How far away is your nearest, non-convenience store, grocer?

46 comments

1. Around 500 meters, would be my guess. But I live in the city centre, so that is only obvious.

   That said, most of the time, also when I lived in smaller towns and villages, there would be a grocery store. Often a cooperative.

   During the final half of the 19th century, the cooperative movement in Denmark starting growing. It took the primary form of consumer cooperatives, so-called _Brugsforeninger_, shortened to _brugser_(plural) or _brugsen_(singular). This was done to combat the established grocers who would often hold local monopolies and charge high prices for workers and poor people while letting the local farmers and tradesmen often purchase on credit. This isn’t some “capitalist bad” point, it was the reality that gave birth to the cooperative movement.

   Over time, many cooperatives actually out-competed local grocers, leading to many towns and villages standing without grocers, further allowing the cooperatives to grow.

   Nowadays Coop is the largest (or second largest) chain of groceries in Denmark. Coop, formerly FDB, is a union of Danish consumer cooperatives, _Foreningen af Danske Brugsforeninger_. And being a member of the cooperative is really common; perhaps Coop is the largest union in Denmark.

   Other expressions of the cooperative movement were the cooperative dairies, which were producer-cooperatives, meaning that dairy farmers joined together to form local dairies, eventually joining together into Arla, one of the largest dairy corporations in Europe.

   Worker cooperatives never really caught on in Denmark though. There were many attempts at establishing worker cooperatives, but they were all either out-competed or bought up. One of the most successful worker cooperatives in Denmark was the cooperative brewery _Stjernen_, which attempted to attack Carlsberg head on. Carlsberg was infamous in Danish working class circles for bad conditions and low wages, and the cooperative was started by former workers from Carlsberg. It however didn’t survive, and Carlsberg now holds almost monopoly status on the Danish beer market.

2. Hmm… Twenty meters to the next supermarket? I am lucky 😁 they have a good choice as well!

3. about 200m for convencience store and about 2km for supermarket. We live kinnda out of the way. Frequent point of complaints on my side. Conveniece store still has fresh bread every morning tho as well as foodstuff like chese, ham and so on. So it is not that bad.

   If somebody tried to sell me on 5km I’d better be because it is lovely place by the like in the forest…

4. For me about 2 km, give or take a little. Big ass 24/7 supermarket.

5. There is one right in our building, there are tens of grocery stores in a 500m circle. 1000m circle will gives me everything except cheap fresh fish. These are on the outskirt of the city.

6. I live in the city, not the suburbs but defnitely not the center either. It’s about a ten minute walk, 3 minute bike ride away.

7. There’s a supermarket less than a five minute bike ride away from me. And a greengrocer at a two minute walk.

8. Something between 8 and 10 minutes of walking at my new place and 15 minutes walking where I lived before.

   I have no idea though how many meters or km that are.

9. I don’t know how many meters, but it’s a 10 minute walk. Downhill. Which means I rarely bother to walk, having to carry all the bags back home uphill for 10 minutes. I usually opt for a minute’s car ride instead.

10. 8,8 km to the nearest supermarket and also convenience store at the same time.

11. There are over 10 grocery stores less than 5min walking from my house and a market within 15min.

12. A small one (not a tiny convenience store, but not a proper supermarket) 10 minutes walk away, a much bigger supermarket a half-hour walk or 10 minute bus ride away.

13. There’s a Carrefour market literally 50 metres from here, with a large fresh fruit department and also a large section with breads and cold cuts. The next supermarket is a bit farther, 500 metres and it’s also a bit bigger. I usually collect flyers and buy best offers from both shops. When I really want to get things cheaper, there are Lidl and Eurospin a couple of kilometres away from here.

14. I have four supermarkets in a 10 minute walking radius.

15. I live in the countryside and the nearest one is 4km away in a neighboring town. I also consider that too far to walk especially considering that you have groceries to carry on the way back.

    *However*, my grandma used to ride her bike to that store until she was 90 years old. I guess people were tougher back in the days. 😀

16. 20 meters. I live in the city so things are close here.

17. Both apartments i have about a 10 minute walk to the closest non-convenience store.

18. 480m away.

    Unfortunately it’s really not that great and survives on the fact it’s one of the last old school greengrocers around.

    There’s a more hipster version 650m away which is a little better.

    There’s also a host of independent places under 1km walk.

19. I have three just under a 1km walk away, another two just over 1km, my favorite one 1.7km away, and I think three or four more 2-2.5km away, and I think that already just about covers my town. Used to have one 400m away that I walked to when I needed a thing or two, didn’t like the store though, but now I bicycle everywhere. Town of 25k.

20. 1min walk to the nearest small grocery store.

    5mins walk to the nearest mini market.

    10mins walk to the nearest super market.

21. Well I live in the city centre so there’s like 5 within about 500 meters. 3 normal supermarkets, a turkish one and an organic one. I grew up in a rural area and there it was 10km.

