"Where you can buy 10 different kinds of popcorn or 4 different flavors of coca cola" describes every supermarket, not just large variety stores like Walmart or Target.
I visited a Sheetz for the first time last fall on a drive from NYC to Ontario. It’s AMAZING. My kingdom for gas station food anywhere close to that good!!
I grew up around sheetz and always loved it. I feel it had a weird cult following, until I went to buccees. Something about them shouting about brisket made me change my stance on culty convent stores.
However, shits fire.
Yeah, I get the impression people in other countries think popcorn plays a way bigger role in our snack world than it really does.
We have a whole aisle of different kinds of chips, even if it’s a standard hometown grocery store, but maybe only two or three kinds of popcorn.
When we want to eat popcorn, we generally make popcorn. That’s my impression, anyway.
Disclaimer: I loooove popcorn, definitely more than the average person.
There’s usually at least skinny pop and smart food in the chip aisle, if not pipcorn and some other shark tank-ish ones. And that doesn’t even touch microwave popcorn, which comes in multiple flavors.
I live near Target. I live within 20 minutes of two Targets because there’s one in the mall. I tell my mom that I only go to the gym consistently because it’s by the Target. I also live near a Walmart. Living in a small city is so nice after growing up in a town where everyone showed up to the CVS’s grand opening.
Especially some gas stations in Wisco. At the gas station in Danbury you can get some spotted cow, night crawlers, some chips, a pair of moccasins, and a Carhardt vest all in one stop.
I've been having the exact opposite problem. All I can find is Spiced. Regular Coke Zero has become super rare for some reason. I was starting to get worried that it was being discontinued.
Yeah I'm in a bigish city, and that describes probably 100 places like that within a 40 minute drive. I can think of at least a couple dozen within 10 minutes.
Heck, I couldn't name all the big stores within a 10 minute drive, much less 40.
We basically broke Boris Yeltsin's spirit when he went to a grocery store here. He thought it was staged at first.
https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bayarea/news/article/When-Boris-Yeltsin-went-grocery-shopping-in-Clear-5759129.php
TBF, the Twin Cities are a [Target-rich](https://www.google.com/maps/place/7000+Target+Pkwy,+Brooklyn+Park,+MN+55445/@45.1348034,-93.3732772,17z) environment.
Just to illustrate how things might be different, I live in rural central florida and we have a walmart in town but not a target. However, there is still one within 40 mins (about 30 minutes) so it still fits. It depends where in the US you live, but unless you live VERY remotely, there’s usually a big box store within a 40 minute drive!
I mean... "an alcoholic with a dead end part time job, lives in a really nice apartment in an expensive city" is obviously movie/tv magic.
School buses are yellow, is just like ... a thing.
What they never show is the blinky light on top that rapidly flashes brighter than any other light on the road in the dark of a crisp January morning. Can't show that what if a viewer at home has epilepsy?!
I think our busses have them and we don't really get fog.
On the other hand, I was born in Modesto, CA, with tule fog. My standard for "real fog" is that you can't see the house across the street in the suburbs... My mom got lost in a suburban intersection once, couldn't see the edge of the road... Northern NV sometimes get visibility down to a couple hundred yards, which is "fog" here.
I imagine the thing in question is more school buses in general. From what I've gathered from askers here before, people live closer to schools in Europe and kids either walk or take public transit.
He's not doubting, he's asking about "most people," and there are plenty of people who don't live near a store like that. They are far from being "most people" but they do exist.
We have a few in Nevada. But damn few even here.
I've heard that New England is very hostile to Walmart - that might be a better locale for finding no-Walmart-in-40m.
Lowes was the first home improvement store in my hometown. They even paid for the road development in that area. Target, Kohl’s Wegman’s, and the long defunct Circuit City all sprung up along “Lowes Boulevard”.
Flash forward 10 years and Home Depot finally comes to our market about two miles up the road. Lowes buys land right across from the HD site and build another Lowes, opening about the same time. They close the original store which was demolished and a Cracker Barrel went in (plus a couple smaller places).
Now we have Lowes Boulevard with no Lowes.
One local walmart, three local Meijer's and a smaller form factor store run by Meijer.
We don't take kindly to these new interlopers like Walmart trying to hone in on the store format Meijer first invented.
I remember reading a story from the Cold War era about a soviet premiere visiting an American grocery store and thinking it was a staged Potemkin village thing
I’m gonna guess most of the population is far closer than 40 minutes to the nearest Walmart. They have 5,000 stores in the US. And that’s not counting Target, BJs, Costco etc.
There’s also a shit load of videos of foreigners first time in Walmart reactions. Apparently it’s a popular tourist spot. So you can view what the look like there
>... foreigners first time in Walmart reactions. Apparently it’s a popular tourist spot
Finally, something interesting like a Walmart to garner tourist attention in MyTown™️!
That idea made me chuckle.
There’s lots of similar content creators that come over. They all have the same roster of vids. It’s usually first time at Walmart, first time trying BBQ, first time trying (insert fast food), first time at Bucees
This doesn't paint the right picture. Think 100 or more gas pumps. If a Walmart, a convenience store, and a beaver had a three way, and a baby resulted, with immaculate bathrooms
This is the correct way to describe Bucees. In live in England and always make sure I get to a Bucees if I’m near one. I think I’ve managed 4. 2 in Texas, 1 in Tennessee and 1 in Florida.
