Trader Joe's Secrets You Wish You Knew Sooner

Founder Joe Coulombe opened the first Trader Joe's opened in Pasadena, California, in 1967. But it wouldn't be until 1996 that the company opened its first stores on the East Coast and became a national chain. Today, there are 597 locations and the store is in almost every state in the country. The reason for the expansion? Trader Joe's is known for its cult-favorite products, die-hard fans, and friendly crew members. Preferring word of mouth to traditional marketing, there are numerous fan sites on social media where frequent shoppers share their passion for the many unique products the store has to offer. 

Whether you love Trader Joe's for its fall offerings, holiday collections, or standard favorites, there is secret knowledge to be had regarding shopping at the unconventional grocery store that will improve your overall experience. Read on to learn everything from using manufacturer's coupons to the best time to shop, and the store's liberal return policy, along with other Trader Joe's secrets you wish you knew sooner.

Trader Joe's keeps its vendor relationships under wraps. By negotiating directly with growers and manufacturers, Trader Joe's cuts out the added cost of working through brokers and distributors. The products are bought by Trade Joe's and sold to shoppers under Trader Joe's private labels. Shoppers know private label items are held to certain standards, such as being free from artificial flavors, preservatives, and trans-fats. Yet prices are typically lower than the same item sells for at a conventional grocery store.

You won't find official information from Trader Joe's regarding which companies it works with. However, one method to uncover the truth is by searching for food recalls that mention Trader Joe's. In 2017, a reporter for Eater did just that by gathering FDA and USDA recall alerts on Trader Joe's products over the previous 10 years. This investigation revealed major brands that have sold products to Trader Joe's. Some notable ones include Stacy's Simply Naked Pita Chips, Tate's Bake Shop Cookies, and Naked Juice. Beyond food, shoppers may find wine and beauty products to be astonishingly similar to other name brands. For example, Trader Joe's $8.99 sunscreen has been compared to a $38 bottle of cult favorite Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen. Also, many of Trader Joe's private-label wines come from California-based Bronco Wine Company, the fifth-largest winery in the country.

Trader Joe's official website states the company does not have discounts, special promotions, or coupons, noting, "we have low prices, every day. NO coupons. NO membership cards. NO discounts. NO glitzy promotions or couponing wars at our stores. We offer the best everyday values, every day." Although the store doesn't run coupons for its private line products, not many shoppers realize that employees will honor the manufacturer's coupons for name brand products at the checkout lane. 

According to Mashed, Trader Joe's public relations manager, Nakia Rohde, explained in an email, "We do not offer Trader Joe's coupons. We stay focused on providing the best everyday values, every day. However, we do accept manufacturer's coupons for other brand's products we carry." The bottom line, if you come across a brand product not affiliated with Trader Joe's and you have a coupon for it, you can present it when you checkout for redemption. The downside to this is that Trader Joe's stocks very few products that aren't under its own labels. 

Trader Joe's has a liberal return policy. The store will accept any return even if the package is opened and the item is half-eaten. If you have your receipt, you can get your money back. But even if you don't have a receipt, you still can return the item for store credit or a replacement. But where Trader Joe's really goes the extra mile to please its customers is that you don't even need to bring the item with you. Just head over to the manager's desk to express your unhappiness with a product, and you will likely get a refund or another product for free. This crew member explained on Reddit, "We want you to get good food. We don't care about the details."

There are reasons behind this generous policy. For one thing, companies have learned that making returns easy on customers helps to build brand loyalty. For another, Trader Joe's wants feedback on its products. If an item receives a lot of returns and negative feedback from shoppers, the product may be discontinued in the future. As a Redditor explains, "They track what products get returned, which helps improve products, so don't be shy with the feedback. It is part of what makes TJs different."

Trader Joe's stores are notoriously busy on weekends with long checkout lines and crowded parking lots. Trader Joe's may be a store that is fun to browse in, but this becomes a lot less fun when the aisles are crowded. That's why if you want to avoid the crowds, you're better off hitting the store in the morning during the week. This Reddit user explains, "First thing in the AM works well for me. They told me at my store Wednesday is their least busy day."

However, there are other reasons to strategically plan your Trader Joe's shopping trip. If you're looking for new items or cult favorites, you'll want to head there when they have just been restocked. Also, fresh produce is restocked daily in the morning and may begin to run out by the afternoon. Store managers have reported that Mondays through Wednesdays are your best bet for fewer crowds and fully stocked shelves. 

If you find a new product that interests you as you peruse the aisles, it's probably best not to wait to think about it and pick it up the next time you are in. Grab those new items when you see them. After all, you can always return the item for a refund later if it doesn't meet your expectations. But if you wait to buy it, you may be out of luck. 

There is a good reason not to delay your purchase. Trader Joe's, unlike big box stores, doesn't have large footprints or lots of warehouse space to store products. When the trucks arrive, employees stock the items on the shelves immediately. It's called "truck-to-shelf" and this policy is how Trader Joe's can get away with smaller store footprints and fresh products. However, the trade-off is limited availability for popular or new items. And when a new item goes viral, like the coveted canvas mini totes, you can expect resellers to rush in and snatch it up.

