cream around the house and I have recently become a big fan of the super thick hand cream.
There are some things we won’t buy at TJ’s. After a few bad rounds of purchasing cottage cheese that was moldy, I stopped buying it. I also stopped buying a few of the bricks of cheese for the same reason. Unless we are going to use them within two days time, we do not buy produce at TJ’s… even organics. They tend to spoil rather quickly, which is pretty upsetting. I would like to buy organic produce there at the lower cost compared to my co-​op, but it just goes bad too quickly.
Two minor complaints I have are that the parking garage, while convenient in a Minnesota winter, is pretty hard to park a minivan in and can become a traffic jam pretty easily. Sometimes, in their super efficiency of constant shelf stocking, the TJ’s staff create more congestion in the aisles of the store than is necessary… it’s especially challenging during high traffic shopping times. Take a break TJ’s! Help where you can instead of being in the way!
I have enjoyed buying fresh flowers at TJ’s! In fact, just after my fourth child was born, I was shopping with only him in tow (a few weeks old, strapped to my body in a baby wrap) The cashier and I were chatting about babies and she was shocked that this was my fourth (apparently I look pretty good for having had four children and only being a few weeks post partum!) and then she rang the bell, and one of the crew members came over. They had a little whisper and he came back with a bouquet of flowers for me! It made me cry! They are just far too sweet. Makes me want to work there!
Being very aware as a family about where our money goes, we have done the research (what one can do) on Trader Joe’s and we like their fair treatment of employees and their over all model. We like knowing that the same company who owns Aldi (we do not shop there) owns TJs. We are aware they are a foreign company, but we like the roots of TJ’s.
TJ’s is a favorite of our family and we recommend their products, service and store very often to friends and family.

TJ’s has become my go-​to grocery store as its closest to us now that we moved. Everyone working here is so friendly and helpful. Did you know if you do not like something, you can return it? They encourage you to try things and remind you of this policy as you buy new items.
Lines move quickly, produce is fresh and organic, and there is underground parking!
Try the inexpensive pot stickers, TJ’s salsa, and the wide variety of nuts.

I’m working through it…
I gotta say, this place has impressed me more each time I go. My last couple of trips to the Woodbury location have been quite disappointing, so I’ve headed here.
They seem to have everything I need in stock, took back some rice I bought that tasted like dirt, and the crowd seems to have dissipated. Or maybe I’m hitting it at the right time?

What can I say? This is a Trader Joe’s at its best. We’re here at least once a week. I wish that it was a bit bigger like the one in Minnetonka, but that said, the staff here is super friendly and always willing to check the back for you if an item is out of stock.
Would recommend going in off hours. Noontime on Saturday or Sunday and it’s bound to be a zoo. We like to go late at night or early in the morning. If you go during one of those times, it’s super easy. Underground parking helps a lot.
Also, I wanted to give a shout out to the management. We once had an issue with an employee ruining a bunch of greens by cramming them all into one bag (he really squished them down). The managers there took our complaint very seriously and wound up giving us a ton of replacement greens the following week to make up for it.