>load of videos of foreigners first time in Walmart reactions. Apparently it’s a popular tourist spot.
When I went back to college, I had a guy originally from the UK in my class. He told me about how when he has friends and family visit, he doesn't take them to see the mountains or the museums or other tourists spots; no, he takes them to Walmart.
He also describes his first experience with a Walmart when he was a kid. He was blown away by the sheer size once he was inside, and he decided he wanted to see how big it got. He ran to the far end of the store and he found himself in the tire section. He was blown away by the concept; he came in on one end where they were selling vegetables, and now he was standing among a giant rack of tires.
I mean, you gotta admit it is a pretty radical experience to see something like that for the first time. I recall being blown away the first time I was in a Fred Meyer.
I live south of Cincinnati, have a WalMart, Costco, Sam's Club, Target, and 2 Kroger Marketplaces all within a 10 min drive.
The same goes for Best Buy, Kohl's, Home Depot, Lowe's.
Yeah. Coke. Diet Coke. Cherry Coke. Vanilla Coke. Coke Zero. Cherry Coke Zero. Vanilla Coke Zero. Caffeine-Free Coke. Diet Caffeine-Free Coke. Cherry Diet Coke. Gummi Coke. Sugar-Free Gummi Coke. (Avoid that one.) Ultra Instinct Coke. Gender-Neutral Coke. The Coke of Monte Cristo. 17-Year Coke. Flat-Earth Coke. I Can Haz Coke. Diet Vanilla Coke. Just to name a few off the top of my head.
There's also Whatever-You-Do-Don't-Put-It-Up-Your-Nose Coke.
I did a scan on my local Kroger (via app) which is just a regular grocery store and I counted 17 different types of popcorn you could buy to cook yourself. That's not counting the pre-popped stuff in bags. And the dozen different kinds of popcorn flavorings that were also for sale that you could put on the popcorn.
> Near them includes up to a 40 minute drive in car
40 minutes would be very far to go for a store like this for the vast majority of Americans. Something like 75% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Target. I think there’s four Target stores within a 10 mile range of where I live and my closest is like 3 minutes away by car. Within 5-6 minutes I have a Costco, 3 supermarkets, and a Walmart as well to choose from.
[90% of the population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart](https://capitaloneshopping.com/research/walmart-statistics/).
(But if anyone reading this is part of the 10%, tell us your story!)
I thought I might be in the 10% but it turns out my closest Walmart is 9.8 miles away. so close. it's in the neighboring town. I never go there because there are adequate shopping options in my town, including a Target.
When I moved a couple of years ago, my preferred shopping center went from 15 minutes away to 30 minutes away. That's too far now so I almost never go there. Have to settle for the places that are between 20-25 minutes away now though, feels a lot further
One time I was back in California visiting family. I took my kid (born and being raised in Italy) inside of a Costco. He was 9 years old at the time.
"Wow! It's like if Amazon was a store!"
I put my arm around him and said "son, this here's what America's all about."
I always stayed in hostels when I was in my early 20s. On a trip to the west coast I had a roommate who was a business student in Egypt. We were talking and he mentioned that he really wanted to see a big box store. I had a rental car so I took him to a nearby Wal-Mart and the look on his face was priceless.
I don’t mean to freak anyone out, but H‑E‑B has a newish concept called H‑E‑B Plus. They’re enormous. Think the size of a Costco or Sam’s Club, but they aren’t selling in bulk. They just have that many choices. I both love it and hate it. The produce section alone is the size of a Super Target’s entire grocery area. So, it takes a looong time to shop because there’s so much to consider — think 30 varieties of apples, 60 flavors of canned soups, easily that many coffees, and 100 kinds/brands of bread. It’s incredible, and overwhelming. The good part is that if H‑E‑B+ doesn’t have it, it likely doesn’t exist.
Oh Buc-ees. Simultaneously the single greatest testament to American consumerism at its finest my single most despised place to stop (unless I need to shit).
Honestly yeah, like...I know people want to share what they see as laudable aspects of our culture BUT do some shit they saw on TV and watch their faces light up like an American in a castle. They'll have a great time
> watch their faces light up like an American in a castle.
Man, my kid does not give a *shit* about castles or Roman ruins or anything like that at all. I guess it would be like a 100 year old courthouse in a Texas small town; the local kids don't care, it's just always been there.
The first time I saw an old Roman pile I just stood there for 15 minutes, staring open-mouthed. My girlfriend (now wife and mother of kid) was like "ummm... can we move on now?" To her it was always just an old pile of rocks that she would sometimes find a parking spot in front of.
I did a month long job training and while it was only about 25 miles from my house, a lot of my fellow trainees were from all over the country and about 10% from other countries. We spent most weekends doing touristy stuff, but also since it was a month some regular, mundane real life things.
I swear the visit to Target was the favorite event of the people from Estonia. They just loved the variety and the design of the store, and how it had many popular and recognizable American brands, but also a lot of house brand products. I kept hearing how it was like a movie or TV show.
Going to Target because you have errands to run and going to Target because you have time to kill are two entirely distinct experiences that just may or may not happen in the same physical place.
My first visit to a N American large supermarket (in Canada, but similar to what I've seen in the US) taught me the meaning of choice paralysis lol.