22. 1.6km to the nearest grocery store, or supermarket, where I live.

    I don’t walk to it, I drive, because when I go, I buy stuff for the whole week. But now you made me think, maybe I should use a bike, if I fit some racks onto it.. I drive my grandma to the store a lot tho, so thats also a reason why a car is more convenient but also it’s pretty much the norm here, to go grocery shopping with a car. In the capital tho, people walk more and often ride their bycycles for daily activites.

23. 5km is unheard of in the Netherlands. I have over 40 supermarkets within 5 km from my house, and I live in the suburbs.

    Unless you’re living on a farm/countryside I think in the Netherlands there is always a supermarket within 500 meters, maybe 1km. And even on the countryside it are only the most remote places in the most scarcely populated places that have a supermarket at 5km.

24. In like 200m radius I have 3 żabkas, 2 bakeries and one other store. And also a refrigerator parcel locker if you want to order food. The nearest shopping centre is 1km away but it’s just two tram stops so

25. 200m in a big city.

    When I lived at my parents, in a little town, it was 1km for the closest one, but we used to go to one that was 2km away.

26. About 50m in one direction and 30m in the other direction. I live in a city, but quite far away from the city centre.

27. 45m, 120m, 250m and about 500-700m away. I think there are probably 10x more within sight I haven’t been to yet.

28. I have two supermarkets less than 400 meters from my home and more than ten other supermarkets within 1.5km radius. I usually walk or cycle when it is on my route back from uni or work.

    In the Netherlands every neighborhood usually has its own little shopping quarter (and I live about halfway between two of those) with a small supermarket and a few other stores like an drug store, barber and a cafeteria.

29. I’m about 10 to 12 minutes walk away from three regular supermarkets (each in different directions). There are also a bunch of small Arab/Indian/Chinese speciality stores and a farmer’s market within 5 to 10 mins walk. If I hop on the bus I can get to a few larger supermarkets in about 20 minutes.

    I live in the city center.

30. Living in the city and there are 3 less than a km away. I go by bike though, letting it carry the heavy goods on my way home.

31. There are 3 in a 800 meter radius around me, with the closest being just 100 meters away from me.

32. 850 metres. I live in a suburb of a city of 150,000.

    I get the vast majority of my groceries delivered so being 5 km from the nearest supermarket would be OK if there were a small shop nearby for convenience. 5km to the nearest shop would be a pain though.

33. Damn, couldn’t imagine living 5km away from the next grocery store. I come from a relatively small city, and that city had like 3 Lidls, 2 Aldis, 5 Edekas, 3 Rewes, 2 Kauflands and a Netto. I’m pretty sure that every village/city upwards of 500 people has atleast an Edeka.

34. About 600 m, then the next one an extra 200 m further.

35. I’m in the suburbs of London, so a bit further than some I would expect. It’s about 1.5 to 2km (never actually measured it) to a proper supermarket (Sainsburys) which I drive to. There’s 3 more supermarkets another 1km past that or 4-5Km in the opposite direction will get you another two.

    I do have two “mini” supermarkets Tesco and Sainsbury “locals” about 500-800m (opposite directions) which are dearer than a proper supermarket (only pennies per item) but not the sort of markup convenience stores tend to take

36. 5min walk to a small grocery store with just the basic stuff. 5min by car to a supermarket.

37. On the same street 700m way up is a supermarket. 1,2km into the other direction is my cities’ shopping mall including another supermarket. Both are in walking distance, though I can take the bus to the mall cause the stop is right in front of my home.

38. The closest one is about 100 meters away, few more supermarkets in radius of 500 meters.

39. I live in front of one and at a three and five minutes walk from two others. I live in a medium-sized city.

40. I live in Denmark and the nearest supermarket is also 5 km from me. I live on the country side though, in a very small village. I agree with you, 5 km is definitely too far to walk, so a car or bike is needed.

41. I think about a kilometer to the next grocery store and there’s a discounter not much farther than that in the other direction.

    But I live closer to the core to my town so I’m closer to 1 of our butchers and 2 of our bakeries. I think that is it when it comes to buying stuff for home cooking.

    I live in a town with about 6 k inhabitants IIRC.

42. I live above one, it’s in the same building than my appartment

43. I live in the suburbs of a town in Ireland and there’s one about 2km from me

44. I live on the countryside in a small town and I have 100 m to the closest supermarket (Coop) and 1 km to a large market (ICA Maxi).

45. About 100 meters to nearest one (kiwi), to bigger supermarket it’s about 1km (meny). But I live in the Oslo suburbs, your mileage may vary in Norway.

46. The longest distance one of my family members lives to a store is 10 minutes walk, ~750 meters, and that’s in a village, several kilometers away from the nearest town. For me it’s like 20 meters, but there’s a store right next to my door, lol. Realistically it’s typical to have at least several stores within 10 minutes walking distance in a city, regardless if it’s midtown or outskirts.