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-   -   How far to the grocery store? (https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=952025)

bbeasley 06-05-14 10:16 AM

How far to the grocery store?
 
For those of you who use a bike for groceries, how far one way?

prathmann 06-05-14 10:30 AM

There's a farmer's market where I get fruit and some vegetables 3.2 miles away and on the way back (2.9 miles from home) is the Safeway where I do most of the rest of my grocery shopping. Other options are a Target at 2 miles, small Walmart at 2.6 miles, Nob Hill at 1.7 miles, and a Luckys at 2.4 miles.

calgarc 06-05-14 10:36 AM

few blocks... i walk :D

krobinson103 06-05-14 10:38 AM

100m for a small one, 2km for a department store and for fun 20km to costco.

Giant Doofus 06-05-14 10:52 AM

I go to a Kroger that is just under 1 mile from my home.

Wanderer 06-05-14 11:38 AM

1 mile to the little one, 2 miles to the HUGE one(where they let me park inside, at the CS desk).

wphamilton 06-05-14 11:46 AM

2.5 miles to Kroger, 3.5 to Walmart. But I have to admit that I only bike for a back-pack load lately, and take the wife's car for a big load.

stringsonbikes 06-05-14 12:17 PM

4.2 mi to the grocery store, 4.8 mi to the farmers market.

wipekitty 06-05-14 12:48 PM

2.5 miles to the supermarket, where the main household grocery shopping happens. The food co-op is three blocks away - it's good for produce, meat, and hippie food (tofu and bulk bin), but too expensive for most other things. Wallyworld is about 4.5 miles, but I only visit them a few times a year for laundry/cleaning supplies.

This works out well because I can do a trailer trip to the supermarket every 2-3 weeks to get dairy and non-perishable items, then walk to the co-op more frequently for foods that should really be fresh.

Roody 06-05-14 01:17 PM

About a mile to a weird discount supermarket that I rarely visit. Two blocks to a small market for bread, milk, and the best donuts in the world. Four miles to Meijer or Kroger--but on a busy stroad. Nine miles to a great supermarket.

We have a weekly farmer's market two blocks away, but only in summer. The City Market is two miles away. I go there a lot for what wipekitty calls "hippie food" and organic meat/produce.

gerv 06-05-14 07:11 PM

I have a half mile trip to the Hyvee supermarket and 2 miles to the "hippie" food. It's called New City Market.

My theory is that if groceries aren't at a convenient distance, you will starting lusting for some vehicle other than a bicycle.

Artkansas 06-05-14 07:42 PM

I used to have 3 grocery stores within 1.25 miles of me, all clustered together.

One of them closed and another chain moved in to the same building. But it turned out that the leases hadn't been done right and so the new market couldn't stay. That space got turned into a gym.

The second is the state's only Whole Foods Market. But it's moving to a new location soon. The new location will still be fairly close, but not in the neighborhood.

That leaves the Kroger. There is also a small Indian market and two convenience stores.

dprayvd 06-05-14 07:51 PM

Oneway:

Less than a mile if I'm without choice.

2 miles for Safeway's bakery dang they've good bread.

Abouta 4mile to the two I prefer (one has tasty things that are expiring soon like UK cheeses, frozen treats and deli goods.)

The Safeway and the latter two favs are in and across a river valley, respc'v, so consider that.

104f today.

no1mad 06-05-14 08:22 PM


Originally Posted by calgarc (Post 16823923)
few blocks... i walk :D

Same here. According to Google Maps, the store that gets like 80% of our grocery business is 0.3 miles away. I usually make the trip there 3-4 times a week for just me and kids. This may be changing though, as we've discovered a new discount grocer that moved into the old Homeland ~10 miles away- we can get an insane amount of staples relatively cheap (does require the use of the car).

ACrowe25 06-05-14 08:23 PM

2.3 miles to Kroger, using the fast route :p

Unfortuantly, it's all "blew up" from construction. So, it's not longer as fast lol.

Machka 06-05-14 09:09 PM

When I was car free, my grocery store was 1 km away. I walked. However, every few months I went to a larger grocery store further away and used a rental car or taxi to get home with my groceries.

More recently, when I was car light and living in a small town, my grocery store was 800 metres from the first house and about 400 metres from the second. I walked. Often I stopped in on my way home from work at lunch.

