Europeans, how far do you walk for groceries?
-
About a 4 minute walk!
If you cover 12.5 m/s you can walk 3 km in 4 minutes. Should be doable walking if you take 2 strides a second and are about 1500 cm tall.
-
Well a hypermarket is to a supermarket what a supermarket is to a small grocery store.
So just a very large supermarket that families would usually use for "the big shop". I assume the equivalent is one of those markets you need a card to enter in the US, idk.
Except you don't need a membership (but usually there's good benefits if you have one) and you it's not all family size products.
Oh my bad, actually the definition is just supermarket+department store, basically.
That's like Walmart or Target here. I don't think most people have a category name for them. They like to call themselves super stores, though.
-
If you cover 12.5 m/s you can walk 3 km in 4 minutes. Should be doable walking if you take 2 strides a second and are about 1500 cm tall.
Sorry, are you saying 1 stride = 6.25 m? That seems absurd to me. But I'm a short lady, not Mr. Fantastic.
-
I was talking to a friend and complaining that the nearest grocery store is 3km from me, he says that Europeans consider that a reasonable distance to the store and I'm just being lazy.
I don't have a car, I don't have a bike, and the bus only comes by every four hours. Am I being unreasonable for not wanting to carry groceries 3km in 30C weather, or is my friend full of shit? Neither of us have been to Europe.
American here... 3km is just under 2 miles, so you're looking at a 4 mile walk just to get to the grocery store and back?
I wouldn't walk that, mostly because bringing the groceries back is the problem. Maybe if you had a wagon or a cart or something.
Closest grocery to me is 1.77km, I wouldn't walk that either. No sidewalks all the way so you'd be feet away from vehicle traffic, and coming home with groceries would be up-hill. No thank you.
-
I was talking to a friend and complaining that the nearest grocery store is 3km from me, he says that Europeans consider that a reasonable distance to the store and I'm just being lazy.
I don't have a car, I don't have a bike, and the bus only comes by every four hours. Am I being unreasonable for not wanting to carry groceries 3km in 30C weather, or is my friend full of shit? Neither of us have been to Europe.
We have two supermarkets within five minutes walking distance, if you make it ten minutes, it's four.
Also within ten minutes walking distance are two middle schools, a primary school, and two kindergardens, several doctors and apothecaries, several shops, and the central bus station.
The latter is a bit of an disappointment, as not only the bus service is low frequency, and it takes an hour+ to the city.
-
Sorry, are you saying 1 stride = 6.25 m? That seems absurd to me. But I'm a short lady, not Mr. Fantastic.
1500cm is close to 50 feet tall, so only if you were a giant would those long strides be possible.
-
I was talking to a friend and complaining that the nearest grocery store is 3km from me, he says that Europeans consider that a reasonable distance to the store and I'm just being lazy.
I don't have a car, I don't have a bike, and the bus only comes by every four hours. Am I being unreasonable for not wanting to carry groceries 3km in 30C weather, or is my friend full of shit? Neither of us have been to Europe.
Nearest grocery store is 100m away. Nearest supermarket is 850m (just cheched). I walked to the supermarket moments ago, bought grocery and brought it back all in less than 1 hour. I wouldn't do it with 30 degrees in the middle of the day though. If there were no sidewalks and I had to make a 6km round trip to get groceries, I would invest in the cheapest electric bike possible.
-
I was talking to a friend and complaining that the nearest grocery store is 3km from me, he says that Europeans consider that a reasonable distance to the store and I'm just being lazy.
I don't have a car, I don't have a bike, and the bus only comes by every four hours. Am I being unreasonable for not wanting to carry groceries 3km in 30C weather, or is my friend full of shit? Neither of us have been to Europe.
I have a grocery store in the first floor of the building, so just an elevator down and up. One supermarket in each direction 550 and 650 meters. But I live in the city centre, so that is a privilege most people do not have.
-
I was talking to a friend and complaining that the nearest grocery store is 3km from me, he says that Europeans consider that a reasonable distance to the store and I'm just being lazy.
I don't have a car, I don't have a bike, and the bus only comes by every four hours. Am I being unreasonable for not wanting to carry groceries 3km in 30C weather, or is my friend full of shit? Neither of us have been to Europe.
I live in a city center in Norway. Grocery stores surround me. Several within a few blocks. Maybe moving soon to a rural area where the closest will probably be 10 minutes via bus. But still not too shabby.
