I end up waiting for 10 minutes to buy some bread and bananas
I could literally walk down to the end of the street and buy my bananas from the gentleman who’s been operating the same produce stall for the last decade, then a loaf of bread from the bakery next door, and be home within 10 minutes. I don’t want to make assumptions, but if bread and bananas requires you to travel to a packed general store, wherever you live, it’s a city planning hellscape.
And ultimately it’s now trapped the people who supported it because they’re now 80 and can’t safely drive anywhere. Just decaying alive in their 3BR suburban cul-de-sac tombs while private equity waits like a vulture to reclaim the property.
Hey that’s all of Norway more or less. There’s bakeries you could buy bread in for the low low price of 10 grocery breads, but you won’t find anything else edible in a stall or small shop unless you’re in one of the biggest cities.
I’m a believer in a future where there’s only grocery stores in norway, everything else will be bought online and shipped.
I don’t want this, but the benefits are obviously that you’d have to pay less employees. People don’t really shop locally here, they go in stores to try sizes and then order it online for cheaper, that’s the why.
And there’s a chance you’ll be stuck behind someone at each one, so your reply has got less to do with what you’re replying to and more to do with your desire to make a different point.
The supermarket is a 5 minute walk from my apartment, and for the past few years didn’t have big lines. I don’t know if they changed staffing, or it got more popular, or what.
There are some smaller grocers that don’t typically have long lines nearby, but I don’t think they have the big tubs of peanut butter I lust after, or a few other things I sometimes get. I should probably check out the smaller grocers anyway
Vanishingly few places in the US have this density of small provisions vendors. I’ve been lucky enough to live in several, but it’s certainly become a privilege.
Oh come on, there’s got to be a dollar general somewhere at the end of your driveway.
For those that don’t know, Dollar General is an infestation of a chain store. They are almost ubiquitous in small rural towns. They can act as an old time general store selling everything from candy, to clothes, simple household goods, and milk and a few other more shelf stable groceries. And it’s all of less quality than a temu steak. They are also ineradicably poor employers. With low pay, no benefits, and worse staffing.
I could literally walk down to the end of the street and buy my bananas from the gentleman who’s been operating the same produce stall for the last decade, then a loaf of bread from the bakery next door, and be home within 10 minutes. I don’t want to make assumptions, but if bread and bananas requires you to travel to a packed general store, wherever you live, it’s a city planning hellscape.
That’s the US and supermarket dominance for ya.
US zoning laws are a fucking farce. They were developed to facilitate racial segregation in the 1910s and never really went away.
I’d say it’s the automobile that ruined it all.
Racism comes in more with white flight and suburban sprawl. Then it all collapses.
The automobile was just one additional way to do the racism.
You live in the suburbs and drive to the shopping malls because the blacks can’t afford the cars to get there.
Literally a society designed on apartheid.
then when the malls close and a new trendy mixed-use development spawns from the rubble, the blacks can’t afford to live there, either.
The racism was always there. The automobile enables the racism to do more damage.
The supermarket can’t exist and ruin the small market without the automobile, no matter how racist society is.
And ultimately it’s now trapped the people who supported it because they’re now 80 and can’t safely drive anywhere. Just decaying alive in their 3BR suburban cul-de-sac tombs while private equity waits like a vulture to reclaim the property.
Pretty much no one is stopping them though!
Hey that’s all of Norway more or less. There’s bakeries you could buy bread in for the low low price of 10 grocery breads, but you won’t find anything else edible in a stall or small shop unless you’re in one of the biggest cities.
I’m a believer in a future where there’s only grocery stores in norway, everything else will be bought online and shipped.
I don’t understand why you would want this - can you explain? Genuinely curious what the benefits would be.
I don’t want this, but the benefits are obviously that you’d have to pay less employees. People don’t really shop locally here, they go in stores to try sizes and then order it online for cheaper, that’s the why.
And there’s a chance you’ll be stuck behind someone at each one, so your reply has got less to do with what you’re replying to and more to do with your desire to make a different point.
The supermarket is a 5 minute walk from my apartment, and for the past few years didn’t have big lines. I don’t know if they changed staffing, or it got more popular, or what.
There are some smaller grocers that don’t typically have long lines nearby, but I don’t think they have the big tubs of peanut butter I lust after, or a few other things I sometimes get. I should probably check out the smaller grocers anyway
I could go to the local gas station/corner store and pay 2x to get it much quicker, but that’s rarely worth it.
Vanishingly few places in the US have this density of small provisions vendors. I’ve been lucky enough to live in several, but it’s certainly become a privilege.
Oh come on, there’s got to be a dollar general somewhere at the end of your driveway.
For those that don’t know, Dollar General is an infestation of a chain store. They are almost ubiquitous in small rural towns. They can act as an old time general store selling everything from candy, to clothes, simple household goods, and milk and a few other more shelf stable groceries. And it’s all of less quality than a temu steak. They are also ineradicably poor employers. With low pay, no benefits, and worse staffing.
they almost exclusively exist in poor places, where their competitors die off from lack of customers with money and high operating expenses.