I applied in-person. I interviewed at Trader Joe's (Columbus, OH) in Jan 2014
Interview
The process took about three weeks. The first interview with one of the managers went really well and he was nice. We talked about what I liked to buy at TJ's and what the job duties were. The second interview was with an a-hole of a manager who has absolutely no professionalism. He took a very disrespectful tone the entire second interview to try to intimidate me. In the interview he said the pay would be in the "$12 range" and then he called back the next day to say I had the job and the pay would be $11. I decided to take it because I had no other offers. The day after that I heard back from another job that offered me $12 an hour. I called back TJ's to see if they could bump it up a dollar since the second manager did say "$12 range." The second manager refused, and when I asked him to at least verify that I would be getting the minimum of hours I requested on my application and that we discussed in the interview, he said the offer was off the table and that I should take the other job.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Nothing difficult about an exact question, just the second manager's demeanor.
Applied online and had one in person interview with the captain. It lasted maybe 10 minutes. Got a call a week or so later that I got the job. Very fast process.
It's two to three interviews, the final with the Captain (or highest manager) of the store. The interviews are largely to get to know your personality and how well you would do at customer service.
The interview process was absolutely wonderful! I didn't feel stressed or nervous and it felt like I was just chatting with a friend! Trader Joes is a great company and the interview was great.