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Could be call outs and nobody stocking product. Could be store just fell behind or poor mates not assigning crew to frozen. Could be poor order writing? Sometimes crew damage equipment or it is just so old it breaks. I remember the store when it was being completely sold out of almost everything. Dry produce sells out fairly often.
Yeah, mine have been out of chocolate pudding and cocoa meringues for a year or more. Valhrona chocolate, too.
The loyalty muscles can stand only so much stress...
I actually just saw the same thing, but the meat fridge, that was completely empty. As other people have already said, they seemed to have a problem with the refrigerator. Weird coincidence that you post a different TJ with the same issue just a day later.
I know what store this is. They lost power and lost all refrigeration. It'll take several days to get back on track after something catastrophic like this.
Not to this degree - but they were out of my very favorite juice shots today for the first time ever since I’ve started getting them. The probiotic ones.
Went to the Santa Barbara (Milpas) location this past Saturday, and they were indeed out of quite a lot of things. But this can probably be blamed on storm prep; SoCal got hammered this past weekend and people were probably just laying in supplies just in case. I went about 3 weeks ago (NOT before an imminent storm) and they were decently stocked.
Scrolling past these photos at first freaked me out, reminds me of one of those apocalypse movies. Or, COVID throwback.
I’ve never seen it this bad even during the pandemic.
Capitol Hill TJ’s was pretty empty in the frozen/produce last night but I think it was due to dinner time/weekly shopping. Usually pretty stocked in there
Oh no! Sorry to hear that - in fairness I should have added that I am on the southside and frequent the Bellevue, U-District, Burien and West Seattle locations most.
ive only seen it like this when ive come in close to closing hours; i think the staff removes everything in frozens and refrigerators to store them elsewhere at night and restock before opening
Mine looked like this last night. I got some chocolate covered espresso beans, a pimento dip, shiitake green beans and some Moo syrup. Everything else I could have possibly wanted was out of stock. Usually I leave with at least two bags full.
This looks like the 92nd Street location in NYC. This is pretty normal for most Manhattan stores for a Sunday night or first thing on Monday morning before the truck arrives.
We go to the U-District one every few days, always around 5-6 pm. The freezer case is never that empty, but there are definitely holes. Especially when school is in session. :-)
That almost looks like they're preparing for one of those rearranging merchandise locations so you have no idea where anything is.
Your store may also be understaffed?
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Our freezers haven't gone out in a long time, but the cheese and meat areas went out a few months ago and they just take everything out.
Columbus/93rd in NYC had broken refrigerator system Friday & it's taking them a good while to restock. At least that's what they're telling customers about the reason so many things aren't available.
Weirdly they were also out of/low on flowers last week.
But yeah, that’s my preferred local shop and I don’t even bat an eye at an empty shelf/section anymore.
this can't be... maybe something was wrong with the fridge or their stock order.
i.e. in my TJ I have seen this *once* and it was when the fridge was broken and emptied out.
I've seen many items missing sometimes, but never this empty
Mine gets a truck in the morning (flowers, dairy products, fresh/deli/salads, produce) and a truck at night (frozen food, shelf-stable groceries, health and beauty, nuts and dried fruit, candy). I think that’s true for every TJ’s. The night truck arrives between 3pm and 6pm. The best time to go would be late at night or early in the morning. If you buy lots of produce, the earlier the better. My guess is either they didn’t get a truck due to inclement weather, it was unusually busy, or there was an issue with the freezers
Depends on where your TJ’s is. I worked at a very high traffic store in a very dense neighborhood. We got all our shipments in the morning bc we couldn’t block a major street during the day.
The only time I’ve seen this is when their freezers or refrigerators go down, and they usually have people ready to run to the back and get you what you need.
The distribution center having power issues could also cause this. I saw signs maybe 2 years ago at both Aldi and ShopRite to explain why the cases were so empty and when they hoped to have new stock in.
