Yes, You Can Request Trader Joe's Discontinued Items: Here's How

Trader Joe's often stocks items seasonally, like its many flavors of hand pies, which appear on store shelves at the start of a spring or fall, and then eventually make way for another item. Customers have come to trust that certain items, like many of its must-have snacks, will return, but others — not so much. Still, there's hope if TJ's has cruelly introduced an item into your life, which you came to love, only to take it away, throwing it into the pit of discontinuation. All you have to do is fill out the Discontinued Product Feedback form on its website.

The page starts off with a paragraph about how difficult it is to make the decision to discontinue certain items, but says, "... we do take customer requests into account when we develop new products or revisit old favorites." The form has you fill in what store you shop at, the name of the product, the SKU (which is optional but helpful), and then gives you 700 characters to make your case for why this item should return to stores. That's not a lot to sway the hearts and minds of Trader Joe's corporate HQ, so if you're feeling particularly bereft at the loss of a specific product, you might want to get everyone you know to fill out the form, too.

There are a number of reasons why Trader Joe's might discontinue an item, but the main cause is that it simply isn't selling well. TJ's stores carry far fewer items than most other supermarkets, so it can't afford to keep an item in stock that isn't bringing in money. The maker of a product might also have trouble sourcing ingredients, or a manufacturer could go out of business entirely. For the latter instance, if Trader Joe's can't find another source (or one that meets its standards), they'll just stop selling the product.

However, TJ's has actually brought back quite a few discontinued items over the years, including its shrimp and tofu spring rolls and Midnight Moo chocolate syrup; in these cases, the items were discontinued and then brought back with a new supplier. The grocery store chain has also brought back its mini beef tacos, wasabi mayo, and pretzel bagels, but for reasons unclear, these items ended up getting discontinued a second time.

The Trader Joe's Patio Chips were proven to be a huge hit with customers, but in March 2024, in what is perhaps the worst-case supply chain scenario, the manufacturer's plant actually burned down. Fans thought that was the end of the road for the Patio Chips, but the maker, Covered Bridge Potato Chips, went all-in on ingenuity and was up and running with improvised plant operations within six months. Then, the following spring, Trader Joe's once again had them in stock. We love a happy ending!