Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Average distance to a supermarket in Amsterdam is 400 meter or 1300 feet

oozo.nl

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 140 posts

Re: Average distance to a supermarket in Amsterdam is 400 meter or 1300 feet

#41

Post by 082349872349872 »

ffgjgf1 wrote: post #24
2Gkashmiri wrote: post #2

in india, that is your local grocery store. every street has them. of all kinds, stocking different things, sometimes similar things. these give employment to a huge number of people who are simple passive shopkeepers, they do not do any advertising, do not have to raise loans (though some do) or "invest" in anything exotic. just their stock in hand. since the "concentration" of power is distributed, everyone owns th…

> model should be adopted elsewhere too, the opposite of going hyperscale So you are saying there were no grocery stores in the US before Piggly Wiggly opened up? It was the model that preceded the current one throughout the western world. It clearly failed because it couldn’t compete with the efficiency (and much better customer experience and prices) provided by supermarkets. It wouldn’t work without imposing some…

Last place I lived in the US still had corner markets (in the 1990s), because the neighbourhood predated cars.

OTOH I once worked in a city there that was younger than I was, and it was a disaster: nothing but drives to franchise "concepts", and had there been anyplace to walk to, there weren't even any sidewalks.

Now I live in a village dating to the 14th century, and don't even need to walk to the store, let alone drive: my groceries get delivered to my doorstep.

As far as I'm concerned, the traditional "supermarket" model is one in which the customer is used as an ersatz employee: you do your own delivery driving, you do your own stock picking, and these days you even do your own checkout scanning.

Re: Average distance to a supermarket in Amsterdam is 400 meter or 1300 feet

#42

Post by ffgjgf1 »

DeathArrow wrote: post #30
DanielHB wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mom and pop grocery stores hardly ever sell different products from the supermarket. They will have less product diversity, higher prices and less fresh stock of perishables (vegetables, etc). They work out best if they specialise in less in-demand items, like asian stores or fruit stores (where freshness of produce is their sole goal). But at the same time these simply can't exist every few blocks or so by the natur…

>Mom and pop grocery stores hardly ever sell different products from the supermarket That might depend upon your locale.

I guess it depends whether supermarkets exist in that locale. Since they could never compete selling the same type of products

Re: Average distance to a supermarket in Amsterdam is 400 meter or 1300 feet

#43

Post by jazzyjackson »

ars wrote: post #28

I would like to see how many SKU's are in these stores compared to places where the stores are further apart.

Right? I lived in Brooklyn and could walk to three grocery stores, but none of them sold a decent sirloin.

Re: Average distance to a supermarket in Amsterdam is 400 meter or 1300 feet

#44

Post by yorwba »

beaeglebeach wrote: post #31
rsynnott wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Of course this is paid for at the till... I’m not sure how true this is everywhere. Within walking distance (inner suburb of Dublin on the edge of the city center) I have two Tesco Superstores and about eight Tesco Expresses and Metros (Tesco splits its shop types into broad categories). The ‘superstores’ have the same pricing as each other and as suburban ones, the Expresses and Metros have the same pricing within…

The elevation in price is less location and more whether you're able to buy in bulk. With careful rotation discipline and a handcart it's achievable on foot though, although clearly more convenient with a car and a nice wide lot.

How heavy are your bulk purchases that you need a handcart? And how much do you save compared to just buying a kilogram of everything you ran out of this week?

Re: Average distance to a supermarket in Amsterdam is 400 meter or 1300 feet

#45

Post by mpol »

ars wrote: post #28

I would like to see how many SKU's are in these stores compared to places where the stores are further apart.

In the centre of Amsterdam, most Albert Heijn stores (they are the most common supermarket in Amsterdam) are relatively small and only sell the more popular products. These are the places with lots of tourists, while real estate is expensive, so it makes sense. More outside the center where the living neighbourhoods are most Albert Heijn stores are on the larger side and have their full stock. Though some smaller malls have also smaller supermarkets.

In other cities in the Netherlands you see a likewise pattern.

Re: Average distance to a supermarket in Amsterdam is 400 meter or 1300 feet

#46

Post by a_c »

noduerme wrote: post #26

After spending a few weeks back in Europe (after 8 years in the US), it quickly came back to me how much easier it is to live a healthy daily pattern of life there than it is here. In particular: Shopping for food in the US is almost always a separate trip in a car or a bus or on foot. Whereas in Spain it's common to go meet friends, pick up some bread and veg from the store, meet more friends and pick up things from…

This is also why I think and hope electric vehicle is not the global solution to the too much ICE cars problem, nor is archieving self driving on those cars. A popular solution doesn't make it the best one, it is just the best solution under certain circumstances. Yes I'm talking about tesla.

Re: Average distance to a supermarket in Amsterdam is 400 meter or 1300 feet

#50

Post by Reason077 »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #6
eterps wrote: post #4

As a resident, I would never opt to drive to the supermarket, I prefer to walk, or take my bicycle if necessary.

It's the same in most large cities. Of course this is paid for at the till...

> “It's the same in most large cities. Of course this is paid for at the till...”

I think it can actually save you money.

I’ve lived in London flats where there were multiple large supermarket brands (Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, ASDA) all within easy walking distance. And smaller corner convenience stores like Tesco Express and Co-op and even Amazon’s one. And also some of the discounters (Iceland, Aldi) only slightly further afield.

If you want to save money you just go to whatever supermarket(s) have the best offers on whatever you want to buy. Waitrose, for example, would often have good deals on olive oil and coffee beans but tended to be expensive for fruit & veg. So I’d buy my olive oil and coffee there but go elsewhere for my apples and tomatoes etc… easy to do when all the shops are close together and you’re walking by them anyway!

Besides, you’d be mad to drive to a supermarket in London anyway, waste of time even if you’re buying more than you can carry: just order online, free delivery is usually available (with a minimum order value).

Post reply on HN