The 10 Worst Things About Shopping At Trader Joe's

All supermarkets have their ups and their downs, and Trader Joe's is no different. The store may pride itself on its friendly, laid-back attitude and distinctive but familiar food products, but it's not a universally positive shopping experience. There are plenty of things that annoy people about heading to this store, and while the fact that Trader Joe's items can be more expensive than other grocery stores is one of them, customers routinely get frustrated with the sheer physical experience of being in one of its supermarkets. Cramped, illogical floor plans, crowds, and an over-presence of staff on the shop floor are just a few of the things that irk Trader Joe's shoppers, and make buying food there more of a trial than you might expect.

Other things make shopping at Trader Joe's a worse experience than it should be, stemming from decisions made by upper management that customers just can't get on board with. Why, for example, is there still no loyalty scheme or ability to order groceries online? Why does Trader Joe's insist on discontinuing all of your favorite items the moment that you discover them? Plus, what's the deal with its foods seeming nutritious when they're actually not that healthy? If you've ever had a gripe about shopping at TJ's, you're likely to find it here.

Trader Joe's prides itself on creating a neighborhood vibe in its stores, which feeds into its overall image as a brand that feels a little more friendly than most. That may be the case, but it's also done this while becoming one of the most popular brands in the country, and the two things don't quite go together in physical form. Anyone who's ever shopped at an older Trader Joe's store will have noticed how small and cramped it feels, and this creates a pretty negative result for everyone involved.

"Shopping there is most often a hellish experience," said one of many customers on Reddit who have pointed out how stressful it is to shop at Trader Joe's. "It's a very small space with a large amount of people that are rude and pushy and seem to have no knowledge of personal space." Others on Reddit have questioned whether Trader Joe's stores are "intentionally anxiety inducing," and highlighted the strange organization of its small spaces. It should be said that this isn't the case with every Trader Joe's, and some of its bigger stores offer a more pleasant experience. However, you'll have to track one of these down to actually have a peaceful shopping trip.

It feels a little strange to be annoyed by employees keeping shelves well-stocked, right? Normally, it's a lack of stock on shelves that infuriates customers. Well, the problem with Trader Joe's is that it takes things to a bit of an extreme: During your visit to its stores, you'll likely find that you have to constantly reach around, dodge, and apologize to employees as they load stuff back onto its shelves. It's a quirk of Trader Joe's that's been noticed by customers online, and it stresses some people out. "My one complaint is there's far too much stocking and floor cleaning the entire time that I'm there," said one person on Reddit. "I always feel like I am [imposing] by reaching over the workers and weaving in and out to get things,"

Apparently, one of the reasons for this is that Trader Joe's stockrooms are generally pretty small, much like the stores themselves. As a result, the employees have to get things out onto the shelves pretty much immediately. It should be said, too, that this constant restocking isn't something that irritates everyone: Others point out that it's emblematic of the company's premium customer service. However, if you're already trying to wind your way through a tiny store crammed with people, the last thing you want is to have to dodge the employees themselves.

If there's one thing that unites customers more than anything, it's the way they miss all of Trader Joe's discontinued items. This store is notorious for running items until they become popular enough to be fan favorites, before discontinuing them without warning. The store does it often enough to make customers consider avoiding it entirely, and it's hard to escape the feeling that it makes a habit of picking out the items that people love the most before plucking them from shelves. Word has it, though, that this isn't what's happening.

The store itself has made clear that it discontinues items when they're not selling well. The reason it doesn't give advance notice before it discontinues goods is that it can cause ripples of disruption down the supply line, and products can end up sitting in its warehouses, gathering dust. Well, that may all make sense, but it doesn't make it any less irritating when you see that your beloved goods have been permanently removed. Thankfully, Trader Joe's does also listen closely to its customers, and whenever there's a strong enough demand for an item to be brought back, it's been known to do so.

The majority of supermarkets in the world use too much plastic packaging, and Trader Joe's is no different. For a store that prides itself on portraying a wholesome image, though, the amount of plastic it actually uses is pretty wild. Trader Joe's smothers virtually everything in excessive amounts of plastic, and even its fresh produce comes encased in plastic shells and wraps. It's not only a poor look for the store, but it's also something that enrages customers who shop there. "Feeling frustrated with all the plastics I have to bin when I unpack all my groceries from TJs," said one Reddit commenter, with another saying that it "breaks [their] heart" that such a sophisticated store would insist on only selling its fresh goods in bulk-buy plastic-wrapped packages that produce waste.

What makes this all the more irritating is that Trader Joe's is not only aware of how much plastic it uses, but it's also made what seem to be false promises to reduce it. In 2019, it announced that it was to eliminate a million pounds of single-use plastic from its stores. However, cut to 2025, and it's still facing accusations of using too much, with consumer advocates calling the retailer out for its poor environmental practices. If this doesn't change soon, this image problem is only going to get worse — leaving customers even more irritated.

Trader Joe's likes to make its customers feel as though they're shopping at a local mom-and-pop store, even if that image is carefully curated and honed to perfection by a team of marketing experts. Unfortunately, this feeling extends to its parking lots. They're pretty teeny, and it's a bit of an issue. Trader Joe's has stated that the reason why its parking lots are so snug is that the stores themselves are smaller than other grocery stores — but as the brand has become more popular over the years, the parking lots haven't expanded to keep up. When you combine this with the fact that Trader Joe's often builds its supermarkets on smaller plots of land, things can get very challenging.

