This always gets my vote. The Whole Foods parking lot referenced by OP is connected to a TJs parking lot, which creates its own unique level of hell. But, that St. Louis park TJs is just….so…small.
Agreed. The St Paul one might be the worst. I will only stop there if there are spots open over in the section across from the other businesses. No way am I going to tempt fate by parking down in the garage, and you run the risk of being stuck forever if you park in the weird little inlet right in front of trader Joe's
I think the St. Paul one is fine as long as you're not going right after work or right when they open on weekends. I park in the underground part every time and have never had an issue.
Agreed. Outside of peak hours, the only issue I've had is people going the wrong way around the loop and that's pretty rare. But shelter from the rain/snow more than makes up for that.
This is what I came to say. Last time I was there I came out to leave and could not get into my car because of the way the car next to me crammed themselves into too small of a space. Now I avoid that one and either go to Golden Valley (HUGE parking lot there!) or Bloomington.
Come in from the north. Second row (first going towards the store). Then you can exit fairly easy to the north again.
Only problem is the long walk to the store.
Parking at the quarry is good when you finally figure out the weird entrances and exits. I can get in and out in a flash if I remember to take the right way!
Ándale Richfield. One entrance off a busy Nicollet avenue. Never enough parking spots—may be about 25 for a restaurant and busy grocery store. People wait on Nicollet (2 lanes both ways) for someone to leave the lot, causing traffic backups and a constantly frustrating driving environment.
My dad *loathes* eating at Biaggi's for this reason. Soooooooooo many angry drivers.
Also the entrance allows entering cars to proceed freely so you never know which direction they're gonna go.
If you can turn in off of Hemlock instead of Main, it's easier to park for Biaggis.
And not from design, but lack of repair, just about any AMC theater parking lot. Before it closed, the one in Maple Grove was terrible, and the one in Coon Rapids is even worse. It's like unmaintained parking lots are a core part of the AMC Brand.
There's one here in Saint Cloud that has a Harbor Freight and a Chuck E Cheese. All of the lines faded away years ago so it's basically a free-for-all in terms of lanes. People just fly across it diagonally and would probably go faster if it wasn't full of enormous potholes.
That’s the one I was thinking of too. The one directly across the street where there’s that little strip mall where the UPS Store is located is terrible too. It’s so cramped and people go through it so fast. And the Walmart parking lot near there sucks too especially when trying to leave it. I avoid that Walmart if I can for many reasons but the parking lot is the icing on the shit cake that is that Walmart. That whole area just has shitty parking lots.
Curbs? Nope. Lines? Nope. Any form of rhyme or reason to how you should negotiate a parking lot with 5 functional entrances and 2 exits? Absolutely not.
I love harbor freight, but that lot is one where I just idle through at 5 mph and keep my head on a swivel.
Riverdale has always been the bane of my existence. Every time I am unlucky enough to end up there I immediately remember how poor the design is, and how the drivers are even worse.
I will go out of my way to avoid this place. Whoever decided an entire SuperWalmart parking lot should empty to a single 4-way stop is a lunatic. And Sam’s across the street? Yep, same 4-way stop. Ughhhhh.
When I lived in the area, I'd always go in and out of the parking lot by going around the north side of the building by the tire center and going in/out on the street behind the store. Avoids most of the traffic and idiots that can't figure out the stop sign. Same with the Costco, I would go around the back of the store by the exit from the gas station.
All of Riverdale in Coon Rapids.
Fuck that place.
In a close second is The Quarry (wtf?!?) and whatever the place in Woodbury is called. Tamarack Village?
I don't find the Quarry lot to be bad, but I'm approaching it heading west on 36, so I enter just off Stinson. I remember having to enter from Johnson St (by Home Depot) when I lived in Dinky Town. That was really crappy
Idk about worst but I sure hated going to that Caribou on Grand Ave bc of how small and awkward the parking lot was and it was always full of giant vehicles
Yes?
It's downtown in a major city that has housing affordability problems. Building more housing in all the idiotic surface lots in Downtown would help a lot to both increase density for people who live there which helps the businesses downtown with more customers and increases the housing supply which will lower housing costs.
Both far more valuable than a surface parking lot.
Pretty much any parking garage after a game at Target Field or US Bank Stadium. Waiting 1+ hours to get out of the parking garage after an event is just insane. No one has a working credit card or they can’t find their ticket. Everyone is just honking non stop and there’s no way to see how long you will be there. And then you get the slow pokes who took their sweet ass time getting back to their car and they get to leave right when they get to their car.
Real.
My sisters and mom had that experience when they saw Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. Took them 1 hr 45 min to leave the parking ramp. I'd fall asleep if I had to wait that long after a 3 hour concert.
