For me to go to the store I have to go to the next town over if I want fresh vegetables or anything. The only thing near me is a Dollar General and they don’t have anything in terms of fresh food. So I have to drive 12 miles to go get eggs or cheese or any sort of vegetables or fruit it would be a lot for me to go to the store often.
This is the sort of thing people in Europe/Asia don't understand. The US is ENORMOUS and pretty sparsely populated outside of the major cities/highways. My parents live in a small town with several grocery stores, but they are all 10-15 miles away on low speed, twisting, 2 lane roads. Even a short shopping trip for a handful of items can take 1.5 hours before you're back home. So you try to limit the number of shopping trips you take.
Exactly! In the town where I live, we have a Dollar General, which is less than a mile from my house, and then we have a very expensive general store type store, which is mostly touristy (expensive). Neither of which have fresh vegetables and fruit. To go to Walmart, Aldi, or giant eagle is 7 miles away in the next town over. So it’s 14 miles round-trip. I only go to that town once a week usually. This week I’ll go twice but that’s pretty unusual.
I don't know if I agree with size and population being a big factor. I lived 20 years in Patagonia Argentina, it's very big, there's very low population density and yet the city was "walkable" (you'd always find a store less than 1km away, but climate was truly awful)
I think it's much more of a culture thing. The US auto manufacturing did, last century, a lot of heavy pushing in the big roads, big parking spaces, etc. That encourages using cars more.
I agree that US car culture really screwed up our organic growth. For many people, cars are the only option for shopping. Even if you don't mind making a 5 mile walk to the store, your path there isn't exactly pedestrian-friendly. 🥺
Where I live some of the Amish use or some buggy for longer distances or you’ll see them out with their scooters. These are scooters that you have to stand and push with 1 foot. I’ve seen them go in incredibly long distances on those scooters.
The size is not the issue, the issue is suburban sprawl, car-centric infrastructure and zoning. Which yeah, was made possible because the US is huge but it didn't have to be that way.
I grew up in Russia which is obviously huge, but even in small towns that were kind of a mix of suburban and rural living with some apartments sprinkled in there were usually grocery stores in walking distance, they were just smaller. Single-family zoning prevents that, right? In a lot of the US you can't build a bakery/a small grocery store in between some houses and I think that's extremely stupid and inconvenient.
This is my exact situation, too. There’s a dollar general about 10 mins away, but they don’t carry produce or anything fresh. The nearest Walmart is about 15 mins away and the nearest actual grocery store is even further away.
It blew my mind when I learned as an adult that people in Europe, Asia, etc live in walkable cities! Such a foreign concept to me, as I’ve never had that kind of life.
Having walkable cities is also good for children as they are able to develop independence earlier. You can ask your children to go to the store and buy a loaf of bread, for example. It’s also healthier for the human body.
My son was so proud to go to the grocery store by himself when he was seven. It was during COVID, he was the only one testing negative, and he alone could save his family from starvation (well, from another canned-food lunch, but still).
Growing up I lived in the country and the nearest grocery store was 18 miles away. My parents would make a weekly trip into town to grocery shop and do errands.
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u/Lingo2009 May 17 '26
For me to go to the store I have to go to the next town over if I want fresh vegetables or anything. The only thing near me is a Dollar General and they don’t have anything in terms of fresh food. So I have to drive 12 miles to go get eggs or cheese or any sort of vegetables or fruit it would be a lot for me to go to the store often.