For some people, though, it's not just something they put up with: It's an issue that's forced them to quit the store altogether. "I stopped going to Trader Joe's weekly because of the parking lot situation," said one particularly frustrated customer on Reddit, quipping that, "I knew it was only a matter of time that I would be forced to murder someone in a Prius over a parking spot." Others have said how annoying they find the flow system in their local TJ's parking lot. It seems like Trader Joe's is unwilling to budge on the size of its lots, too. We're not sure how much that's going to make customers come back, to be honest.

The image that Trader Joe's cultivates is both its best friend and its worst enemy. Its appearance of wholesomeness and commitment to using no artificial flavors, preservatives, or GMOs has given it the feel of being a healthier store than others, and that's something that it doesn't exactly deny. However, this means that people tend to go to TJ's in the hope of having a "healthier" shopping experience, only to realize that its products can be just as nutritionally poor as what they can find anywhere else. "Is it just me or does anyone else sometimes have the misconception that everything at TJ's is somehow healthier than foods you buy at other grocery stores?" said a shopper on Reddit, with others jumping in to agree.

The fact of the matter is that there are some unhealthy items on sale at Trader Joe's. A lot of its products are just as high in sugar, fat, or sodium as those from other stores, and this has caused a fair bit of frustration amongst customers. Some people have even turned away from shopping at Trader Joe's as a result, and have instead sought out whole-food stores as their primary supermarket. The retailer may not use certain ingredients, but the fact is that processed food is still processed food.

Here's the thing, folks: Not everyone wants to talk when they go to the grocery store. Sure, it's sometimes nice to engage in a little bit of banter and to ask people how their day is going, but other times, you just want to get in and get out. This is where it can be tricky to shop at Trader Joe's, a supermarket that prides itself on its friendliness. The retailer has set a precedent that its employees are chirpy and talkative, and that just doesn't jive with some people. "As a nervous Nellie, I can say I don't enjoy the small talk whatsoever," said a shopper on Reddit. "It's weird to assume everyone needs that chit chat."

Other folks have noted that sometimes, employees can overlook how the person might be feeling, and may continue to chat even though they're appearing visibly anxious, stressed, or just not wanting to reciprocate. Trader Joe's employees themselves have questioned whether customers find this chatter annoying, which points towards an awareness of it all being too much. That being said, there are plenty of people out there who love the small talk at Trader Joe's, so it really does just come down to personal preference. Remember, too, that there have been a few scandals at Trader Joe's, and some of them have involved its employees — so you can't assume that they're having as good a day as they might seem.  

Jean-Paul Sartre once said that "hell is other people," and that's certainly true when it comes to Trader Joe's. Shopping at the store may sometimes be smooth sailing, but a lot of the time, you're having to navigate your way around a packed bunch of stressed, angry customers. For some reason, Trader Joe's shoppers have been cited as some of the rudest out there, with other grocery stores and their patrons seeming joyous in comparison. Some people have suggested that this might be because of the store's more upmarket feel, which comes with a certain sense of entitlement. "My TJ's is in a very, very affluent neighborhood. Rude people all the time," stated a frustrated shopper on Reddit. "All. The. Time."

Rude customers don't just make shopping there an issue, either — they also make working there a challenge. Trader Joe's employees have traded countless horror stories online about the terrible behavior of certain shoppers in their stores, with people reporting that they've been sworn at, abused, or have been told that they're bad at their jobs for no reason whatsoever. It really doesn't take much to be nice; don't give people a hard time when they're at work, and don't make life difficult for other customers, either.

It's 2025, people: Pretty much every business out there has a loyalty scheme. Well, except Trader Joe's. Up until this point, the supermarket has held out on introducing a loyalty, membership, or points program for its shoppers, and unlike other retailers, it also doesn't have its own app. Why is this a problem? Well, although loyalty schemes run by other supermarkets have a clear ulterior motive of trying to get customers back through their doors, programs like Walmart+ and Target Circle can also help you make savings over time. At Trader Joe's, the lack of a loyalty scheme makes you feel pretty anonymous.

For some people, this gives them a sense of seeing no real benefit of shopping at TJ's over anywhere else, and the lack of a frequent buyer discount has been cited as a source of frustration. The more people shop, the more they drift towards the businesses that make them feel like they're getting something, and it's hard for Trader Joe's to keep resisting that. We don't know if they'll bring in some kind of loyalty program in the future, but they'd be wild to ignore it for much longer.

Ah, the delivery issue. Somehow, to this day, Trader Joe's has managed to resist offering home delivery, and it's something that customers are getting really annoyed with (although there is a hack to get Trader Joe's deliveries to your house). As time goes on, people are getting more and more accustomed to ordering their groceries online, so it irritates a lot of people that they have no option but to get in their car and drive down to the store. "The TJs parking lot is always a mad house, store is always crowded, line for checkout, the bagging process is annoying," said one person on Reddit, questioning the lack of delivery or pick-up options. Another agreed, "It just seems more and more financially stupid as time goes on and more people are shifting to this kind [of] hybrid store/ online/ curbside model."

Trader Joe's has explained that the reason it doesn't offer curbside pickup or delivery is that it wants to retain the in-store experience and keep that personal touch. That may be a nice thought, but the fact is that it just doesn't work for everyone in a day and age when people are used to getting their groceries in just a few taps. We think it'll have to adapt its ways pretty soon; it can't hold out forever!