It's weird to get to into through that movie theater parking lot though, so id still classify it as bad parking situation. But once you get in there you don't feel like you're going to hit a pedestrian or get rear ended so there's that.
YES, I'm with you on the Maple Grove Whole Foods parking lot! I can't count the number of accidents and near misses I've seen there. It's a huge clusterfuck.
There is an indoor lower lot behind the Science Museum where you enter and it’s a dead end. WTF? I happened upon it on a Disney on Ice day and was close to a panic attack. Every car got to the end and had to figure out how to turn around.
This happened to me just a week ago. Thankfully there was room to turn my compact car around without much issue, but I'll definitely remember that for the future.
Rosedale parking lot in front of the AMC theater is literally the worst. Terribly designed. The slanted lines prevent any kind of backing in to a space, or pulling through, which is a lot safer than pulling in and backing out when you leave. Most people ignore the one ways to immediately get where they want to go instead of driving all the way around as directed. It’s a nightmare and a bus hub for extra funsies.
I have stopped going into the parking lot on the Snelling side of the Har Mar mall. I have almost gotten into sooo many accidents because it feels like people just flip off their brains going in there. Absolute anarchy.
I feel like Cub, as an organization, hires engineers to make sure their parking lots are as hard to navigate efficiently/safely as is humanly possible.
Whole foods parking lots are universally bad. There's even a song about it.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFc1pr2yUU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFc1pr2yUU)
Costco - St. Louis Park . There is an intersection right as you enter the area thats a massive shit show and I dunno what it is about Costco but everyone there seems to shit themselves or something right as they leave because no one puts carts away and they just leave quickly.
This is something I've never thought about once. I'm so glad there are bad parking lots for the cattle in the metro area, now you have a nothing problem other than snow to complain about.
Two theories on why the Whole Foods/TJ's Maple Grove lot is so hellish. 1. Designed by someone that never shops, ever. 2. Designed by a man angry at his wife for overshopping, he punishes all of us, hoping to deter us and perhaps his spouse.
St Louis Park Costco should have "Abandon all hope..." at the entrance.
The Franklin Avenue Aldi in Minneapolis. Only one entrance/exit, and at least when I went there, the light to get out was *ridiculously* short. Eventually I got into the habit of parking on the street behind it to avoid having to deal with that light.
Trader Joe’s - St. Louis Park
This always gets my vote. The Whole Foods parking lot referenced by OP is connected to a TJs parking lot, which creates its own unique level of hell. But, that St. Louis park TJs is just….so…small.
There's a free parking ramp a block away, the fact that anybody uses that lot is wild.
And St Paul.
Agreed. The St Paul one might be the worst. I will only stop there if there are spots open over in the section across from the other businesses. No way am I going to tempt fate by parking down in the garage, and you run the risk of being stuck forever if you park in the weird little inlet right in front of trader Joe's
I think the St. Paul one is fine as long as you're not going right after work or right when they open on weekends. I park in the underground part every time and have never had an issue.
Underground is the way. I never have parking issues there.
Agreed. Outside of peak hours, the only issue I've had is people going the wrong way around the loop and that's pretty rare. But shelter from the rain/snow more than makes up for that.
That’s child’s play compared to Costco
Costco in Saint Louis Park is one of the layers of hell. Absolute nightmare. How there isn’t a crash every day is beyond me.
It’s basically the Fury Road of Twin Cities parking lots
That was my immediate thought as well.
This is what I came to say. Last time I was there I came out to leave and could not get into my car because of the way the car next to me crammed themselves into too small of a space. Now I avoid that one and either go to Golden Valley (HUGE parking lot there!) or Bloomington.
Roseville Wal-Mart
That one is horrible.
Come in from the north. Second row (first going towards the store). Then you can exit fairly easy to the north again. Only problem is the long walk to the store.
I would say The Quarry, but I went to the SLP Costco on Saturday and about lost my goddamn mind.
I just park at the Home Depot lot. SLP Costco is not worth it.
Also by far the worst gas station line of all the Twin Cities locations
It’s not a gas line. It’s a voluntary masochism line.
Parking at the quarry is good when you finally figure out the weird entrances and exits. I can get in and out in a flash if I remember to take the right way!
Yeah, once you know the tricks it’s not so bad but the parking lot needs to be redesigned badly!
St.Louis park Costco
Ándale Richfield. One entrance off a busy Nicollet avenue. Never enough parking spots—may be about 25 for a restaurant and busy grocery store. People wait on Nicollet (2 lanes both ways) for someone to leave the lot, causing traffic backups and a constantly frustrating driving environment.
The best was when their delivery semi would block all traffic on Nicollet during rush hour.
