Better zoning laws that allow mixed-use zoning would enable more, smaller grocers embedded in neighbourhoods. Personalized service would be much easier on a smaller scale. And you wouldn't have to travel far to pick it up.
This is also one of the few domains where people are very price sensitive, and they regularly see and think about costs. I couldn't tell you what my local automotive guy charges for an oil change, but I can absolutely tell you the price of flour and cheese.
No one is going to pay $10 for a single apple, and if you raise prices hard enough people are going to start gardening.
Update: Go buy an apple in a food desert and I guarantee that if they have one you will pay more than a dollar for one. Grocery chains are optimized for maximizing profit not distribution.
Most people would agree that produce should make up the bulk of ones diet, yet it’s pretty plain to see that the footprint of the produce section doesn’t scale with the size of the store.
Produce is something best shopped for frequently, and is something I’d personally be willing to pay a higher upfront cost for the convenience of closer smaller stores where I can get in and out quickly. Because while we may pay a lower sticker price, the elephant in the room with the massive hidden cost that we pay but rarely account for: food waste.
Also fresh food is great for the diet and health, but when some even occurs that interrupts things like distribution of fuel, food, or power just having it around may lead you to getting hungry really quickly. This is something you have to look at on both a personal and national level. Food security can quickly lead to destabilization.
It’s not like the typical Costco shopper is low income. Our grocery system is optimized for moderately well to do suburbanites with SUVs and large houses. Low income people tend to live in “food deserts”.
Consider the experience of shopping for food in America if you’re dependent on public transit, which a much larger proportion of the low income population are. Requiring a car to get groceries is extremely expensive.
Fresh food without preservatives lasts at least a week.
https://www.marketplace.org/2023/02/02/why-are-boutiques-and...
If the giant chain (or a network of smaller grocers) had good personalization, it would make the stocking the small local pickup point more practical.
I live in a diverse multicultural community. A small local grocer can't stock everything my neighbors and I want.