We might imagine a future where US and UK grocery stores aren't 3/4 alcohol and junk food.
If you didn't know any better you might assume that everything in a grocery store is in fact "food".
(It's also frozen foods in a lot of stores. Frozen vegetables are as good as fresh. Ice cream, not so much.)
For the most part the aisles are more processed (read: calorie dense and nutrients removed). They should be eaten more sparingly.
That doesn't work too well in the UK. Fruit/Veg tends to be a whole zone with aisles/central islands and maybe some edge. Meat and dairy is often in an aisle. Speciality stuff is on the edges e.g. deli, butcher, bakery, cheese counters if you have them.
Going around the edge of my supermarket clockwise in order:
Near door: bulk snacks and cases of beer.
Left edge: in store baked goods: donuts/bread. Packaged baked goods: cake, bread. Freezer goods: three way split of veg, junk and deserts.
Back wall: Imported regional products - mix of basics and junk food for African/Chinese/Korean/Japanese residents. Breakfast cereals: mostly sugary rubbish but some oatmeal. Biscuits: mostly sugar but some rice cakes.
Right edge: kitchen/bathroom products. Not fattening but an acquired taste.
Healthy stuff is its own aisles and pods near the cookies/cakes side of the store.
On the plus side, fresh fruits and vegetables are directly across from the entrance, so it's hard to miss.
Now new laws are in place to not allow for example random baskets of wine to just be plunked in random isles as it all got ridiculous how much alcohol was being pushed out.
Normally these same laws restricting sales to private liquor stores also come with a convenient quota on the number of licenses issued to protect sales.
Most areas that remove the liquor store limitations also remove the license quota out of necessity.
Often, grocery stores that sell liquor have entirely dedicated wings for it.
> give me convenience or give me death
This is a product that one drinks - like juices and milk - introducing arbitrary inconvenience to obtaining it doesn't really track.
> swap food for an addictive drug
What are soda, sugar, candy, ice cream for some folks?
When alcohol was allowed into the grocery stores here (before only liquor stores could sell alchohol), food was removed -- the store wasn't expanded.
>This is a product that one drinks - like juices and milk - introducing arbitrary inconvenience to obtaining it doesn't really track.
Alcoholic beverages rarely contain any nutritional value. Juices and milk do. Really -- milk?
>What are soda, sugar, candy, ice cream for some folks?
Are you serious? There isn't a Candy Anonymous. There's no Mother's Against Indulging in Ice Cream and Driving. There's no Adult Children of Parents who Really Really Like Skittles.
MA also didn't used to allow shopping in general on Sundays.
Package stores where I grew up in NE were basically adjacent to grocery stores - not a huge deal honestly.