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leadfoot9 t1_j9tf1q6 wrote

One factor I haven't seen mentioned yet is grocery "haul culture".

Making lots of small, quick grocery stops through the week (preferably when you're already in the area) is conducive to shopping at multiple small stores that might not be "one-stop shops", but the United States has normalized massive grocery trips enabled by obscenely large cars and sometimes owning 1-3 extra freezers in the basement.

Small grocers tend to thrive in environments where people are shopping on foot or by bicycle multiple times per week and are not making these massive once-or-twice a month "hauls". Maybe it's just correlation, but maybe there's some causation.

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HarpPgh OP t1_j9tkejl wrote

I think you’re spot on with what has shaped this phenomenon especially in the price conscientious middle class of Pittsburgh and probably the development of the grocery business in general, specifically as suburbs grew and these little places couldn’t keep pricing with the larger stores. However, I’d challenge the fact that there are at least 10-12 neighborhoods at this point in time with several demographics (college students, young professionals, people who live on their own) that would greatly benefit from a small one stop shop and there’s simply nothing other than a junk store or a dollar general. I’d also venture to bet you’d have people who would support them even if it is a marginal markup for product if it means they don’t have to take the time and resources to drive to the bigger stores.

Ultimately, it’s a head scratcher to see bodegas succeed in places like Buffalo, Cleveland, and other cities with comparable and even less density than Pittsburgh. Is it as simple as we were trained and forced into hop in our cars/hop on the buses to get groceries? To your point, I think we have been unfortunately. But if that were the case, you’d think you would’ve seen the same in those cities as well.

I guess my question is how can we as a city encourage and support these places like East End co-op but also the original main stays in hopes we see more people drop the junk food novelty shops and bring in produce, eggs, and things to help our neighborhoods, specifically the dense ones, become self-sufficient again.

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leadfoot9 t1_j9to6bq wrote

>However, I’d challenge the fact that there are at least 10-12 neighborhoods at this point in time with several demographics (college students, young professionals, people who live on their own) that would greatly benefit from a small one stop shop and there’s simply nothing other than a junk store or a dollar general

Oof reminds me of college.

To that point, I'd like to propose 2 additional factors:

  1. Universities being real estate moguls that drive up property prices and crowd out low-margin grocery businesses.

  2. Universities monopolizing the food industry with "dining halls"... to the point that many students are required to buy food from the university as a condition of their enrollment.

I'd also say that students are too overworked to cook for themselves, but that's probably highly degree-dependent.

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tesla3by3 t1_j9u0kpr wrote

And the pandemic has increase the "haul culture" tremendously. We've learned over a two year period to buy extra because it may be out of stock next time, and also avoid having to go into a crowded store so often.

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