TAMPA, Fla. — It’s one of the most frustrating parking lots in Tampa: Trader Joe’s.

The popular grocery store has a parking lot that often can’t keep up with demand. Regular customer Christa Fowler didn’t mince her words when talking about it.

“I love the place. I love the products,” Fowler said. “The parking is like the seventh level of hell.”

That’s one way to put it.

She says she also strategically plans when she goes to Trader Joe’s just to avoid the madness.

“I just don’t come as often as I’d like. So I keep it at like once a month,” Fowler said.

She’s certainly not alone in feeling that way either.

The parking and traffic caused by the popular store have been an issue for years.

Trader Joe’s first opened on Swann Avenue and Dale Mabry in 2014, in a location that was originally zoned for a gym.

That’s why there are only 69 spaces in a lot that runs in one direction.

The City of Tampa did work with FDOT to add left turn signals to the light at Dale Mabry but that only helps so much. Traffic still backs up into the nearby neighborhoods.

Vik Bhide, the director of Tampa’s Mobility Department, says officials are now looking at some fresh ideas. The Tampa City Council has weighed in, too.

“In many ways, the challenge we have with Trader Joe’s is that they are a victim of their own success. So we have been working with their management,” Bhide said.

Here are some of the ideas Bhide says are being discussed:

• Re-striping the parking lot.
• Leasing spots from nearby businesses.
• Hiring off duty officers for traffic control.
• Expanding to other locations.

Trader Joe’s did not respond to a request for comment. However, Bhide says they’ve been very cooperative and want to be a good neighbor.

In the meantime, customers will keep squeezing in.

“We’re the devoted. People just roll their windows down and we commiserate,” Fowler said.

Some of these proposed changes may start in the next few months.