-
I was talking to a friend and complaining that the nearest grocery store is 3km from me, he says that Europeans consider that a reasonable distance to the store and I'm just being lazy.
I don't have a car, I don't have a bike, and the bus only comes by every four hours. Am I being unreasonable for not wanting to carry groceries 3km in 30C weather, or is my friend full of shit? Neither of us have been to Europe.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I'd ask your friend if they walk 3k to the market, and if the answer is no, tell them to STFU.
the walk is good for your though. You can feel like a badass for doing it, but complaining kind of weakens that.
-
I was talking to a friend and complaining that the nearest grocery store is 3km from me, he says that Europeans consider that a reasonable distance to the store and I'm just being lazy.
I don't have a car, I don't have a bike, and the bus only comes by every four hours. Am I being unreasonable for not wanting to carry groceries 3km in 30C weather, or is my friend full of shit? Neither of us have been to Europe.
-
180m to the nearest small supermarket which has a satisfactory selection
-
450m-650m to three normal-sized supermarkets which have everything I need in daily life
-
1km to a mall which has everything I could ever ask for in life
Yes, I live in the city.
-
-
I was talking to a friend and complaining that the nearest grocery store is 3km from me, he says that Europeans consider that a reasonable distance to the store and I'm just being lazy.
I don't have a car, I don't have a bike, and the bus only comes by every four hours. Am I being unreasonable for not wanting to carry groceries 3km in 30C weather, or is my friend full of shit? Neither of us have been to Europe.
When I was in a similar situation, I wish I thought of “one way”. I realized after the fact that many people were walking one way to the store but taking a taxi back with their load of groceries. However I have no idea whether it was actually affordable or if that was their only choice.
You should look into that. How affordable is a taxi if you only take it one direction?
-
Nearest grocery store is 100m away. Nearest supermarket is 850m (just cheched). I walked to the supermarket moments ago, bought grocery and brought it back all in less than 1 hour. I wouldn't do it with 30 degrees in the middle of the day though. If there were no sidewalks and I had to make a 6km round trip to get groceries, I would invest in the cheapest electric bike possible.
American here. My nearest grocery store is 68x that far.
-
The next closest store is 16km away
Good to know my friend is full of shit about this being the same for y'all.
I have three stores within 200 m, one of which is open 24/7, another of which has a massive selection in fresh cheese, meats, fish, and baking goods.
Sorry, but I was in the US last summer, and I really feel bad for you guys regarding the whole food and walk-/bikeability situation.
-
I was talking to a friend and complaining that the nearest grocery store is 3km from me, he says that Europeans consider that a reasonable distance to the store and I'm just being lazy.
I don't have a car, I don't have a bike, and the bus only comes by every four hours. Am I being unreasonable for not wanting to carry groceries 3km in 30C weather, or is my friend full of shit? Neither of us have been to Europe.
I live out in the countryside. The nearest store is about 2.8km away. Put on some good music, get an ice cream for the second half of the trip, it's a lovely walk. I could catch a bus back, there's a stop right by the shop, but my timing is generally shite. If I'd be halfway home by the time the bus comes, I'd rather just walk.
-
I was talking to a friend and complaining that the nearest grocery store is 3km from me, he says that Europeans consider that a reasonable distance to the store and I'm just being lazy.
I don't have a car, I don't have a bike, and the bus only comes by every four hours. Am I being unreasonable for not wanting to carry groceries 3km in 30C weather, or is my friend full of shit? Neither of us have been to Europe.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]The closest small one is about 1 km, a reasonably sized one for stocking up is 5 km or so. I have never walked to either in 5+ years of living here. Even the closer one is like a 10 minute walk (ish), and then I would have to carry back what I bought, which also means I can barely buy anything. 5 km is more like an hour by foot one way, so that's just not happening, ever.
I usually take my bike to the closer one, or the cargo bike to the bigger one. I also pass by the smaller one on the way home from work (I commute by bike). The fact that I own bikes is why there's never any rain to walk anywhere, basically. Additionally, there is very little sense in taking a (relatively small capacity) bike to a big store when a cargo bike is available. I also don't own a car. I don't know a single person who would regularly walk 1 km+ for shopping, but I also don't know anyone who doesn't own any form of personal transport. Most would usually take a bike, and take a car for bigger or heavier trips.