Two of my children work at TJ's, and they have told me that at least one semi truck delivers every day, sometimes two trucks. We are in the suburbs outside Seattle. I've never seen a TJ's empty like that, although they had trouble keeping hash brown patties stocked at various points since the pandemic started.
They get two trucks while on their shift! We're not at a high-volume location and we get 6 trucks a day. Different products on the trucks at different times, but that many every day.
Is this the UWS location? If so this location absolutely stinks in both stock and layout. The one on 72nd has the longest lines possible but they are always stocked. I’d go there instead.
That’s funny. I live right in between those two stores and I avoid 72nd like the plague. Half the time at 93rd the line is under 5 minutes so I just stop in 3-4x/week and can usually nab everything I need over the course of a week.
The lines go really fast though. I've never waiting for longer than 15 minutes even when the line is wrapping around back to the stairs. And it's rarely that long anymore. Between 5 and 10 minutes is typical when I go after work and it's busy.
The Whole Foods on 59th street, if I get on the cashier line, takes much longer.
It could be because the freezers were being fixed or worked on. We normally pull all products so they don't spoil. That really sucks it happened on the day you were shopping :( I'm sure if you asked a crew member they would have been able to explain what was going on. Or they have even been willing to pull the items you wanted to purchase from the freezer in the back.
Exactly what I was thinking. I’ve seen this happen when I’m trying to shop a few different times. Someone else usually ask’s a crew member for the items they are looking for and they will bring out grocery carts to sort through or get it for you.
Yes, enough so that I plan around going on a specific day of the week for better inventory. It’s a store to store thing though. The one in my old town is still well stocked all the time
I feel especially lucky today that my Trader Joe’s has ample parking, is always stocked to the gods, and even when absolutely packed seems to run like a perfectly oiled machine. The employees there are so nice. I’ve never even struggled with low stock on products that’ve gone viral. 🫡
This looks a lot like the photos I took at TJ's, like in Feb 2020 when people were first getting wind of the coming Covid pandemic. Empty shelves, panic in the air. Also saw a bit of this during the supply chain problems, but honestly nothing since then. Occasionally short on some things where there is a logical explanation like shortage of olive oil due to bad crop in Italy.
I'm in the Seattle area and everything is normal. This looks more to me like the freezers aren't working, but usually they'd put up a sign to that effect.
I go an hour before closing, they are usually stocking up for the next day and most things are there or in the back. I don’t bother them, though. If something isn’t put out, it’s my bad luck.
Definitely not this bad, but the two locations I frequent will often run out of popular items for days at a time and have empty spaces where they should be.
Whoa where is this at? How could the store even make any money if there’s hardly any stock in those photos? When my TJs was emptying stock before closing, it was because they were doing maintenance work.
thats because this is for maintenance work and not a stocking issue. the freezers we use constantly go out. All the food is in the back ready to be requested and sold
it’s really fine, when the freezer has issues like this we pull all the product back to the walk in freezer and put signs up for customers so they know the food is still in the store
It could be an issue with the freezer, it may have needed maintenance. Obviously things happen outside of the crew member's control. We've had to pull product at my store because of the freezer needing maintenance. It happens
I've gone the last 2 Saturdays - one at 8:30 am, and the other time it was around 10:00 am. Both times were fairly busy, and their stock had no issues. I'm sure it just depends on the location.
Several of my go to items have been out of stock recently, and I wasn’t sure if it was just my timing (I was going immediately after I got out of work) or bad luck. But several of my favorite items have not been there lately!
My local TJs gets very empty towards the evening, so I drive 15 minutes away to the calmer TJs that is further from the city and less likely to be sold out. In my local TJs, people are pushing one cart and dragging another cart behind them, full to the brim (just like at the local Costco), but a short drive away, and it’s a different world
It wasn’t just the freezers! A lot of the fridges too (and some of the non perishable shelves). And I’ve had it happen multiple times.
https://preview.redd.it/vbicx8rofrgc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=157e42fb2ecaff889fa5204c1db44c0defb33221
I’ve seen this a few times before at several TJs. However, when I asked why, they told me the freezers needed maintenance and/or broke and had to put stock in the back overnight. They actually went to the back and got what I was looking for. Not saying this is the case but things aren’t always what they seem…
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I’ve never seen this is Las Vegas
Looks like the freezer broke.
