Trader Joe’s

Always hear people rave about this place so decided to give it a try. First of all it is absolutely freezing in here. 75 degrees outside I have on jeans and long sleeves and my teeth are chattering. The store is very tiny. The selection is abysmal at best. Other than trying to be a college hipster (which I am not) I see no reason to ever be in this place. Prices are average, selection is horrible, the lines are long, and the quality is generic at best. Feels like a gas station convenience store. Will never return to this place.

This was my first time ever shopping at Trader Joe’s, and it will definitely not be my last. The store was clean, well-​lit, and the produce looked fresh. The prices weren’t bad either. The meat selection is small, but the wine selection is extensive, and that’s what matters right? ;)
The service is first class here. All of the staff were very friendly and extremely accommodating. I accidentally dropped a large glass bottle of juice, and it went everywhere. They not only assured me that everything was fine and that they would handle it, but they cared about my safety first since the bottle broke so closely to where I was standing. They helped me check for errant glass shards and gave me cleaning wipes to wipe the juice off.
While checking out, we had a lovely mini chat with the cashier. When she found out this was our first time, she welcomed us and gave us one of the recyclable bags for free. This was hands-​down one of the best grocery shopping experiences I have ever had!

This is a very well organized Trader Joe’s and the store is very clean. The staff at this Athens’s location provide excellent service as well. Besides, I must say I never seen anyone scan items and bag them as fast as my cashier did, wow!
They have a nice selection of Wine’s here. Most of the items here are on the opposite side of the store in comparison to the downtown location off Monroe. If you are in Athens, I definitely would recommend this location; it is right off Hwy-​316/​Epps Bridge Pkwy.
[Review #315] (Seventieth Fifth Review of 2015)

Trader Joe’s gets 5 from me, and it’s allll because of Anna. Girl, you are a doll. You made a horrible experience so much better. You see, Unilocalers, while I was shopping, I got a phone call from home – bad news. Lovely Miss Anna was my checkout person and she could tell something was up. When she found out what happened, she did me a huge solid, gave me a gift, despite my objections and put a big smile back on my face and, more importantly, made my daughters smile.
People like her are rare and far between, and she’s beautiful to boot!
Granted, I shop at TJ’s a lot and their customer service is always above par. You should see that staff hustle. I have seen people RUN to get on top of something. They have a good selection (pleeeeese bring back the kimchi!!), prices are decent, and it’s always clean. I should have given them a good review a long time ago, but the thought never occurred to me until today.
Give that chick a raise! :P

Lots of good stuff, and tends to be competitive in pricing. Downside is a limited fresh meat and pretty much non-​existent fresh fish selection. Lots of tasty desserts.

Great inexpensive place to shop for the health conscious. My only complaint is at any given time they may not have items they regularly had before and they say they dont know when they will get it back if ever. Other than that its easy to shop at, the staff is super friendly and they seem to have little turnover. Prices cant be beat and they always have some new product to try.

What a happy place to shop! What’s not to love about a store that has coffee and ½ and ½ waiting for you at the end of the first isle. My family now has standard TJ foods that we always get: 1) the tomato and roasted red pepper soup 2) the Japanese fried rice (frozen) 3) frozen Indian food and NAN — almost restaurant quality — and more I’m sure. The employees are super friendly and the store is bright and clean.

I love this store! I walked out and accidentally dropped a bunch of bottles out of a box of wine in the parking lot and some break. An employee immediately comes running out and helps me pick up all the bottles and brings me back replacement bottles for the broken ones and will not take no for an answer. This kind of customer service is absolutely rare these days… I love love love Trader Joe’s!!!

This Tj’s has an awesome selection. The parking lot always has space and the store has lots of staff on hand to help up front in case things get really crowded. They also have a great beer and wine selection!

