3 ms·

Sadly, this doesn't apply to America. Our grocery stores are very much homogenized, and in many parts of the country the only grocery store will be Walmart. Urb

by archy_ 7y ago

Sadly, this doesn't apply to America. Our grocery stores are very much homogenized, and in many parts of the country the only grocery store will be Walmart. Urban areas will have higher end chains that stock a wider variety and some foreign and independent stores with unique selections, but once you get past the cities and into rural America, your options for groceries are about the same from town to town.

maxerickson 7y ago
How big is "town"? The towns of ~10,000 that I know that have Walmarts have multiple competitors to the Walmart, and smaller towns don't have the Walmart but may have a local grocer.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  I know of "towns" that are the ~4th largest city in the state. Their economy is tourism based calling themselves a town and having a town style government fits their brand image better.
  - maxerickson 7y ago
    Yes, I was asking for their meaning there, not trying to discuss the borderline meaninglessness of the word.
quicklime 7y ago
I've been making it a point to visit grocery stores in every country I visit for the last 10 years. I tend to agree with you that grocery stores tend become homogenized within a country (and not just in the US), but there's always a lot of variation between countries. You'll probably find this strange, but as a foreigner, I was really excited to see Walmart for the first time, and I found it just as interesting as visiting grocery stores in other countries. There are things there that just seem comically American - like there's a McDonald's inside a supermarket! And there's a section where you can pick up guns and ammo while you're buying milk and eggs! The chocolates section contains the same products as every other store across North America, but I'd never seen any of these while growing up in Australia, so we picked up a lot of these. Even basic things like bread taste different from back home. Other stores are interesting in different ways. The size and scale of Costco is insane. Whole Foods and Trader Joe's carry different brands of everything, so it feels very different shopping there. I'm really looking forward to my next visit to the States, and picking up the bacon flavored popcorn from Trader Joe's. I've never seen this anywhere else in the world, and it's as awesome as it sounds :)
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  > And there's a section where you can pick up guns and ammo while you're buying milk and eggs! Please please, this is impossible in America. The guns aren't in the fridge!
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

by archy_ 7y ago

maxerickson 7y ago

How big is "town"? The towns of ~10,000 that I know that have Walmarts have multiple competitors to the Walmart, and smaller towns don't have the Walmart but may have a local grocer.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
I know of "towns" that are the ~4th largest city in the state. Their economy is tourism based calling themselves a town and having a town style government fits their brand image better.
- maxerickson 7y ago
  Yes, I was asking for their meaning there, not trying to discuss the borderline meaninglessness of the word.

quicklime 7y ago

I've been making it a point to visit grocery stores in every country I visit for the last 10 years. I tend to agree with you that grocery stores tend become homogenized within a country (and not just in the US), but there's always a lot of variation between countries. You'll probably find this strange, but as a foreigner, I was really excited to see Walmart for the first time, and I found it just as interesting as visiting grocery stores in other countries. There are things there that just seem comically American - like there's a McDonald's inside a supermarket! And there's a section where you can pick up guns and ammo while you're buying milk and eggs! The chocolates section contains the same products as every other store across North America, but I'd never seen any of these while growing up in Australia, so we picked up a lot of these. Even basic things like bread taste different from back home. Other stores are interesting in different ways. The size and scale of Costco is insane. Whole Foods and Trader Joe's carry different brands of everything, so it feels very different shopping there. I'm really looking forward to my next visit to the States, and picking up the bacon flavored popcorn from Trader Joe's. I've never seen this anywhere else in the world, and it's as awesome as it sounds :)

Scoundreller 7y ago
> And there's a section where you can pick up guns and ammo while you're buying milk and eggs! Please please, this is impossible in America. The guns aren't in the fridge!
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]