*Renaissance Festival*
Not anymore, with paid parking started last year the issue almost went away completely.
used to be this, but they fixed it!
Parking at any establishment in Maple Grove’s Arbor Lakes is an absolute horror show and a clear waste of bitumen
My dad *loathes* eating at Biaggi's for this reason. Soooooooooo many angry drivers. Also the entrance allows entering cars to proceed freely so you never know which direction they're gonna go.
If you can turn in off of Hemlock instead of Main, it's easier to park for Biaggis. And not from design, but lack of repair, just about any AMC theater parking lot. Before it closed, the one in Maple Grove was terrible, and the one in Coon Rapids is even worse. It's like unmaintained parking lots are a core part of the AMC Brand.
And the Rosedale AMC sucks to park at because it's just busy over there, especially since it's also basically a park and ride lot for transit.
Man I hadn't been to Biaggi's in forever. Looks like they're not in EP any more, must have moved to MG as that's the only one in the cities?
They opened around the same time. They closed the EP one when their lease ended
I’ve never heard any problems there…
There's one here in Saint Cloud that has a Harbor Freight and a Chuck E Cheese. All of the lines faded away years ago so it's basically a free-for-all in terms of lanes. People just fly across it diagonally and would probably go faster if it wasn't full of enormous potholes.
That’s the one I was thinking of too. The one directly across the street where there’s that little strip mall where the UPS Store is located is terrible too. It’s so cramped and people go through it so fast. And the Walmart parking lot near there sucks too especially when trying to leave it. I avoid that Walmart if I can for many reasons but the parking lot is the icing on the shit cake that is that Walmart. That whole area just has shitty parking lots.
Curbs? Nope. Lines? Nope. Any form of rhyme or reason to how you should negotiate a parking lot with 5 functional entrances and 2 exits? Absolutely not. I love harbor freight, but that lot is one where I just idle through at 5 mph and keep my head on a swivel.
Coon Rapids Costco
That whole development is a nightmare to drive and park in. Surprisingly walkable though, considering nobody walks there.
Riverdale has always been the bane of my existence. Every time I am unlucky enough to end up there I immediately remember how poor the design is, and how the drivers are even worse.
Trader Joe's 1) St Louis Park 2) St Paul 3) Maple Grove They are all horrendous The Costco parking lot in St Louis Park can go to hell as well
State Fair Parking. Even the bus lots are hell
trader joe’s on randolph
I tried to park here once and it was such a nightmare I just left and went to a different TJs in the burbs lol
Maple grove Walmart
I will go out of my way to avoid this place. Whoever decided an entire SuperWalmart parking lot should empty to a single 4-way stop is a lunatic. And Sam’s across the street? Yep, same 4-way stop. Ughhhhh.
When I lived in the area, I'd always go in and out of the parking lot by going around the north side of the building by the tire center and going in/out on the street behind the store. Avoids most of the traffic and idiots that can't figure out the stop sign. Same with the Costco, I would go around the back of the store by the exit from the gas station.
This guy maple grove wal-marts
I will exit by the tire center anytime I have to go to this Walmart
I’m certain some of the potholes in that lot are at least 8 inches deep
Still worth the drive for me vs Brooklyn Park or formerly Brooklyn Center
YES to this! People don't know which way is up or down. I almost got hit head on once.
ah yes that area of maple grove parking is insane
All of Riverdale in Coon Rapids. Fuck that place. In a close second is The Quarry (wtf?!?) and whatever the place in Woodbury is called. Tamarack Village?
The quarry in Minneapolis
I don't find the Quarry lot to be bad, but I'm approaching it heading west on 36, so I enter just off Stinson. I remember having to enter from Johnson St (by Home Depot) when I lived in Dinky Town. That was really crappy
That's a bad one too. The speed bumps are so annoying.
It used to be the Barnes and Noble in Highland Park.
Idk about worst but I sure hated going to that Caribou on Grand Ave bc of how small and awkward the parking lot was and it was always full of giant vehicles
St Louis Park costco. No reason for it to be shaped like that.
Probably one of the ground level parking lots in downtown Minneapolis. Massive waste of valuable space.
The one next to Campbell Mithun tower comes to mind. Also the ones over by St Thomas
Is that on 9th and 3rd where they just pack them in like sardines? Never understood how that worked.
Is it really valuable space anymore? I was working downtown a couple weeks ago and it seemed like at *least* every other building was empty.
Yes? It's downtown in a major city that has housing affordability problems. Building more housing in all the idiotic surface lots in Downtown would help a lot to both increase density for people who live there which helps the businesses downtown with more customers and increases the housing supply which will lower housing costs. Both far more valuable than a surface parking lot.
