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Here’s my suspicion, from having lived in both car-centric suburbs and a dense city: When you’re driving somewhere, you typically have a destination in mind. Y

Here’s my suspicion, from having lived in both car-centric suburbs and a dense city: When you’re driving somewhere, you typically have a destination in mind. You’re often moving too fast to spot smaller businesses that probably don’t have enormous signs, and it’s probably not convenient to just suddenly stop and park your car if you do happen to see something interesting. And everyone already knows about the big chains, but not so much about small businesses, so they’re less likely to be your initial destination. By contrast, when you’re on foot, you’re moving slowly enough that you can take in anything around you, so you’ll spot small places more easily. And if you do decide to stop in, you’re right there. (Cycling is somewhere in between, but I’d say closer to walking than driving in these respects.)

milkytron 4y ago
All that, in addition to having the need to shop for as much stuff as possible during a single trip. People will fill up their entire car at costco, but if you're walking or cycling, you don't typically have as much cargo carrying capacity. So a massive costco, walmart, or target trip doesn't always make sense. Splitting up the errands while walking or biking will result in either multiple trips to a big box store, or every time you leave the house, you knock off a few items on the list from the nearest store. The nearest store probably isn't a big box store since they have so much parking, so they aren't really around walkable areas as much.