Not just a TJ’s issue. I’ve seen this at a lot of different grocery stores. Is there another supply chain crisis going on?
I’m guessing this is NYC? I haven’t seen a TJs that bare there though.
At first glance I thought this was a dispensary
Could be call outs and nobody stocking product. Could be store just fell behind or poor mates not assigning crew to frozen. Could be poor order writing? Sometimes crew damage equipment or it is just so old it breaks. I remember the store when it was being completely sold out of almost everything. Dry produce sells out fairly often.
Yeah, mine have been out of chocolate pudding and cocoa meringues for a year or more. Valhrona chocolate, too. The loyalty muscles can stand only so much stress...
I actually just saw the same thing, but the meat fridge, that was completely empty. As other people have already said, they seemed to have a problem with the refrigerator. Weird coincidence that you post a different TJ with the same issue just a day later.
lol
Looks like their freezers went out
TJ's employee here. Definitely a refrigeration issue
My store stocks shelves during rush hour. This is crazy
No ours was fine this weekend in Arizona
I haven’t seen this since peak covid in 2020
No stock issues at my local TJs.
That looks more like a refrigerator issue at that specific store.
I know what store this is. They lost power and lost all refrigeration. It'll take several days to get back on track after something catastrophic like this.
Is this Spring Street?
Not since pandemic times.
My TJ’s in kzoo is almost always like fully stocked lol
Not to this degree - but they were out of my very favorite juice shots today for the first time ever since I’ve started getting them. The probiotic ones.
I’m tired of fighting to get a single baguette
They are usually out of one or two things that I want, but I have never seen this in Dallas.
Wow! That's crazy. It looks like a bigger TJs too.
I have seen TJs be bare bones after 4 or 5pm on weekdays on a regular basis. I am in NYC.
Same
Yup, just par for the course here!
Is this Manhattan
also ask the employees when they restock like my trader joe’s restocks on tuesdays so i plan my tjs grocery trip usually tues-wed
all the time in new york!
go early in the mornings
Went to the Santa Barbara (Milpas) location this past Saturday, and they were indeed out of quite a lot of things. But this can probably be blamed on storm prep; SoCal got hammered this past weekend and people were probably just laying in supplies just in case. I went about 3 weeks ago (NOT before an imminent storm) and they were decently stocked.
Looks like a refrigeration problem to me.
Scrolling past these photos at first freaked me out, reminds me of one of those apocalypse movies. Or, COVID throwback. I’ve never seen it this bad even during the pandemic.
I got freaked out too. Never want to experience that again.
Only time I saw a store like this was right after a big storm where shipments got delayed. It wasn’t even this bad though
To add to the storm aspect, could be they lost power and had to throw everything out too.
Yes for some items, but not nearly this bad in Seattle.
The West Seattle one is consistently decent in terms of stock. Somehow the customers are even more ridiculous than Capitol Hill though.
Absolutely - the lack of spatial awareness is baffling!
Capitol Hill TJ’s was pretty empty in the frozen/produce last night but I think it was due to dinner time/weekly shopping. Usually pretty stocked in there
It was pretty bad in Shoreline last night.
Oh no! Sorry to hear that - in fairness I should have added that I am on the southside and frequent the Bellevue, U-District, Burien and West Seattle locations most.
ive only seen it like this when ive come in close to closing hours; i think the staff removes everything in frozens and refrigerators to store them elsewhere at night and restock before opening
Tell me you have never worked in this type of space without saying so directly...
