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A bodega is often (and usually unavoidably) more expensive than a bigger grocery retail chain that's further away. Price conscious buyers will opt to drive to
by beAbU 3mo ago
A bodega is often (and usually unavoidably) more expensive than a bigger grocery retail chain that's further away.
Price conscious buyers will opt to drive to the bigger, farther away store because it has more variety, and the essentials are cheaper.
I know I do this.
- kakacik 3mo agoEverybody does this, unless its 10pm on Saturday and you are thankfully kissing the hand of bodega owner for being open at such absurd hour
- beAbU 3mo agoAll grocery stores close at 10 here (Ireland) but yes you are right. My local centra, 1km away is used for cheese, milk and beer runs. Everything else I get at the big lidl 15km away.
- inigyou 3mo agoThere's a full supermarket a 10 minute walk from me because it's a dense area.
- hx8 3mo agoThis is the ideal situation, and common in most west cost dense areas, but not true for every dense mixed use area. Specifically it's common in low-income high-density housing to not have sufficient super market coverage.
- BobaFloutist 3mo agoPart of this is defacto deregulation allowing suppliers to overcharge smaller stores with less purchasing power than big chains. (The policy not to enforce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson%E2%80%93Patman_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson%E2%80%93Patman_Act). Part of this is overregulation, with zoning and planning departments enacting policies that make smaller retail spaces less attractive to builders and owners, leading to a low supply, and allowing egregious rent for well located small retail. Yes, economies of scale likely mean that larger businesses can afford lower prices, but smaller businesses also get to avoid some costs (no large administrative corporate departments necessary for a one-location bodega), so the prices probably don't need to be as far apart as they are.
- twoodfin 3mo agoWhy should the government have anything to say about price negotiations between producers and retailers of frozen pizzas? Robinson-Patman is terrible law that’s more or less impossible to enforce equitably. So it hasn’t been.
- me-vs-cat 3mo agoLax RPA enforcement may have significantly contributed to food deserts. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/12/food-deserts-robinson-patman/680765/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/12/food-deser... I hope government representatives have things to say about that.
- twoodfin 3mo agoThat’s not really responsive to my concerns about Robinson-Patman. A world where it’s enforced uniformly and strictly might have some local benefits, but getting the government involved in regulating every wholesale transaction for “fairness” is a recipe for stagnation, corruption, or more likely both.
- me-vs-cat 3mo agoIt is responsive to your question on why the government should have something to say about price negotiations between producers and retailers of frozen pizzas.