Located at 1710 Camellia Blvd., Trader Joe’s opened its sixth store in Louisiana on Sept. 17, 2026. Now that the Lafayette store has been open for over a month, many in the Acadiana area have had the chance to shop there instead of the next nearest location in Baton Rouge.
Trader Joe’s is a private-label grocery store chain that has grown from its first store in Pasadena, California, in 1967. Theo Albrecht, co-founder of another grocery store chain, Aldi, bought Trader Joe’s in 1979 and continued to expand its stores.
In the present day, with over 650 locations across the country, Trader Joe’s is known for selling their own line of products, from many analogous to popular name brands. These notably include their own frozen meals, gourmet snacks and even their own lines of wine and beer.
Three of my colleagues and I had the opportunity to visit the store at about 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 10, 2026. Even after three weeks of being open, the store was still quite busy. We all bought a variety of snacks, meals and drinks. Some of my purchases included frozen mushroom and chive dumplings and a large wedge of Port Salut, a soft, creamy French cheese. The frozen dumplings had a generous amount of filling with a strong umami flavor.
One of my colleagues purchased a puck of truffle-infused cheddar cheese and a frozen Trader Joe’s-branded kimbap, a Korean dish of rice, meat and pickled vegetables rolled up in seaweed.
Another one of my colleagues purchased Trader Joe’s-branded pickle chips, which they consumed in just three days. My third colleague hoped to try Trader Joe’s own line of mochi ice cream, but their entire selection was, unfortunately, sold out when we arrived. Some items she bought instead included freeze-dried fruits, rice pudding and antipasti snack packs. She also bought Trader Joe’s-branded wine, which she said she was excited to try in lieu of not being able to buy any mochi ice cream.
Their prices were relatively average compared to other stores; the four of us spent anywhere from $13 for three items to over $100 dollars for an entire shopping cart of goods.
Check out Trader Joe’s if you haven’t yet, particularly to try their impressive variety of snacks and frozen foods.
If you’d like to visit the store, they are open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day of the week.