Before the pandemic, Trader Joe's sample station was a popular spot to hit during any shopping trip. Shoppers could sample Trader Joe's products made on-site, and grab a sample of coffee while they were at it. Some Trader Joe's stores have returned to in-store samples, while others never did. However, just because the sampling station is gone doesn't mean shoppers can't get a taste of a product before they buy.

Trader Joe's offers a "Try before you buy" policy where you can ask employees to open a product and let you take a sample. Of course, this has some limits. You can't try beer, wine, or alcohol, and employees aren't going to run to the back to cook a chicken breast, but you should be able to try other foods, while the opened package is usually given to employees. However, we recommend that you don't take advantage of this policy and ask to sample multiple items. It's also best to be polite to crew members and save this for a quiet day, not on busy weekends.

Unlike other stores, you can't shop Trader Joe's online for curbside pickup or delivery. Trader Joe's official website explains, "We do not offer curbside pickup or delivery, and we don't work with third party delivery services like Instacart or Dumpling because they can't match our outstanding in-store value and shopping experience." Trader Joe's prefers customers to come in the store where "we can say hello when you're looking around wondering – 'what's for dinner?"

On an in-house podcast, "Inside Trader Joe's", the company explained the physical experience of shopping in its stores is central to its brand, "That experience would not be the same if you were trying to order something from a website that just showed you the products you already know about." Trader Joe's wants its shoppers physically in stores, chatting with employees and discovering new items. Additionally, delivery services are expensive, Trader Joe's stores are already overcrowded without store shoppers, and curbside pickup would be hard to execute in the small parking lots. Given these factors, it's safe to say, you probably shouldn't expect delivery service to come to a Trader Joe's near you anytime soon.

Trader Joe's makes things fun for kids with kid-sized shopping carts and scavenger hunts. While the smaller shopping carts aren't out on busy weekends, and not every store has them, you can always keep your kid entertained during your shopping trip by letting them search for the plush animal hidden somewhere in the store. Be sure to look for the "Missing" poster at the front of the store, and you and your kids can keep an eye out for the animal as you shop.

Animals can be anywhere on the shelves, or throughout the store. When you're checking out, be sure to tell the crew member what you found and your kid will get a lollipop or stickers as a reward. Each store has different animals, and this Redditor has rounded up the identities of over 200 of them. It's a wide variety of tigers, birds, frogs, squirrels, and many more.

One of the advantages of working at Trader Joe's is getting to try new products when they arrive in stores. When shoppers come in and browse the aisles, the company wants crew members to be knowledgeable about the items and able to answer any customer questions. This goes along with the strategy to avoid delivery, because the company wants shoppers in the store interacting with employees and, as it says on its website, "creating a rewarding shopping experience, full of discovery and welcome." The best way to do that, and to allow employees to make recommendations, is to offer them samples of the new products as they come in. 

This popular Reddit thread asks the question, "Trader Joe Employees: what are your favorites and what would you say NEVER buy?" Currently up to 421 comments, it's safe to say, Trader Joe's employees are happy to recommend their favorites. Some popular items included sea salt brownies, Ezekiel bread, and smoked salmon. However, more than one person suggested shoppers stay away from the Ranch dressing.

Food waste is a serious problem in America. According to Feeding America, $473 billion in food is wasted each year, and over half of that comes from the food industry. Trader Joe's is doing its part to fight hunger and reduce waste through its Neighborhood Shares program. According to its website, Trader Joe's donates 100% of food that is unused but is still safe to eat. With this program, the company donated $469 million worth of food in 2023 to nonprofit organizations, and 104 million pounds of food overall. 

One reason the program has managed to work so effectively is that each local store has its own designated Donation Coordinator. This employee manages the donations in a local area, ensuring food is donated to official non-profit (501c3) organizations. Non-profit groups can submit requests to the coordinator in writing. One former employee took to Reddit to explain, "my favorite part of the job was going through the inventory on the shelves to mark what could be donated and what was trash. And every night we'd set aside stuff that was a bit too close to the date but still good to be picked up by a local charitable organization in the morning."

Trader Joe's may not be what you think of when wedding planning, however, some brides have discovered they can get gorgeous, fresh flowers at much lower prices than a wedding florist. The online wedding publication Brides even has a guide on exactly how to use Trader Joe's flowers in lieu of expensive floral arrangements. Brides suggests checking out Trader Joe's floral department if you are planning to DIY your own floral arrangements or asking your florist to source flowers from the grocer to save on costs.

Just like other products, Trader Joe's keeps its flower costs lower by purchasing directly from growers. The catch is, you can't buy in bulk online. Your best bet is to go first thing in the morning to get the freshly stocked blooms. If you're looking for something specific, Brides suggests asking a Trader Joe's crew member if they know when certain flowers might be due to arrive.

One of the biggest complaints about Trader Joe's is the ridiculously small and crowded parking lots. Any regular shopper knows the frustration of driving around the parking lot multiple times just waiting for a car to pull out. This seems to be a universal problem for the stores, and it's even been addressed in the company podcast, "Inside Trader Joe's."

One of the hosts explains, "When you design a parking space or you allocate spaces for parking for a retail store, it's based on the size of the store." Since Trader Joe's stores have smaller footprints, they get fewer parking spaces, even though they receive a lot of daily traffic to the store. According to the podcast, the company tries to get as much parking as it can from city planners, but in some urban locations, they don't even have a parking lot.