Stores are also pushing the boundaries of how far they can reduce aisle widths. Every one of the corporate retailers in my area who have remodeled their stores since the COVID era, have reduced aisle widths. Having had to travel quite a bit the past year and change, my impression is that this seems to be an industry-wide thing.
Also since the COVID era, all or nearly all of the restocking happens during the day time now. In the before times, the bulk of shelf restocking happened during low-volume hours and/or over night. Now, the people stocking shelves are competing for aisle space along with customers.
And don’t forget that pretty much all the stores have order pickers (for online pick-up orders) roaming around with large trolleys. In theory this helps reduce foot traffic to the stores, of course, but for a variety of reasons, the way they currently operate seems to negate any of those potential benefits making them a wash at best.
THEN you add the shoppers (particularly older shoppers) whose primary outlets for socialization are church and impromptu meetings in the grocery store aisles, and it is a recipe for frustration for shoppers. People around here are generally nice and courteous, until group dynamics kick in and they get distracted by the news that Betty Parsons was just diagnosed with a heart valve condition and Wanda McCabe’s grand daughter just graduated from college.
I have to go shopping on Saturdays often enough that this is a elephant sized pet peeve for me. The aisle widths are like three people wide, and there’s seven trying to get through, two of them pushing carts. I have to shop like I’m dodging bullets in the fucking Matrix, swinging around the shopping basket to fit through gaps as they form.
And what’s even the result of all of that stocking during daytime? Shelves are empty half of the time anyway, I have to wait actual weeks for something to come back in stock sometimes, the shelf is empty every time I’m there and it’s at different times on different days. I don’t believe I’m always there just after a magical rush where all of it gets sold out.
Covid just straight up ruined everything about shopping in person and it never went back. They realized people will still shop there even if they offer dogshit service and that’s how it stayed. We need to demand better.
While true, especially having to maneuver around stockers …… people manage to block Costco aisles that are like 15’ wide. I can’t even conceive how one person and one cart can do this but they manage
Stores are also pushing the boundaries of how far they can reduce aisle widths. Every one of the corporate retailers in my area who have remodeled their stores since the COVID era, have reduced aisle widths. Having had to travel quite a bit the past year and change, my impression is that this seems to be an industry-wide thing.
Also since the COVID era, all or nearly all of the restocking happens during the day time now. In the before times, the bulk of shelf restocking happened during low-volume hours and/or over night. Now, the people stocking shelves are competing for aisle space along with customers.
And don’t forget that pretty much all the stores have order pickers (for online pick-up orders) roaming around with large trolleys. In theory this helps reduce foot traffic to the stores, of course, but for a variety of reasons, the way they currently operate seems to negate any of those potential benefits making them a wash at best.
THEN you add the shoppers (particularly older shoppers) whose primary outlets for socialization are church and impromptu meetings in the grocery store aisles, and it is a recipe for frustration for shoppers. People around here are generally nice and courteous, until group dynamics kick in and they get distracted by the news that Betty Parsons was just diagnosed with a heart valve condition and Wanda McCabe’s grand daughter just graduated from college.
I have to go shopping on Saturdays often enough that this is a elephant sized pet peeve for me. The aisle widths are like three people wide, and there’s seven trying to get through, two of them pushing carts. I have to shop like I’m dodging bullets in the fucking Matrix, swinging around the shopping basket to fit through gaps as they form.
And what’s even the result of all of that stocking during daytime? Shelves are empty half of the time anyway, I have to wait actual weeks for something to come back in stock sometimes, the shelf is empty every time I’m there and it’s at different times on different days. I don’t believe I’m always there just after a magical rush where all of it gets sold out.
Covid just straight up ruined everything about shopping in person and it never went back. They realized people will still shop there even if they offer dogshit service and that’s how it stayed. We need to demand better.
Why do retired people shop on a saturday.
While true, especially having to maneuver around stockers …… people manage to block Costco aisles that are like 15’ wide. I can’t even conceive how one person and one cart can do this but they manage