4 ms·

Well, it's still not like in States, but mega-markets are taking over in Europe too, at least in my corner. Cities are pedestrian friendly, but pedestrian-only

Well, it's still not like in States, but mega-markets are taking over in Europe too, at least in my corner. Cities are pedestrian friendly, but pedestrian-only zones are rare. If you can't get to the restaurant/shop by car and it's not really close to you, it's quite likely that you'll go somewhere else. People get the wrong idea because in summer when they visit it looks different, partially because of the nicer weather, and partially because of all the traffic jams caused by tourists, so bikes become the main transportation to locals. Out of season 90% of the small shops is closed, and there'a lot more rain, so we just use cars to go to weekly shopping like everyone else.

seanmcdirmid 7y ago
Mega markets are limited to the suburbs from my experience living in Lausanne. Yes, people drive to get there, but if you live in a city core it’s not your concern. Lausanne has nice cobble Stone pedestrian only zones, and it is considered more car friendly by European standards (there are lots of car commuters, and lots of people living in suburbs).
brnt 7y ago
After in 1973 the first such hypermarket opened up in NL, laws were quickly enacted to prevent it from ever happening again. Precisely because it was feared cars would become necessities and city centres would be out-competed. That single location remains to this day the only hypermarket in the Netherlands [1]. [1] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weidewinkel https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weidewinkel
- vinay427 7y ago
  I don't understand why city centers would be outcompeted, and this sort of legislation seems rather heavy-handed not just from an American perspective. In the country I live in, the same grocery chains have mostly smaller (with some larger) stores in urban centers and mostly larger (but less frequent) stores outside these areas. I can get most common items at any of the stores near me, and if looking for a less common item I can go to a larger store in my city which will almost always have it. This means that I'm connected by public transit to both small and large stores, neither of which need cars or massive parking lots.
  - brnt 7y ago
    Well, it largely succeeded in preventing shops moving out from city centres in NL, and can be presumed to have encouraged bike usage over car usage, as inner city shops are more likely to be reachable by bike.

seanmcdirmid 7y ago

Mega markets are limited to the suburbs from my experience living in Lausanne. Yes, people drive to get there, but if you live in a city core it’s not your concern. Lausanne has nice cobble Stone pedestrian only zones, and it is considered more car friendly by European standards (there are lots of car commuters, and lots of people living in suburbs).

brnt 7y ago

After in 1973 the first such hypermarket opened up in NL, laws were quickly enacted to prevent it from ever happening again. Precisely because it was feared cars would become necessities and city centres would be out-competed. That single location remains to this day the only hypermarket in the Netherlands [1]. [1] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weidewinkel https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weidewinkel

vinay427 7y ago
I don't understand why city centers would be outcompeted, and this sort of legislation seems rather heavy-handed not just from an American perspective. In the country I live in, the same grocery chains have mostly smaller (with some larger) stores in urban centers and mostly larger (but less frequent) stores outside these areas. I can get most common items at any of the stores near me, and if looking for a less common item I can go to a larger store in my city which will almost always have it. This means that I'm connected by public transit to both small and large stores, neither of which need cars or massive parking lots.
- brnt 7y ago
  Well, it largely succeeded in preventing shops moving out from city centres in NL, and can be presumed to have encouraged bike usage over car usage, as inner city shops are more likely to be reachable by bike.