On July 30th, 2020, Trader Joe’s opened its first Cherry Hill store on Haddonfield Road and joined the more than 500 Trader Joe’s locations across the country. In recent years, Haddonfield Road has become a popular location for new stores and restaurants.
This weekend, I took a trip to check out the new Trader Joe’s. When I got out of the car, the first thing that caught my eye was the long line of people waiting to enter the store. Because of COVID, the store limits the inside capacity to 55 customers at a time. I waited for about 10 minutes and was then greeted by a “crew member” (Trader Joe’s employee) who politely welcomed me in and apologized for the wait.
The humid, 78 degrees temperature outside would say otherwise, but it felt like fall as soon as I set foot in the store. A smell of cinnamon and pumpkin rushed to my nose, even through my mask, right as I entered. I walked around and took note of all of the many pumpkin-flavored products on the “Fall Favorites” display: pumpkin waffle mix, canned pumpkin, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cereal, pumpkin oatmeal, even pumpkin body butter.
Almost everything in the store was Trader Joe’s brand. In fact, 80% of Trader Joe’s products are self-branded, which helps the company to keep costs down so that they can charge lower prices to their customers. Their products do not contain artificial flavors, artificial preservatives, synthetic colors, or GMO ingredients. Further differentiating Trader Joe’s from other supermarkets is its excellent customer service.
“Anywhere you go, regardless of the location, you’re going to get the same consistent flow of customer service,” Meka Werts, a manager of this Trader Joe’s, says. “We’re always happy, we take care of our customers, and we take care of our employees.”
If you’re planning on going to Trader Joe’s anytime soon, make sure to get some of the store’s most popular items. Werts says that the mandarin orange chicken and “dunkers” (cookies for dunking) are some of their best-selling items. Trader Joe’s also gets lots of praise for their “Everything But the Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend” and their cauliflower gnocchi.
When asked about the popularity of the new location, Werts says, “We’re doing well for us being a new location. We’re doing very well. We’re breaking records already.” Judging from the line waiting to enter the store, it looks like their initial success is likely to continue.
You can visit the store at 775 Haddonfield Road, Cherry Hill, NJ 08002.