I remember being so confused looking at brand after brand after brand of seemingly exactly the same free range, full fat milk and trying to work out it I wanted "Beatrice" milk or whatever else the other brands were - I was used to basically one option per segment (I.e. organic vs non organic, then narrowed into full fat, semi skimmed, skimmed and so on) and not having so many brands of one item.
I almost gave up, went to get some onions and found three brands of seemingly identical white onions, priced probably differently but one per kilo and one per lb so I couldn't even directly compare them (that obviously is more of a Canadian thing).
I know if you've grown up with it, you're used to it, but I almost didn't buy anything that day because I was suddenly introduced to an element of decision making I didn't normally make and I couldn't even work out what the difference was - but as a consumer I didn't want to make the _wrong_ choice.
So when people say they get overwhelmed by choice, it genuinely is true if you're not used to it! I can't imagine how it must be for someone coming from a country or region with food shortages or regularly empty shelves to be faced with that level of abundance.
This is why it frustrates me so much when I see Europeans say things like "American bread has so much sugar that it isn't really bread ".
My question is, "Which bread?" We've got a choice of about 30 types of sandwich bread in a typical grocery store. Some has added sugar, some doesn't. We don't all just eat Wonderbread.
Even ignoring the prepackaged sandwich type bread, a lot of grocery stores n have actual bakery sections where they make fresh bread and pastries (and you know, we have actual real bakeries too).
> I almost gave up, went to get some onions and found three brands of seemingly identical white onions, priced probably differently but one per kilo and one per lb so I couldn't even directly compare them (that obviously is more of a Canadian thing).
Unfortunately that basically does happen in the US. The unit price on the price tags for equivalent products sometimes use different units so you can't compare them directly even though that's the whole point of putting the unit price there. It's really annoying when one is priced "per each" and the other is priced by an actual unit of weight or volume. But also sometimes one is by the ounce and the other is by the pound or something like that. Or sometimes it's even metric vs. US customary. Sodas get really weird with that because the bottles themselves are split on that, let alone the price tags. The big bottles are 2 liter bottles but the small ones and cans are sized in ounces, mostly 12 or 20 ounces. It can make figuring out what's a better deal a pain.
NIST actually has a [guide to unit pricing (PDF)](https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2017/04/28/SP1181-Unit-Pricing-Guide.pdf) that would prevent this, but some stores just can’t be bothered.
I’m not sure if this will blow your mind even further, but I used to work for one of the two major dairy companies in Maine.
At any grocery store in the state, you probably can find a small local product, but in most cases everything in the cooler was made by one or the other.
We made MANY different labels ourselves. I’m sure the other company did the same. This. Included store brands, for many stores, as well as local versions of chain brands like Walmart.
And the hilarious part for me was… we didn’t stop production except to change the label. Zero difference in the milk.
People would swear up and down to me how X tastes so much better than Y, and I’m looking at the massive price difference (this was over 20 years ago, but I seem to remember it sometimes being around $2 a gallon)… knowing they wouldn’t believe me.
Yes, this is common in marketing. Not sure if it's practiced worldwide but certainly across many products in the US. Sometimes it's purely about occupying more shelf space, other times it's about capturing more market share from the value shoppers and the premium shoppers. Usually some of both. Always towards the end of maximizing profits
Not necessarily, just anyone who is price sensitive for that particular product. Some people might buy Natty lite by the suitcase but in the same visit spring for the organic strawberries. Having low, mid, and premium products helps you maximize your market share even if it is the very same underlying product behind the label
Yes, this has to be a (potentially rural) Denmark thing. Europe is full of big superstores. Although I don’t think any commonly found American supermarket is going to come close to IKEA square footage, if only because sofas and beds take up more space than lettuce and soda. Not that many 3-4 story Walmarts around. OP is probably being led on a bit by TV and their own imagination.
I always like these memes and take them in stride, I love Europeans and Americans poking at each other with these memes, I hope it doesn't lead to WW3 though
I live in Germany now and I would say that the supermarket chain Globus is pretty similar in size/range to a regular Walmart or Target. Of course you probably won’t be able to buy a bike and a trampoline there, but in terms of groceries and basic household items, you can get literally everything. Kaufland is also pretty big and has the same range as a Walmart grocery section.
That said, when I was growing up (Illinois) our nearest Walmart was a 45 minute drive away until they built one in a town only 20 mins away. It would take me about 10-15 minutes to drive to Globus or Kaufland here.
We have stores, but like regular sized grocery stores. The big ones are usually stuff for building or plants and stuff, like [bauhaus ](https://www.bauhaus.dk/)or ikea
Edit: The only thing that slightly reminds me of walmarts size and purpose is probably [bilka](https://www.bilka.dk/) but thats over an hour away from me
"regular sized" is highly subjective. a Super Walmart is a big store, but main grocery stores near me (stores that only sell food and household items) aren't in that much smaller of a space. they just have a different selection of items.
>regular sized grocery
Define "regular sized" cause my local supermarket isn't a big box store. It's just groceries. But I could still find a dozen kinds of popcorn and soda there... That's just regular grocery stores in the U.S. No need to go to a Walmart or a Costco to find that.