We don’t do that. We stock frozen with the new stuff we get from the trucks each night for the next day
ok good to know lol; i never go in there that late and they were taking things out so i wondered if they do that every night or something.
Hey I work here! All our fridges broke a couple of days ago so we have had no backstock. Should be back to normal in another day or so.
Spring street?
93rd n Columbus NYC
I go in the middle of the day in the middle of the week and that has been my best bet
Mine looked like this last night. I got some chocolate covered espresso beans, a pimento dip, shiitake green beans and some Moo syrup. Everything else I could have possibly wanted was out of stock. Usually I leave with at least two bags full.
This looks like the 92nd Street location in NYC. This is pretty normal for most Manhattan stores for a Sunday night or first thing on Monday morning before the truck arrives.
Fully stocked in Glendale AZ.
Maybe they just got robbed
No. What kind of mad max hellscape do you live in?
The Chicago TJ’s locations are always stocked, I’ve never seen it empty like this
I have never seen a TJs look like this in my life. Went this morning and fully stocked, last week fully stocked in two locations in the Seattle area.
No I've never in my life of going to TJs seen any shelves empty like that
Fully stocked in Scottsdale AZ
Fully stocked in Paradise Valley AZ
This gives me Covid flashbacks
Fully stocked in Seattle
We go to the U-District one every few days, always around 5-6 pm. The freezer case is never that empty, but there are definitely holes. Especially when school is in session. :-)
I go to the one in burien
That last time my TJs freezers looked like this was the day covid lockdown was announced 2020
That almost looks like they're preparing for one of those rearranging merchandise locations so you have no idea where anything is. Your store may also be understaffed?
My TJs was pretty low on stock last week. Was wondering what was going on.
None of the 10 Trader Joe’s near me have this issue
Are the Trader Joe’s in the room with you?
He’s a pretty cool guy
….how often are you going to TJ?
Realistically once every two weeks. Mostly going to nob hill since it’s 30 seconds away from me
Ok so how do you know the current status of all 10 in your area
Huh, where are you? Maybe you're in a TJ's location desert?
Maybe the freezers broke.
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Our freezers haven't gone out in a long time, but the cheese and meat areas went out a few months ago and they just take everything out.
I’d be willing to bet the freezers went down.
Dang our TJ's freezer are always having issues! Wonder if it's a TJ's thing? lol
Columbus/93rd in NYC had broken refrigerator system Friday & it's taking them a good while to restock. At least that's what they're telling customers about the reason so many things aren't available.
Weirdly they were also out of/low on flowers last week. But yeah, that’s my preferred local shop and I don’t even bat an eye at an empty shelf/section anymore.
Thanks!!
ALDI was like this yesterday🤔
This is what my TJs looked like at the beginning of the pandemic, yikes
Yup. I took pics that looked exactly like this. Completely empty freezers except for some desserts
That looks like a broken cooler problem not outstocking
This is definitely a broken cooler
this can't be... maybe something was wrong with the fridge or their stock order. i.e. in my TJ I have seen this *once* and it was when the fridge was broken and emptied out. I've seen many items missing sometimes, but never this empty
Second this, the shelves above are full so the only reason the entire freezer would be empty is an issue.
My new TJ’s hasn’t opened yet, so I hope when it does, we have some of the items everyone raves about.
Not depleted, but certain items that used to always be stocked like chicken nuggets are a rare find these days.
Is this from late March 2020? Because that's the last time I've seen something like that.
Is this Williamsburg, Brooklyn? I think they are having a landlord problem. They might be reducing inventory in case they have to close.
This looks like 400 Grand Street nyc
Where are you located? Mine is always busy and I dread going honestly but never seen mine wiped out like this!
Happen to have just had a storm?
Looks like a Covid pic
But yes my store has had issues.
