Trader Joe's Finally Debunks Myth About Its Small Parking Lots

When it comes to visiting Trader Joe's, any frequent shopper of the specialty grocery chain knows the shopping trip often comes with battling it out for a coveted parking spot.

Now, after a series of tweets about the small size of many of the store's lots, the company has responded via its podcast, Inside Trader Joe’s, with hosts and employees Tara Miller and Matt Sloan.

Regularly, the audio series dives into subjects like why Trader Joe’s doesn’t have online shopping, or tips on navigating its wine selection, but in one specific episode titled “What’s Up With Trader Joe’s Parking Lots?” the brand reps offered a definitive reason as to what exactly is the situation behind the parking condition.

“Here’s a tweet,” Miller said, drawing attention to the social media notes, including one from June 2022 where a user sarcastically compared their thoughts to a cluttered parking lot at the chain.

"The inside of my brain is like a Trader Joe’s parking lot," it read, to which the hosts jumped into the explanation, as Miller asked Sloan, “Matt, what is up with our parking lots?”

“Like a lot of things related to Trader Joe’s, this can be traced back to the very first location, the Arroyo Parkway store in Pasadena, which has had, and still very much has, a challenging parking lot. And by that, I mean it’s small and it’s busy,” Sloan said of the very first 1967-opened (and still operating) store, which appears to have a micro-sized parking lot.

He continued, noting that the small nature of the stores—which is purposely created with a more personal feel in mind—combined with the several people driving to and shopping inside, can cause navigating through the parking lots to be "a bit challenging."

That said, the answer to the question of the minimal parking options is actually quite simple.

“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,” Sloan said. “So you mentioned how small our stores are, relative to other grocers. Well, that’s true and that can have an effect on the number of parking spaces allocated.”

Due to city planning, a “12,000 square foot store will get far fewer parking spaces than a 70,000 square foot store,” Miller added.

Although people continue to joke about the ability to snag a parking spot at the grocer—like one Twitter user, who particularly compared the Sunday morning hotspot to a raceway—apparently there are some who actually think the store purposely makes tiny lots, as evidenced by a hilarious Reddit thread.

Let's just say, we're glad to have debunked that myth by getting to the bottom of the "small parking lot" mystery!