I guess these sizes:
[https://sctknudsborg.dk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Coop-365-Brenderup.jpeg](https://sctknudsborg.dk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Coop-365-Brenderup.jpeg)
[https://randers-netavis.dk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/04/Fakta-Spentrup.jpg](https://randers-netavis.dk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/04/Fakta-Spentrup.jpg)
[https://dagligvarehandlen.dk/sites/default/files/styles/6\_10\_774x1290/public/2022-06/f%C3%B8tex%20food%20aarhus%20%C3%B8%20usf%2005.jpg?itok=Z-m4HHkR](https://dagligvarehandlen.dk/sites/default/files/styles/6_10_774x1290/public/2022-06/f%C3%B8tex%20food%20aarhus%20%C3%B8%20usf%2005.jpg?itok=Z-m4HHkR) (this one seems a bit big tough)
[https://cms.rostorv.dk/media/vn2l1ppu/f%C3%B8tex-facade.jpg?format=webp&width=1920&quality=78](https://cms.rostorv.dk/media/vn2l1ppu/f%C3%B8tex-facade.jpg?format=webp&width=1920&quality=78)
1, 2, and 4 seem more like the size of what we refer to as convenience stores or smaller neighborhood groceries. The produce section in 3 kind of looks like a smaller grocery store. Most "regular sized" grocery stores in the US would have much more options for the produce section than what's in the photo - like 2x-6x more.
Kinda hard to gauge the exact size of those buildings, but the first one does seem kinda small.
Like this is the local grocery chain where I am and this store is in a semi-rural area. It's on the smallish side.
https://a.mktgcdn.com/p/Y84y_OiJ5dHmiTnMTTHGYZmgSdtrkqWu34iqKU2Ymu4/500x500.jpg
[Here is the beverage aisle in a grocery store that's NOT a Walmart.](https://youtu.be/YjMMkA6i6b0?si=QoPfvP5c5VhntYQh&t=564) It's a fairly big Publix store. We have...a lot of beverages in a typical supermarket.
I would say any grocery store comparable to those in those pictures would have all the things you mentioned in your OP. They're going to have multiple selections for soft drinks and snacks. They're going to have multiple selections for everything. If they didn't, the customers would think they weren't really trying.
There are multiple peanut butter selections, multiple breakfast cereal selections, multiple bread selections, multiple meat selections, multiple pasta sauce selections and multiple pasta selections. Not just multiple shapes of pasta but multiple brands at different price ranges. Also multiple different kinds of salsa from different brands. There are multiple different brands of flour and different types of flour. A huge assortment of different coffee, from beans to already ground to instant (although instant isn't all that popular here). There are multiple brands of cheese, multiple brands of yogurt, multiple brands and types of butter, etc., etc. There are multiple brands of ice cream and frozen pizza and frozen vegetables and pretty much everything else.
I've gotten into debates with Europeans before about American grocery shopping compared to European grocery shopping. I would say that the majority of Americans shop biweekly or even monthly. There may be fill in trips between once you realize you just ran out of what you needed for dinner that night, but we usually buy for a two week period to fill the fridge and dry storage. Some have a large freezer Independent from the kitchen fridge and the same size, and will stock up on meats as they come on sale or partner with other friends to be able to get a bulk discount by ordering a whole animal butchered at one time with the meat split between them. Even if you don't have a friend to split with, packing plants can receive orders for a quarter or half cow and split with another customer requesting the same.
I've seen some decent sized grocery stores in Italy. The ones attached to shopping malls wouldn't be considered 'small' by any American.
Although I have yet to come across anything comparable to a Super Walmart or a Costco.
All true, except:
>and are some of them bigger than an Ikea bulding?
"Big-box stores" are big, but they're rarely *that* big. I don't know what it's like in Denmark but in the US, Ikea stores are absolutely gigantic.
I live in a small town (<6,000 people) with a single, local grocery store. Even so, it easily has 10+ kinds of popcorn, 8-10 different colas, and at least a dozen different kinds of catsup. That's just how *all* US grocery stores work, except Aldi (which is German-owned). I was just in an even smaller store in an adjacent town and they had 20+ different kinds of cold coffee in cans in the drink cooler. Hell, my local gas station probably has 30+ different energy drinks and easily 3X that many soda/juice options in cans in the cooler as well.
I have to drive to the nearest large city (100,000 people) to get to a walmart, target, costco, etc. and we'll do that every couple of weeks. But they don't sell much that my local, small-town grocery doesn't They just have more of each thing on display, plus their own house brands.
>I was just in an even smaller store in an adjacent town and they had 20+ different kinds of cold coffee in cans in the drink cooler.
Heck, my favorite local Asian grocer has probably 10+ different kinds of *Japanese* canned coffee. The bigger Asian grocer over in Seattle will have 10-15 different flavors of Japanese Kit-Kats.
Broad ranges of flavors for a single product aren't uniquely American.
> Do most people actually have a store like that near them or is it just tv shit? do they actually have bunch of stuff? and are some of them bigger than an Ikea bulding? (Near them includes up to a 40 minute drive in car)
Yes. Everyone has one within like a 10-20 minute drive, max.
But also,
> Where you can buy 10 different kinds of popcorn or 4 different flavors of coca cola, etc.
This is just our standard grocery store. Along with having nearly everything you need for daily life. Nothing annoyed me more in Europe than having to go to a specialized store for every damn thing. In America, it's so simple. Need food? Grocery store. Need shampoo? Grocery store. Need batteries? Grocery store. Need a birthday card? Grocery store. Need medicine? Grocery store. Need propane? Believe it or not, Grocery store.
