I have grocery stores within walking distance, but even taking a dolly it’s a hell of a lot of work carrying back a bunch of groceries. Plus the way the roads are constructed I risk my life every time I cross the street. Young and fit people should walk to the store but it’s not practical for everyone.
Maybe not everyone, but that’s pretty much the only way it’s done for most denizens of New York City, young and old.
That makes sense. I feel like probably NYC is constructed better in terms of walkability and public transportation. I live in semi-suburban Denver. There are 7-8 small grocery stores and 2 wholesale food warehouses about a mile from my house, primarily Asian and Central American markets, which is a lot, so it’s feasible for me to walk. 3-4 liquor stores, a couple weed shops and a few convenience stores. For many other areas of the city it wouldn’t be as reasonable to live without a car, though probably one could take the bus or light rail. The problem is just walking to a bus stop is about half a mile so it wouldn’t help that much. I could use an Uber or Lyft, but it would be expensive unless I just went to the store once every 2 weeks.
I’m reasonably fit, in my 40s, but things like “I’ll carry back 4 12 packs of Diet Pepsi from the store for my girlfriend” leaves me feeling pretty worn out. Taking a dolly or cart helps but I’m the only person around here I ever see doing that… not that I mind. I suppose I could do grocery delivery.
Grocery delivery is a good stop gap, but you’d need all the various grocery stores to be on board. Municipal and state governments could literally subsidize the costs of maintenance and fueling delivery vehicles to incentivize this method, and even offer rebates for customers who participate, but nah that’s all too hard and will eat at the bottom line so let the world burn I guess.