Taking a bus or tram/train for grocery shopping does happen for some, but highly depends on the local situation and town or city layout if that can bring useful time savings. Unless you live is the middle of nowhere, bus and train schedules are anywhere from every 10 to 30 minutes or so, more frequent in dense areas where there's multiple lines.
Edit: for context, I live on the outskirts of a medium sized city (250k inhabitants), but my town only has 3500 or so. The small supermarket is on the literal other side of that town, the bigger one is one town over (opposite direction of city). Distance to the city is also only only 10 km or so (to the center), but there happen to be no "attractive" supermarkets in that direction for me.
-
Dang, that must be nice. The bus only comes by once every 4 hours for me, and it's always standing-room only.
On the other hand, nothing wakes you up like standing on a bus going 80km/h on a bumpy road.
Every 4h standing room only sounds like you need to try and get the bus coming more often. But that makes too much sense, better add another lane to the highway.
-
Yeah, the store I'm thinking is a hypermarket sells groceries, but also clothing, toys, furniture, garden plants, tools, etc. We still call it a grocery store, lol.
My town's store doesn't even have its own bakery department or meat counter, but the bigger one next town over away has a bank branch and a starbucks inside, but doesn't sell the range of the big one mentioned above.
Is that close to the grocery > supermarket > hypermarket scale?
Most people would still say they're going to a grocery store, they wouldn't specify "hypermarket".
It's mostly to due with sizes. There's three levels, and the leading chains in Finland both (or "all" before one got bought up by the second biggest and now there's generally only two) have a small store, which have their own names, Sale/Alepa and K-market, then there's the larger ones, S-Market and K-Supermarket (formerly KKK-supermarket, really), and then the largest ones, Prisma and K-Citymarket.
It used to be only the small grocery stores had the longest opening hours, but some years ago they released those regulations and now even the hypermarkets are 247. But the small and medium sized usually don't. Some small ones are in larger cities, I think.
But yeah it's generally just about the size, and "just" supermarkets not having department store shit as much. Like the supermarket K-Supermarket 1.2km away from me has their own fish& meat counter for instance.
The grocery store near me has a pharmacy, but the hypermarket has a pharmacy, a few restaurants, large deli and meat counters, and of course an a liquor store as in a government store that sells specifically alcohol. They're allowed to sell any alcohol, whereas grocery stores are just allowed to sell drinks up to 8%, and that's up from like 4.9% for the most of my life. Some years ago they changed it so grocery stores can sell up to 5.9, then when that didn't break society, it took like 2 years for the limit to change to 8%. And I'm pretty sure someone's gonna push for it to go to like 14 so we got proper wines in grocery stores.
The 8% crap is just awful wine. But drinkable if you carbonate it a tad. Sounds weird perhaps but I enjoy it.
Anyway the department store part of the hypermarkets is often kinda meh. Like if you want electronics or something, you'll usually go to a store that specialises in them. Like a large electronic store for clothing store or whatever. But you can sometimes get decent deals or some store brand clothes for a nice price. But like in general electronics, hardware, general hardware. There's kind of a lot of places with a lot of stores like that.
Like 2km from me by bike is an IKEA and then lots of similarly sized stores selling hardware / electronics / and always a few competing ones. Like there's several furniture stores within literally a stones throw from the ikea parking lot. (You'd have to be pretty good at throwing, but I maintain the assertion. Like frisbee golf throwing distance, definitely.)
Same with electronics stores. Like three huge stores in the same area, all within like 2-3min drives from each other. Some almost next door to each other.
Also hardware stores.
And sports stores.
Tons of others.
There's even I think like a horse-supply store, but that's a bit to the side. Not as mainstream.
-
American here. My nearest grocery store is 68x that far.
Move 100m in the opposite direction.
-
I was talking to a friend and complaining that the nearest grocery store is 3km from me, he says that Europeans consider that a reasonable distance to the store and I'm just being lazy.
I don't have a car, I don't have a bike, and the bus only comes by every four hours. Am I being unreasonable for not wanting to carry groceries 3km in 30C weather, or is my friend full of shit? Neither of us have been to Europe.
In your situation I would probably order my weekly groceries online, if that was an option. I would still visit the grocery store occasionally, in which case I would walk and/or go by bus. Well, in reality I would probably own a bike, but that also depends on your infrastructure over there. I’ve never lived that far from the nearest grocery store, though. There are many options here within that radius, the nearest ones being basically next door.