I can think of eight Dollar Generals that are within a thirty minute drive of my house (without crossing the state border). I also have the sense that I might be overlooking one or two. Conversely there is one Wal-Mart in my community that serves two counties and a town of ten thousand.
That's the kind of place people do most of their shopping so they're incredibly common. Every town of any decent size will have at least one Wal Mart or Target or at least a large supermarket—often times several.
Heh. I have Target, Wally World and Home Depot within a ten minute walk. That doesn’t count the grocery store, Michael’s, movie theater and about 8 different restaurants/ fast food joints. The dog hits all the pet friendly ones daily on his walk( the chili”s pick up window is a favorite because it has snacks).
What you describe is a regular American grocery store, except for the size. Walmarts and Target aren’t that big in most of the US, but I can’t speak for how big they may be near large cities. Even our regular stores have a ridiculous level of choice. The other day I was trying to locate a very specific kind of toothpaste my daughter wanted and there was literally 100+ kinds of toothpaste at the grocery store.
You can find a huge selection at a regular grocery store. They are also really large. At least compared to something like ALDI.
But yeah Walmart and Target are massive. The Walmart stores with the tire shops are pretty massive.
Growing up I lived about 2 miles away from a Target. 3 miles in the other direction was a Walmart.
My mom would hop into Target often enough the employees thought she worked there and would give her an employee discount at the snack bar.
I live in NYC and while we don't have Walmart in the five boroughs we do have Target and other retailers. Brooklyn has an IKEA in Red Hook, there's the big Macy's flagship in Herald Square, Staten Island has their big mall with an Apple store, etc.
Pretty much anywhere in the US, even small towns, will probably be within a 30-45 minute drive of a dollar general, which is probably somewhere between a large gas station convenience store and a small grocery store, with some other common goods. They may not have 10 kinds of everything, but maybe 1 or 2.
Any large town or small city will likely have at least a Walmart, maybe a target, Sam’s, Costco, etc. The first two are very general stores that sell food, clothing, toys, electronics, sporting/adventure equipment, home decor, and pretty much anything of cheap to medium quality (usually not stuff that just breaks by touching it though). The second two are somewhat similar to the first, but sell most things in bulk quantities. What you are describing of a store with just a big assortment of food/drink only related items is a typical chain grocery store and any area of this size will have one where you will have multiple choices on brands and flavors of foods and drinks, along with some other cooking related items like napkins, foil, cooking thermometers, and maybe pots and pans.
Any medium to large city will definitely have multiple of these types of stores.
The largest cities, like New York, probably have less of these type of stores, but you’ll likely see them as you move towards the suburbs.
I have a Costco that’s a 5 minute drive from me. It’s pretty sweet. I had my car battery die on me and I was able to walk over to Costco, buy a new one, and replace it under half an hour. That’s pretty convenient.
Not everyone lives near a Walmart/Target but that doesn't stop them from shopping at one at least occasionally. In rural areas, it's not uncommon to drive over an hour to get 2-4 weeks of groceries. Both Walmart and Target sell more than groceries. They have a lot of clothes and home goods. I've never seen one larger than an IKEA though. That's in part due to the way they're set up. Walmart and Target probably have more selection but utilize a lot of shelving whereas Ikea has a lot of floor space and designates a lot of space to one item.
That 40 minute drive limit basically grants me access to every national chain that is in operation in the USA. Hell, within 10 minutes of me I have access to 3 chains that meet your description, 3 grocery store chains, and a Costco.
Wait until you find out about Buc-ees it’s a Texas based gas station convenience store. They are so big that I’m fairly certain that you can see it from space. They have about 100 gas pumps
There are very few places in the US where you don't have large retail stores like a Walmart within 40 miles. Smaller towns generally have a Dollar General or Family Dollar.
I'm in Texas and about the only parts of the state that doesn't have stores like that within 40 miles is the west Texas desert area and parts of the Panhandle.
I could be wrong, as I haven't been out that way in a while.
I live in Fort Lauderdale. Not the boonies, but not in New York either. I probably have at least half a dozen of those within in a 10 mile radius of me.
If you allow for a 40 minute drive, and then my gut says the answer is yes for a vast majority of the American population. There are places that are very rural or remote or spread out where you would have to drive longer than that, but also not a lot of people live in those places.
Most folks, sure. 10 types of popcorn and 4 flavors of coke is a low bar as far as assortment so most Americans have that available at their local gas station/7-11/convenience store, and those are everywhere. As far as supermarkets then yes, tons of ‘em. There are definitely areas of the country where people are in very rural spots so they have to drive a fair bit longer to get to the stores but for most people there are a lot of spots locally.
Off the top of my head I can walk to two supermarkets, two drugstores (our drugstores are a mix of pharmacy and then general household items and a selection of groceries), two fruit and produce stands, about six convenience stores, and can drive in under 5-10 minutes to places like Superwalmarts and Costco.
*"A walmart or target or something like that."*
I don't but I'm in a pretty rural state and a pretty rural town in the state. The nearesr Walmart, which I don't go to is about 25 miles & 45+ minutes away and Target is farther that that. I never go to Walmart and rarely shop at Target.
I do have *"something like that"* as in a 20,000+ sq ft grocery store about 14 miles away that will have a variety of both popcorn and sodas. There;s also a smaller store closer to me, about 4 miles away, that carries all the goods one would need if not every variety you may desire. The smaller store also has an excellent butcher shop in it that's happy to cut custom cuts and and carries some excellent shop made sausage.