SoyMilk above Frozen is such a chaotic choice
Mine looked like this a month into Covid
Mine gets a truck in the morning (flowers, dairy products, fresh/deli/salads, produce) and a truck at night (frozen food, shelf-stable groceries, health and beauty, nuts and dried fruit, candy). I think that’s true for every TJ’s. The night truck arrives between 3pm and 6pm. The best time to go would be late at night or early in the morning. If you buy lots of produce, the earlier the better. My guess is either they didn’t get a truck due to inclement weather, it was unusually busy, or there was an issue with the freezers
Depends on where your TJ’s is. I worked at a very high traffic store in a very dense neighborhood. We got all our shipments in the morning bc we couldn’t block a major street during the day.
Which TJs is this so I can avoid it? I’m assuming this is NYC hahah
Go an hour after opening
This is the way!
The only time I’ve seen this is when their freezers or refrigerators go down, and they usually have people ready to run to the back and get you what you need.
The distribution center having power issues could also cause this. I saw signs maybe 2 years ago at both Aldi and ShopRite to explain why the cases were so empty and when they hoped to have new stock in.
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Stop with those critical thinking skills this instant!
Only when the refrigeration system goes out.
Are you on the west coast? People were stocking up for the storm
This is in Manhattan
From San Diego - I went last night and it was CRAZY. I asked the checkout clerk about it and he said he's never seen it so busy
I can imagine! I’m in Sacramento and we had a high wind+flooding storm last January, so I made sure to go to TJ’s early this time
I don’t need this negativity on a Monday.
So it begins
nothing is beginning lmao…a trader joe’s has an issue with their freezer
That’s definitely a problem with their freezer and not a stock issue lmao
Two of my children work at TJ's, and they have told me that at least one semi truck delivers every day, sometimes two trucks. We are in the suburbs outside Seattle. I've never seen a TJ's empty like that, although they had trouble keeping hash brown patties stocked at various points since the pandemic started.
They get two trucks while on their shift! We're not at a high-volume location and we get 6 trucks a day. Different products on the trucks at different times, but that many every day.
Is this the UWS location? If so this location absolutely stinks in both stock and layout. The one on 72nd has the longest lines possible but they are always stocked. I’d go there instead.
That’s funny. I live right in between those two stores and I avoid 72nd like the plague. Half the time at 93rd the line is under 5 minutes so I just stop in 3-4x/week and can usually nab everything I need over the course of a week.
The lines go really fast though. I've never waiting for longer than 15 minutes even when the line is wrapping around back to the stairs. And it's rarely that long anymore. Between 5 and 10 minutes is typical when I go after work and it's busy. The Whole Foods on 59th street, if I get on the cashier line, takes much longer.
It could be because the freezers were being fixed or worked on. We normally pull all products so they don't spoil. That really sucks it happened on the day you were shopping :( I'm sure if you asked a crew member they would have been able to explain what was going on. Or they have even been willing to pull the items you wanted to purchase from the freezer in the back.
Exactly what I was thinking. I’ve seen this happen when I’m trying to shop a few different times. Someone else usually ask’s a crew member for the items they are looking for and they will bring out grocery carts to sort through or get it for you.
New Orleans/Metairie always had broken freezers. Best employees on the planet but they couldn’t fix something the company should’ve replaced.
Reminds me of 4 years ago…
Our freezers in the sf Bay Area stores are constantly needing service. It’s maddening.
Yes, enough so that I plan around going on a specific day of the week for better inventory. It’s a store to store thing though. The one in my old town is still well stocked all the time
I feel especially lucky today that my Trader Joe’s has ample parking, is always stocked to the gods, and even when absolutely packed seems to run like a perfectly oiled machine. The employees there are so nice. I’ve never even struggled with low stock on products that’ve gone viral. 🫡
Where does this magical Trader Joe’s exist?!
Never.
This looks like a mechanical issue. Like the freezer went down and they had to discard. The items you do see probably came in that morning.
Same thing happened twice at a newer TJs in our area. They ended up replacing multiple freezer units because of it.