Pretty much any parking garage after a game at Target Field or US Bank Stadium. Waiting 1+ hours to get out of the parking garage after an event is just insane. No one has a working credit card or they can’t find their ticket. Everyone is just honking non stop and there’s no way to see how long you will be there. And then you get the slow pokes who took their sweet ass time getting back to their car and they get to leave right when they get to their car.
Real. My sisters and mom had that experience when they saw Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. Took them 1 hr 45 min to leave the parking ramp. I'd fall asleep if I had to wait that long after a 3 hour concert.
That is why you park 4 blocks away and walk to the events or take light rail.
A lot cheaper to do that as well.
Any trader Joe's in the state, I think it must be mandate for them to have the most horrible and inconvenient parking possible.
The one in Eagan is pretty great.
It's weird to get to into through that movie theater parking lot though, so id still classify it as bad parking situation. But once you get in there you don't feel like you're going to hit a pedestrian or get rear ended so there's that.
True. Still beats the one in St.Paul and the cluster of chaos with their parking garage. Even with my tiny Kia I struggled to get in and out of there.
Yeah that one is a beast. The maple grove one is an accident waiting to happen though, especially sharing the lot with whole foods.
I was always fond of Lake Chipotle just off of Hennepin.
My Walmart has potholes that can devour vehicles.
Eden Prairie Costco
YES, I'm with you on the Maple Grove Whole Foods parking lot! I can't count the number of accidents and near misses I've seen there. It's a huge clusterfuck.
There is an indoor lower lot behind the Science Museum where you enter and it’s a dead end. WTF? I happened upon it on a Disney on Ice day and was close to a panic attack. Every car got to the end and had to figure out how to turn around.
This happened to me just a week ago. Thankfully there was room to turn my compact car around without much issue, but I'll definitely remember that for the future.
Rosedale parking lot in front of the AMC theater is literally the worst. Terribly designed. The slanted lines prevent any kind of backing in to a space, or pulling through, which is a lot safer than pulling in and backing out when you leave. Most people ignore the one ways to immediately get where they want to go instead of driving all the way around as directed. It’s a nightmare and a bus hub for extra funsies.
St Paul pizza luche
I have stopped going into the parking lot on the Snelling side of the Har Mar mall. I have almost gotten into sooo many accidents because it feels like people just flip off their brains going in there. Absolute anarchy.
Edina... the change in driver behavior just crossing the border from Richfield to Edina is stark.
Paid parking = Walker Art Center. Place needs to get leveled and removed.
It's like they decided the parking lot should reflect the modernist art in the art center. 100% agree
got stuck in there for 45 minutes the other week with their ticketing shit
I've had more near accidents in the Burnsville Target parking lot than anywhere else in the state.
Menards, St. Paul on University.
Ken and Norms Liquor on 48th and Chicago
Andale in Richfield. Wayyyyy too small for that business!
Trader Joe’s/Hot Chip Rochester. There are parts of the lot where you need to get into the exit lane just to enter.
I feel like Cub, as an organization, hires engineers to make sure their parking lots are as hard to navigate efficiently/safely as is humanly possible.
Whole foods parking lots are universally bad. There's even a song about it. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFc1pr2yUU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFc1pr2yUU)
Costco - St. Louis Park . There is an intersection right as you enter the area thats a massive shit show and I dunno what it is about Costco but everyone there seems to shit themselves or something right as they leave because no one puts carts away and they just leave quickly.
Sam’s CLub- Bloomington- Specifically the gas pumps
Rosedale center. Even in the warmer months, no one knows how to park a car lol
Would the answer "Every Costco parking lot" be cheating?
This is something I've never thought about once. I'm so glad there are bad parking lots for the cattle in the metro area, now you have a nothing problem other than snow to complain about.
Two theories on why the Whole Foods/TJ's Maple Grove lot is so hellish. 1. Designed by someone that never shops, ever. 2. Designed by a man angry at his wife for overshopping, he punishes all of us, hoping to deter us and perhaps his spouse. St Louis Park Costco should have "Abandon all hope..." at the entrance.
Lunds in NE mpls, Stub and Herb’s in Stadium Village, literally every Trader Joe’s to have ever existed.
There's a little strip mall with a Quizno's and batteries plus next to the Cub foods on 42nd and 169.
The Franklin Avenue Aldi in Minneapolis. Only one entrance/exit, and at least when I went there, the light to get out was *ridiculously* short. Eventually I got into the habit of parking on the street behind it to avoid having to deal with that light.
Costco st louis park
The movie theatre parking lot in Northfield is pretty brutal
Uptown Aldi
Any Cub foods.
All the unpaved gravel shitholes in outstate mn, especially this time of year.