Now, one grocery store is 2.2 km away and the others (in a shopping centre with K-Mart, Big W, etc) are 2.6 km away. We drive. We could probably cycle to the one that is 2.2 km away and come back with groceries. I have walked that a few times. But the one that is 2.6 km away involves too much climbing for my liking at this point, especially with groceries. I have walked there and back once.

I'm not really big on cycling to a grocery store to get groceries.

Shawn Gossman 06-05-14 09:38 PM

We got a Casey's general store fueling station that sells quite a few groceries but at a higher price, not even a quarter mile from my house. A dollar store with groceries is about 1 1/2 mile but if you want a super walmart, its going to be 20 miles... we all out in the sticks

Roody 06-05-14 10:08 PM

Did anybody notice that everybody here says how many miles (or kilometers) they are from the store? OTOH, motorists will say "I live 10 minutes from Kroger" but they have no idea how many miles that actually is.

What does this mean?

wipekitty 06-05-14 10:34 PM

I think it means...
1) Traveling without a vehicle helps you become more aware of spatial distances, not just time.
2) Those who travel without a vehicle are more aware of differences in the amount of time that travel will take - depending on mode of transportation (walking, fast bike, slow bike, bus), terrain, and weather (headwind, rain, snow). Maybe this is why we are generally very punctual: we like to point out that cyclists show up on time in bad weather, while drivers are frequently late!
3) Bike enthusiasts who frequent BF are nerds who keep track of mileage :)

EDIT: I seem to recall hearing somewhere that measuring distances in time is a Midwestern US thing - Roody's question might have made more sense to me than it did to others!

Machka 06-05-14 10:35 PM


Originally Posted by Roody (Post 16825782)
Did anybody notice that everybody here says how many miles (or kilometers) they are from the store? OTOH, motorists will say "I live 10 minutes from Kroger" but they have no idea how many miles that actually is.

What does this mean?

The OP asked how far ... not how much time.


Even as a motorist, I've always done my measurements in kilometres.

But as both a cyclist and a motorist, I also think how long that will take. Time is important when you lead a busy life.

And as we look for a new place to live, one of the concerns is how long it will take to get to work ... how much time, by whatever method of transportation we choose.

Northwestrider 06-05-14 10:36 PM

1.4 miles to a Fred Meyers . I park it inside

jade408 06-05-14 11:50 PM

Gourmet grocery: .5
whole foods: 1 mi
safeway: 1 mi (there are two different stores)
trader joes: 2 mi (I think both are in that radius)
korean market: 1.5 mi
grocery outlet: 1 mi
affordable indie grocery: 3-4 mi (2 branches, similar radius)
Chinatown: 2.5 mi
there are 5 different farmers markets on 3 different days within 3 miles. The closest is about 1/4 mi in Fridays. The closest weekend markets are 1 or 1.5 mi away.

wahoonc 06-06-14 04:31 AM

1.5 miles on a narrow, high speed, busy road to the grocery store Food Lion aka Food Kitty. In season I make a 15 mile loop that gets me past several farm stands for corn, strawberries, blue berries, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, etc. Next closest 3 grocery stores are 7, 10 and 12 miles... all Food Lion :rolleyes:

We grow quite a few vegetables in our garden, but not everything that I can purchase at the farm stands, also they got a head start on me this year.

Aaron :)

Sixty Fiver 06-06-14 05:32 AM

With in a < 2 mile radius we have a major grocery store at which my wife works (we get a 10% discount there), a Polish grocery and deli (a few blocks away), and the; Italian Market and Bakery, Hungarian deli, and a wealth of Asian and Halal grocers are less than 2 miles of our home and closely concentrated.

No destination is more than 10 minutes away by bicycle.

lasauge 06-06-14 08:56 AM

I visit a lot of different grocery stores, each one sells certain items better or cheaper than the others. Nobody else I know here shops around to such an extent, I think being car-free and not having to worry about using gasoline is what makes it practical.

1.5 - Sprouts, Safeway
2 - King Soopers (this is the local Kroger banner)
4 - Natural Grocers, Whole Foods, 2 local Indian stores, Walmart
8 - Asia Pacific Market


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