About 10 to 15 minutes walk depending on where you want to shop
this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
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I live close to the central area of an ~80,000 population city.
Looking at Google maps I've got about 10 general stores within 300 meters, probably thrice that within 500m, plus plenty of smaller specialised stores.
300 to 600m seems like a reasonable distance to walk to and back with four to six bags of groceries.
For smaller more specialised shopping trips one or two kilometres would be fine too.
Three might be a bit much, though I've often walked that to go to the cinema.
700m for one and 1000 for another one. I ususally choose just based in my mood. They are basically the same
About 60m. 30 if I cut across the courtyard. It almost takes me longer taking the stairs down from 4th than walking the rest of the way.
In your situation I would probably order my weekly groceries online, if that was an option. I would still visit the grocery store occasionally, in which case I would walk and/or go by bus. Well, in reality I would probably own a bike, but that also depends on your infrastructure over there. I’ve never lived that far from the nearest grocery store, though. There are many options here within that radius, the nearest ones being basically next door.
I'm American. I regularly walk to the shop that's 1.75 km, won't drive it because it's too close.
The closest Real Grocery is 2.5km, that I take electric bike. Same for the Whole Foods that's much farther (5.5km) but that I consider an adventure ride and certainly not a walk. The groceries would melt by the time I got home if I walked.
All of these my husband drives to, and I think that's more typical. I have hangups about driving short distances.
I have several stores I frequently visit here, from 300 to 1500 meters away. If I need something from further away I just jump into the car or on my bike. It's not the distance that keeps me from it, I walk about 10 kilometers a day with my dogs and friends. I just don't want to walk an hour to get groceries, that's boring as hell.
I have a bunch of medium and small shops very close to my house, a market, and a few supermarkets about 30-40 minutes away.
Obligatory "I'm not European" but have quite a few online friends from euro land that I yak with regularly.
Remember their grocery shopping habits are (typically) much different than Americans. Where US shoppers may go once every week or two, and make large bulk purchases to load into their car, it's more common there to stop by a market every day or two on the way home from work or another errand, just to get a single light bag that is enough for the next couple meals. "Carrying home groceries" for a km or two is less of a chore if it's not 25kg of groceries at a time.
I get the feeling that many Americans are under the illusion that most Europeans live in big cities like Paris or Amsterdam. And while it may be true that people in those cities have different shopping habits compared to Americans in similarly sized cities, that doesn’t reflect the reality for all - or even most - Europeans. For me and most of my friends, going to the supermarket once or twice a week by car has always been the norm.
Yeah, I can't stomach our tap water, so having to buy drinking water adds to my grocery weight. I guess that's also not normal for most Europeans.
2 miles. I drive it. There are shops nearby but they're a bit pricey
Depends how many you're shopping for. My nearest supermarket is about a kilometre away and if I'm going there I'll always walk. That's a grand distance even with a heavy shop.
I'd do 3 if I was just buying for myself but it's at the upper limit depending on weight, especially in 30C (I presume dry heat because fuck that shit otherwise).
I live in Los Angeles and just happen to have a grocery store within easy walking distance. Like 0.5 km. But I don't, because the old nice little convenience store got turned into stupid Whole Foods. Or Mold Foods, as we started calling it after trying some of their groceries. Now I drive a mile to where I can get fresher produce and dairy, and paper towels that don't disintegrate with the first touch of liquid. Or we get our groceries delivered.
My nearest grocery store is 0.4km away point to point on gmaps, it's an 8 min walk in one direction, entirely via pedestrian only areas with no road crossings on flat road. I consider this to actually be a bit far, as in the previous city I lived in I had a convenience store 3 min walk away.
I think your friend is messing with you.
3km is kinda far, even with a bicycle, I have a small shop down the stairs and a medium supermarket at 5 min walk
500 meters give or take.
1600 metres, but I’m not walking to do the weekly shop. Or 900 metres if I want to pay extortionate amounts of money for probably out of date items.
In a 300-meter radius I have two large stores that I visit often, one super large 1 km away, and lots of small ones. Plus there are plenty of fast-food places all around. If I'm cooking something and realize I don't have an ingredient it takes like 7 minutes on foot to get it and be back in my kitchen. So I have never felt the need to have a car.
It is 2.4km to my nearest shop (and most of that to reach a bus stop, as it happens). I have walked there from time to time, but I wouldn't do an actual grocery shop there anyway: we have the weekly groceries delivered.
I have brought a full grocery shop home in a large rucksack that kind of distance, and more, in the past when on holiday, but I wouldn't want to do it regularly.
I have also known a couple of other people who do that kind of distance with a huge rucksack for a monthly top up of specific things that their local shops don't carry, but they are both weird in several ways other ways. Good weird, but still weird. This is not something that the majority of people that I have known would even consider.