02-09-2016, 10:34 PM
(02-09-2016, 09:44 PM)nms Wrote: As for the lack of parking and the need to carry large quantities of groceries, these kinds of problems existed before cars were widespread. In days gone by, and especially when refrigeration wasn't common or spacious, shoppers would walk from store to store along their downtown core, make their purchases, and then arrange for the delivery of groceries at home later that day. Door-to-door delivery of milk and baked goods eliminated the need for carrying those groceries home.
I grew up living in a (northern) European city; we had a car, but I have no recollection of ever going grocery shopping by car back then. My mother would carry the groceries back in a bag or two -- given the family of five, what it really meant was going shopping more frequently than once a week. And in France people will go to a store daily, to buy bread at the minimum -- otherwise it simply wouldn't be fresh!
More frequent, less-mega shopping, picking things up after work, prepared foods, freshly-baked bread, these are minor lifestyle adjustments that allow downtown grocers to not only survive but thrive.