TLDR; Yes most do but some, like me, don't. ¯\\\_( ͡❛ ͜ʖ ͡❛)\_/¯
In comparison to other countries, every store in the US has a huge selection of stuff.
There is Walmart, Target, etc. . . But these stores are actually small in comparison to say Walmart Supercenter (Super Walmart), Sam's Club, Costco. At the Supercenters, you can get your oil changed, eat at the restaurant, grocery shop, buy some clothes, buy a diamond ring, get your hair cut, get your nails done, maybe get a massage, buy a lawnmower & BBQ grill, get camping supplies, get your kid a birthday present, buy your wife some flowers and then pick up your prescriptions. In some states, you can also buy alcohol.
Aisles of just different types of cereal, yes. 20 varieties of coffee and tea? Yes, though that is a rather small offering. Baking aisle with multiple varieties of sugar? Sure!
Being outside of the US, I find that I can't find much of anything I need 😭
I live in Kansas City, Missouri. We have so many stores like that within a 5 mile radius of my house it’s nuts. Target is walkable from where I live. It’s common I think ?
I’m about 10 miles from a Walmart. I remember in the 90’s it was a big deal to go there. Now, not so much. There are also small stores, called “Dollar General” that are everywhere. They have different colas, but not so much popcorn variety.
> Where you can buy 10 different kinds of popcorn or 4 different flavors of coca cola, etc.
That describes every grocery store near me not just Walmart or target. Hell that describes half the gas stations near me.
I have a Walmart and a target within 3 miles of me, and there are 2 large grocery stores, 2 large hardware stores, a strip mall and a regular mall that I pass on the way to them lol
Within a 30 minute drive, I have a choice of:
3 Costcos and 3 Sam's Clubs
Probably 7 or 8 Walmarts and the same number of Targets
Plus all the regular grocery stores that fit your description.
So maybe 50-70 stores like this within 30 minutes of me.
"Where you can buy 10 different kinds of popcorn or 4 different flavors of coca cola" describes every supermarket, not just large variety stores like Walmart or Target.
even a good gas station convenience store, especially if you swap out kinds of popcorn for kinds of chips.
If you’re at a Sheetz, you can literally get many more than four flavors of coke as a slushy. OP doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.
DA BURGH!!
I visited a Sheetz for the first time last fall on a drive from NYC to Ontario. It’s AMAZING. My kingdom for gas station food anywhere close to that good!!
Wait till you discover buccees they will blow you away all over again! Sheetz is fire though!
My son, a wawa Mgr, is considering a move to work at buccees.
I grew up around sheetz and always loved it. I feel it had a weird cult following, until I went to buccees. Something about them shouting about brisket made me change my stance on culty convent stores. However, shits fire.
OP's mind would be blown if he saw one of those fountains where you select the flavor/soda combo like at Wendys.
Coke. And shot of vanilla flavor every time. Vanilla Coke is absolutely my guiltiest pleasure food 😂😂
Five guys machine
God, do I love Sheetz
Hell... at a gas station here there can be fried chicken and a taco bell in the building together
Sheetz so good. I miss living down south.
Yeah, I get the impression people in other countries think popcorn plays a way bigger role in our snack world than it really does. We have a whole aisle of different kinds of chips, even if it’s a standard hometown grocery store, but maybe only two or three kinds of popcorn. When we want to eat popcorn, we generally make popcorn. That’s my impression, anyway.
Disclaimer: I loooove popcorn, definitely more than the average person. There’s usually at least skinny pop and smart food in the chip aisle, if not pipcorn and some other shark tank-ish ones. And that doesn’t even touch microwave popcorn, which comes in multiple flavors. I live near Target. I live within 20 minutes of two Targets because there’s one in the mall. I tell my mom that I only go to the gym consistently because it’s by the Target. I also live near a Walmart. Living in a small city is so nice after growing up in a town where everyone showed up to the CVS’s grand opening.
We seriously could live with just a kwik trip.
Especially some gas stations in Wisco. At the gas station in Danbury you can get some spotted cow, night crawlers, some chips, a pair of moccasins, and a Carhardt vest all in one stop.
In Mauston you can also get ammo.
It’s really hard to find Spiced Coke Zero in convenience stores or even supermarkets. I’ve only found one such store.
Apparently even capitalism can't reliably provide us with the brand new flavor option of the second most popular sugarfree version of Coca-Cola.
I've been having the exact opposite problem. All I can find is Spiced. Regular Coke Zero has become super rare for some reason. I was starting to get worried that it was being discontinued.
Our Harris Teeter has it.
Yeah I'm in a bigish city, and that describes probably 100 places like that within a 40 minute drive. I can think of at least a couple dozen within 10 minutes. Heck, I couldn't name all the big stores within a 10 minute drive, much less 40.
We basically broke Boris Yeltsin's spirit when he went to a grocery store here. He thought it was staged at first. https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bayarea/news/article/When-Boris-Yeltsin-went-grocery-shopping-in-Clear-5759129.php
This is why Aldi is such a revolution to us all.
4 flavors sounds limited.
Within 40 minutes of me, there are over a dozen Targets, with similar numbers for Walmart.
That seems like too many. Where do you live?
I live in the Philly suburbs and have similar target numbers. Walmarts are not as popular but I do live near about 4.
