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Yep, a mile is too far for a grocery store. We need more, smaller grocery stores. But the economics don't work out in most places. No idea how to solve this kin

• nradov 3y ago
  The small grocery stores in dense cities have limited selection and high prices (in order to cover high rents). So, everyone with a car drives out to larger supermarkets and big box stores outside of the urban core in order so save money (even though it might cost a little in terms of time and fuel) and have a better shopping experience. And then the only customers who shop at the smaller grocery stores are poor people who can't afford a car. I don't think this is really a solvable problem short of giving explicit city government subsidies to grocery stores in certain neighborhoods.
  • sanderjd 3y ago
    Indeed. But of course the "driving out to a big store" is also subsidized. It's only cheap because of all the roads that have been built, all the subsidies over the decades that have made fuel so cheap, and the ability to freely "socialize the externalities" of burning fossil fuels. But what I want is the ability to do a trip to a "big box" store further out once or twice a month, but be able to go somewhere close for smaller things day to day. But I definitely understand why the economics of this don't really work in most places. I just lament it.