I went here for the first time yesterday because I had recently discovered that a Trader Joes was just around the block from where I currently live. I remembered shopping there all the time in Cali and loving it. So I finally stopped by and was first surprised by how small the place was.
The selection was also a little smaller than I remembered but they did carry all of my favorites. The store being kind of a «mini TJ’s» actually made me like it a bit more. Gave it a small town grocery store type feel.
Anyways, the customer service was great as well. Best in Athens if I had to bet on one. Friendliest people who genuinely seem like they care. Felt like I was in a Black Hole Sun music video!
Products were unique and cool just as I remembered (delicious as well). Prices can be a little steep on certain items but they do have great value for the most part (especially their organic produce).
Trader Joe’s proved to me that they can still pull off their West Coast reputation in the East.
*Customer Service: ⁵⁄₅
*Product Selection: 4.5÷5
*Prices & Value: ⁵⁄₅
*Cleanliness/​Atmosphere: ⁵⁄₅
*Yelp Score:5/5*
–Undercover Shopper–

I have shopped at Trader Joe’s somewhat frequently since they opened in Athens. Mostly my experience has been positive, however I’ve often felt that there is something kind of weird about the food. I have definitely gotten sick after using a brand new container of their extra virgin coconut oil and can’t even look at the frozen falafel without feeling sick. Some of their food items just seem to have a strange flavor. Yesterday I took home some completely cooked vegetable «sushi» rolls for lunch and after about 7 hours was sitting on the bathroom floor. Today I opened a bag of Trader Joe’s Quinoa & Black Bean tortilla chips for a snack and felt awful with an hour of eating them. I love the inexpensive wine (which is usually not that great but it does the trick for the price), but that may be all I return for. The food just weirds me out now. Has anyone else had this issue?

Maybe Trader Joe’s is the kind of place that you need to frequent to be impressed with, but I just don’t get the hype. Nothing is especially unique, high-​quality, or cheap, so I’m not sure why anyone would pee all over themselves to get one nearby. Just meh.

I LOVE Trader Joe’s! Their store brands are the best — the coffees, cereals, snacks. Prepared food is always excellent. It’s a treat to go in and see what’s new there each visit.

Wow! Now this is a grocery store!!!
Thanks for the great deals and Separate bags.

I was so happy when this store came to Athens. I hadn’t been to Trader Joe’s since I lived in Michigan. It’s a wonderful chain and this town needed seeing as Earth Fair (the other health food store) is too expensive. The prices are inexpensive for great products !

It’s hard not to give TJ’s 5-​stars, so I guess I’ll give them 5 stars. Hey, having a TJ’s in town means Athens must RATE on a national level, right? :) That being said, you might not like yourself when you get to the front and realize you’ve blown $ 60 on frou-​frou cheese and high quality frozen meals, but it’s still cheaper than eating out, right? Reasonably priced booze, baked goods, meats, organic/​vegan-​friendly stuff, and awesomely awesome employees! It’s good to keep TJ’s in the rotation, even if it’s just for those special occasions.

Been going since they opened. Great selection of high quality groceries. The best price on Terrapin beer (7.99 for a six pack) and Asahi ($ 10 for a twelve pack). Very good selection of everything Everyting is great. Very nice employees! There is no need to go to Kroger/​Publix, etc. anymore.
If they added a deli, like Earthfare, it would be perfiect.

Brand new and clean, but not as much selection as other stores. Disappointment. However, if you’re here for the two buck chucks you WON’T be disappointed.

New store, smaller wine selection then some of the other TJ’s I’ve been in, but it seems the longer they are open, the more variety they are getting in.
Friendly staff and a good location that is right off the highway. The parking lot is a bit tight, but there is definately more then enough parking

I am a fan of Trader Joe’s in general, and this is a newly opened store in Athens. We usually trek down to Atlanta or one of the burbs to hit up Trader Joe’s, but Athens is just as close, so we went here. Great store, te wine selection is a bit more limited than their Atlanta locations, but we found everything we needed!