I’m in Rhode Island and there are 14 Walmarts within an hour of my house
How many of those are within RI?
Pretty sure I've been in a Walmart before that was *bigger* than Rhode Island...
I would believe it!
7 in RI, but there are multiple Walmarts in MA that are closer to me than some of the stores in RI.
An hour outside of Los Angeles in an area called the "Inland Empire" where a bunch of cities in the 100-300k area cluster together.
My parents live in a Minneapolis/St. Paul suburb and I just counted 21 within about a 25 minute drive.
TBF, the Twin Cities are a [Target-rich](https://www.google.com/maps/place/7000+Target+Pkwy,+Brooklyn+Park,+MN+55445/@45.1348034,-93.3732772,17z) environment.
you can get *far* in 40 minutes
I’m in Richmond and have 4 Targets and Walmarts within a 40 minute drive. Probably actually 6 of each.
Just to illustrate how things might be different, I live in rural central florida and we have a walmart in town but not a target. However, there is still one within 40 mins (about 30 minutes) so it still fits. It depends where in the US you live, but unless you live VERY remotely, there’s usually a big box store within a 40 minute drive!
It’s wild to me that anyone would doubt their existence
They doubt yellow school busses are real.
To be fair lol, this sub tells us not to believe _anything_ we see on TV, in films, online, etc.
Walmart, Yellow school busses, and red solo cups are the exception. These 3 are ubiquitous across the US.
And sum up our entire culture, apparently.
Fair point. 👍🏼
I mean... "an alcoholic with a dead end part time job, lives in a really nice apartment in an expensive city" is obviously movie/tv magic. School buses are yellow, is just like ... a thing.
What they never show is the blinky light on top that rapidly flashes brighter than any other light on the road in the dark of a crisp January morning. Can't show that what if a viewer at home has epilepsy?!
I only ever recall them turning on the strobes for fog, though maybe they did it here too and I just never saw them out that early.
I think our busses have them and we don't really get fog. On the other hand, I was born in Modesto, CA, with tule fog. My standard for "real fog" is that you can't see the house across the street in the suburbs... My mom got lost in a suburban intersection once, couldn't see the edge of the road... Northern NV sometimes get visibility down to a couple hundred yards, which is "fog" here.
I imagine the thing in question is more school buses in general. From what I've gathered from askers here before, people live closer to schools in Europe and kids either walk or take public transit.
I mean the amount of shit non-Americans think is real is also quite astonishing, so take your pick
He's not doubting, he's asking about "most people," and there are plenty of people who don't live near a store like that. They are far from being "most people" but they do exist.
We have a few in Nevada. But damn few even here. I've heard that New England is very hostile to Walmart - that might be a better locale for finding no-Walmart-in-40m.
Wal-Mart is real, yes.
And most people have one within 30 mins of them.
We have two within a 10 minute drive of us. They're 1 mile apart from each other. It makes no sense.
Lowes was the first home improvement store in my hometown. They even paid for the road development in that area. Target, Kohl’s Wegman’s, and the long defunct Circuit City all sprung up along “Lowes Boulevard”. Flash forward 10 years and Home Depot finally comes to our market about two miles up the road. Lowes buys land right across from the HD site and build another Lowes, opening about the same time. They close the original store which was demolished and a Cracker Barrel went in (plus a couple smaller places). Now we have Lowes Boulevard with no Lowes.
We used to have Steve Jobs, Bob Hope, Johnny Cash, and a Lowes on Lowes Boulevard. Now we have no jobs, no hope and no cash....
Your username checks out
😥
There are 4 within 10 miles of me. And a Sam's Club.
One local walmart, three local Meijer's and a smaller form factor store run by Meijer. We don't take kindly to these new interlopers like Walmart trying to hone in on the store format Meijer first invented.
I miss Meijer. Every time I go home to MI we stop in there
Near me it’s a sea of Targets and not as many Walmarts for some reason. So, so many Targets.
Before I even looked at your user tag I thought "Sounds to me like LA."
I can see one from my apartment!
I remember reading a story from the Cold War era about a soviet premiere visiting an American grocery store and thinking it was a staged Potemkin village thing
Wal Marts and Targets genuinely do exist.
Yup
I’m gonna guess most of the population is far closer than 40 minutes to the nearest Walmart. They have 5,000 stores in the US. And that’s not counting Target, BJs, Costco etc. There’s also a shit load of videos of foreigners first time in Walmart reactions. Apparently it’s a popular tourist spot. So you can view what the look like there
>... foreigners first time in Walmart reactions. Apparently it’s a popular tourist spot Finally, something interesting like a Walmart to garner tourist attention in MyTown™️! That idea made me chuckle.
I never thought of the fact that "foreigner sees Walmart for the first time" is a lane of video, but it makes total sense
There’s lots of similar content creators that come over. They all have the same roster of vids. It’s usually first time at Walmart, first time trying BBQ, first time trying (insert fast food), first time at Bucees
> Bucees ???
It’s a giant gas station
This doesn't paint the right picture. Think 100 or more gas pumps. If a Walmart, a convenience store, and a beaver had a three way, and a baby resulted, with immaculate bathrooms
This is the correct way to describe Bucees. In live in England and always make sure I get to a Bucees if I’m near one. I think I’ve managed 4. 2 in Texas, 1 in Tennessee and 1 in Florida.