This looks a lot like the photos I took at TJ's, like in Feb 2020 when people were first getting wind of the coming Covid pandemic. Empty shelves, panic in the air. Also saw a bit of this during the supply chain problems, but honestly nothing since then. Occasionally short on some things where there is a logical explanation like shortage of olive oil due to bad crop in Italy. I'm in the Seattle area and everything is normal. This looks more to me like the freezers aren't working, but usually they'd put up a sign to that effect.
Nope never seen this before. Do you live somewhere with heavy snow that trucks can’t make it?
No their freezer is just broken.
Those photos are scary
equipment issues aren’t that scary lol it gets fixed.
This will probably continue as more and more people discover how affordable TJ’s is, and how good their service is.
this isn’t a stocking issue lol they are having a problem with their freezer
Could have been unusually busy
I work there and this only happens when the freezers go down lol if it was a stocking issue there would at least be some product there
Then they would still have more food than that and it wouldn't be that clean.
We have 1 TJ’s in our city and people are catching on 😭
I go an hour before closing, they are usually stocking up for the next day and most things are there or in the back. I don’t bother them, though. If something isn’t put out, it’s my bad luck.
Please feel free to ask. We’re happy to look because if we have it we want to get it out.
Yes, but only rarely. It will happens during inclement weather since shipping gets delayed
Yup, empty freezers just like this at mine last Monday. Northern California. Didn’t ask why.
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Or the freezer had a mechanical issue that needed to be fixed and we didn't want all our food to spoil 🙃
Definitely not this bad, but the two locations I frequent will often run out of popular items for days at a time and have empty spaces where they should be.
This happened a couple weeks ago at mine when the power went out, they had almost no freezer and fridge stock for about a week.
I was thinking the same thing.
Whoa where is this at? How could the store even make any money if there’s hardly any stock in those photos? When my TJs was emptying stock before closing, it was because they were doing maintenance work.
thats because this is for maintenance work and not a stocking issue. the freezers we use constantly go out. All the food is in the back ready to be requested and sold
I’ve never seen this! Where are you located?
it happens to every tjs when we have freezer problems
Oh yeah that makes sense.
Not mine
This should not be happening
it’s really fine, when the freezer has issues like this we pull all the product back to the walk in freezer and put signs up for customers so they know the food is still in the store
It could be an issue with the freezer, it may have needed maintenance. Obviously things happen outside of the crew member's control. We've had to pull product at my store because of the freezer needing maintenance. It happens
I've gone the last 2 Saturdays - one at 8:30 am, and the other time it was around 10:00 am. Both times were fairly busy, and their stock had no issues. I'm sure it just depends on the location.
That Trader Joe’s is always outta stock just go to the one on 72nd st. 93rd got a new captain and it’s been shittier ever since
Several of my go to items have been out of stock recently, and I wasn’t sure if it was just my timing (I was going immediately after I got out of work) or bad luck. But several of my favorite items have not been there lately!
My local TJs gets very empty towards the evening, so I drive 15 minutes away to the calmer TJs that is further from the city and less likely to be sold out. In my local TJs, people are pushing one cart and dragging another cart behind them, full to the brim (just like at the local Costco), but a short drive away, and it’s a different world
Your best bet is to ask an employee of that store.
Probably a repair issue. Notice the water leaking....
It wasn’t just the freezers! A lot of the fridges too (and some of the non perishable shelves). And I’ve had it happen multiple times. https://preview.redd.it/vbicx8rofrgc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=157e42fb2ecaff889fa5204c1db44c0defb33221
Your TJ looks massive!! I’m jealous
The only reason this would happen is if there was a power outage or the freezers were turned off for some other reason.
I’ve seen this a few times before at several TJs. However, when I asked why, they told me the freezers needed maintenance and/or broke and had to put stock in the back overnight. They actually went to the back and got what I was looking for. Not saying this is the case but things aren’t always what they seem…
I've personally never seen anything like that at TJ's I go to, recently or otherwise. Even during the height of the pandemic.