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Living in the Netherlands, I have two grocery stores within 1 minute walk from my front door. Because of that my home has barely any stocks of food, and I go al

Living in the Netherlands, I have two grocery stores within 1 minute walk from my front door. Because of that my home has barely any stocks of food, and I go almost daily to the store and grab what is needed for the evening meal. If supply lines were to break down then I would be in trouble. This stands in contrast to when I lived in Iceland, where it is more like the US when it comes to stockpiling food a week or two at a time

6510 2y ago
I had one 2 min away. I went to the store to get 1 item, like a bag of chips or croutons for a salad.
jjav 2y ago
> I have two grocery stores within 1 minute walk from my front door I'm curious about the physical arrangement that makes this possible? Here (California) the walk from its parking lot to the grocery store is about 1 minute, so having two grocery stores within 1 minute would mean having your house right next to the parking and having two grocery stores next to each other. I'm having trouble visualizing how that can work. For comparison, I do also have two grocery stores within easy walking distance, but one is about 6 minutes and the other one 10-12 minutes walk. One is across the street and the other one a couple blocks in the other direction.
- chrismatheson 2y ago
  No car parks, smaller more frequent convenience shops & supermarkets. just an random town in the UK https://www.google.com/maps/search/grocery+store/@51.3449444,0.7355826,15z/data=!3m1!4b1?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDMyNC4wIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExNDUzSAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/search/grocery+store/@51.3449444... houses/flats in the middle / near the centre of this town probably have 8 options within a 5 minute or so walk. Id imagine its not impossible to live across the road / above a shop and round the conniver from another somewhere in the EU
- rsynnott 2y ago
  Likely the grocery stores in question do not have parking lots. I have I think four supermarkets plus some convenience stores within ten minutes walk; none of them have parking; have to go a bit more suburban if you want that (there's a big-ish one with underground parking about 30 mins walk/10 mins on bus away); I'm not sure where the nearest one with non-underground parking would be, but further than that, anyway.
- MrDresden 2y ago
  As others have already touch on, there are no parking lots. The streets are narrow with one directional car traffic, and some of the streets around here do not allow car traffic. Most if not all of the shoppers are walking or cycling. And to be fair, I'm cheating just a bit. One of these grocery stores is a "normal" chain (Albert Heijn) whereas the other one is an organic chain (EcoPlaza) so these can coexist in such close proximity to one another. The density of grocery stores is pretty high in the Netherlands. It wasn't until writing this response that I remembered that there is a third grocery store (PLUS) that is also within 1 minute walk from my front door. If I were to increase the time from my door to ~5-6 minutes then the number of grocery stores would become 6x. I would recommend looking at this video[0] from NotJustBikes on the subject. It shows exactly the type of mindset at work when it comes to urban design and zoning. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHTzqHIngk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHTzqHIngk
  - jjav 2y ago
    > If I were to increase the time from my door to ~5-6 minutes then the number of grocery stores would become 6x. Maybe I walk too slow? Actually never measured my walking speed but looks like about 3mph is average. So 5 minutes covers 400m or 1300ft. How can 18 supermarkets (6x the three within 1 minute) fit into such a small area?! I'd love a google map link so I can do a virtual walking tour of the area. I've never experienced such concentration of supermarkets!
    - MrDresden 2y ago
      > "How can 18 supermarkets (6x the three within 1 minute) fit into such a small area?!" Ah no sorry, that was a mistake on my part, it wasn't meant to be 6x but just 6.

6510 2y ago

I had one 2 min away. I went to the store to get 1 item, like a bag of chips or croutons for a salad.

jjav 2y ago

> I have two grocery stores within 1 minute walk from my front door I'm curious about the physical arrangement that makes this possible? Here (California) the walk from its parking lot to the grocery store is about 1 minute, so having two grocery stores within 1 minute would mean having your house right next to the parking and having two grocery stores next to each other. I'm having trouble visualizing how that can work. For comparison, I do also have two grocery stores within easy walking distance, but one is about 6 minutes and the other one 10-12 minutes walk. One is across the street and the other one a couple blocks in the other direction.

chrismatheson 2y ago
No car parks, smaller more frequent convenience shops & supermarkets. just an random town in the UK https://www.google.com/maps/search/grocery+store/@51.3449444,0.7355826,15z/data=!3m1!4b1?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDMyNC4wIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExNDUzSAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/search/grocery+store/@51.3449444... houses/flats in the middle / near the centre of this town probably have 8 options within a 5 minute or so walk. Id imagine its not impossible to live across the road / above a shop and round the conniver from another somewhere in the EU
rsynnott 2y ago
Likely the grocery stores in question do not have parking lots. I have I think four supermarkets plus some convenience stores within ten minutes walk; none of them have parking; have to go a bit more suburban if you want that (there's a big-ish one with underground parking about 30 mins walk/10 mins on bus away); I'm not sure where the nearest one with non-underground parking would be, but further than that, anyway.
MrDresden 2y ago
As others have already touch on, there are no parking lots. The streets are narrow with one directional car traffic, and some of the streets around here do not allow car traffic. Most if not all of the shoppers are walking or cycling. And to be fair, I'm cheating just a bit. One of these grocery stores is a "normal" chain (Albert Heijn) whereas the other one is an organic chain (EcoPlaza) so these can coexist in such close proximity to one another. The density of grocery stores is pretty high in the Netherlands. It wasn't until writing this response that I remembered that there is a third grocery store (PLUS) that is also within 1 minute walk from my front door. If I were to increase the time from my door to ~5-6 minutes then the number of grocery stores would become 6x. I would recommend looking at this video[0] from NotJustBikes on the subject. It shows exactly the type of mindset at work when it comes to urban design and zoning. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHTzqHIngk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHTzqHIngk
- jjav 2y ago
  > If I were to increase the time from my door to ~5-6 minutes then the number of grocery stores would become 6x. Maybe I walk too slow? Actually never measured my walking speed but looks like about 3mph is average. So 5 minutes covers 400m or 1300ft. How can 18 supermarkets (6x the three within 1 minute) fit into such a small area?! I'd love a google map link so I can do a virtual walking tour of the area. I've never experienced such concentration of supermarkets!
  - MrDresden 2y ago
    > "How can 18 supermarkets (6x the three within 1 minute) fit into such a small area?!" Ah no sorry, that was a mistake on my part, it wasn't meant to be 6x but just 6.