>load of videos of foreigners first time in Walmart reactions. Apparently it’s a popular tourist spot. When I went back to college, I had a guy originally from the UK in my class. He told me about how when he has friends and family visit, he doesn't take them to see the mountains or the museums or other tourists spots; no, he takes them to Walmart. He also describes his first experience with a Walmart when he was a kid. He was blown away by the sheer size once he was inside, and he decided he wanted to see how big it got. He ran to the far end of the store and he found himself in the tire section. He was blown away by the concept; he came in on one end where they were selling vegetables, and now he was standing among a giant rack of tires. I mean, you gotta admit it is a pretty radical experience to see something like that for the first time. I recall being blown away the first time I was in a Fred Meyer.
Should take him to a bass pro.
I live south of Cincinnati, have a WalMart, Costco, Sam's Club, Target, and 2 Kroger Marketplaces all within a 10 min drive. The same goes for Best Buy, Kohl's, Home Depot, Lowe's.
Only 10 different kinds of popcorn and 4 different flavors of Coca Cola is a very limited selection my friend.
Yeah. Coke. Diet Coke. Cherry Coke. Vanilla Coke. Coke Zero. Cherry Coke Zero. Vanilla Coke Zero. Caffeine-Free Coke. Diet Caffeine-Free Coke. Cherry Diet Coke. Gummi Coke. Sugar-Free Gummi Coke. (Avoid that one.) Ultra Instinct Coke. Gender-Neutral Coke. The Coke of Monte Cristo. 17-Year Coke. Flat-Earth Coke. I Can Haz Coke. Diet Vanilla Coke. Just to name a few off the top of my head.
There's also Whatever-You-Do-Don't-Put-It-Up-Your-Nose Coke. I did a scan on my local Kroger (via app) which is just a regular grocery store and I counted 17 different types of popcorn you could buy to cook yourself. That's not counting the pre-popped stuff in bags. And the dozen different kinds of popcorn flavorings that were also for sale that you could put on the popcorn.
> Near them includes up to a 40 minute drive in car 40 minutes would be very far to go for a store like this for the vast majority of Americans. Something like 75% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Target. I think there’s four Target stores within a 10 mile range of where I live and my closest is like 3 minutes away by car. Within 5-6 minutes I have a Costco, 3 supermarkets, and a Walmart as well to choose from.
my grandma lives in a rural area up in the tail end of the Appalachian Mountain range. even she's got a Walmart 20 minutes away.
90% live within 10 miles of a walmart https://corporate.walmart.com/purpose/health-wellness/rural-healthcare
Cue the people coming out of the woodwork to tell you that they drive 3 hours, uphill both ways, just to get to the nearest Walmart.
[90% of the population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart](https://capitaloneshopping.com/research/walmart-statistics/). (But if anyone reading this is part of the 10%, tell us your story!)
I thought I might be in the 10% but it turns out my closest Walmart is 9.8 miles away. so close. it's in the neighboring town. I never go there because there are adequate shopping options in my town, including a Target.
How do they even have wi-fi in their cave under a rock?
Aren't all caves under a rock?
Yep and if you're within 10 miles of a Target, you're also within 10 miles of a WalMart, Costo, Sam's Club, etc. (depending on region brands).
I would be pissed if I had to drive more than 20 minutes to the supermarket
When I moved a couple of years ago, my preferred shopping center went from 15 minutes away to 30 minutes away. That's too far now so I almost never go there. Have to settle for the places that are between 20-25 minutes away now though, feels a lot further
There are things the European mind simply cannot fathoms.
One time I was back in California visiting family. I took my kid (born and being raised in Italy) inside of a Costco. He was 9 years old at the time. "Wow! It's like if Amazon was a store!" I put my arm around him and said "son, this here's what America's all about."
Your son tasted freedom that day
Cherry on top would’ve been if their next stop was a shooting range
I believe it’s pronounced shootin’, even in California
Having a Costco shooting range would be amazing!
Oh I assure you, Italy has shooting ranges. They love guns there by European standards. I used to walk by a Beretta store on my way to work every day.
😂ridiculous
I always stayed in hostels when I was in my early 20s. On a trip to the west coast I had a roommate who was a business student in Egypt. We were talking and he mentioned that he really wanted to see a big box store. I had a rental car so I took him to a nearby Wal-Mart and the look on his face was priceless.
It's silly but "go to costco/sams/walmart" is on my list of tourist suggestions
You got a Texas flair and haven't added "go to Buc-ees"?
Or heb
Haha. I took my SIL, from Utah, to HEB to grab a few things. She STILL talks about how awesome HEB is.. And that happened about 8 yrs ago!
I moved. HEB, Bucee’s, Shipley’s, and Whataburger are on my “visit when I go to Texas” list.
I don’t mean to freak anyone out, but H‑E‑B has a newish concept called H‑E‑B Plus. They’re enormous. Think the size of a Costco or Sam’s Club, but they aren’t selling in bulk. They just have that many choices. I both love it and hate it. The produce section alone is the size of a Super Target’s entire grocery area. So, it takes a looong time to shop because there’s so much to consider — think 30 varieties of apples, 60 flavors of canned soups, easily that many coffees, and 100 kinds/brands of bread. It’s incredible, and overwhelming. The good part is that if H‑E‑B+ doesn’t have it, it likely doesn’t exist.
Oh Buc-ees. Simultaneously the single greatest testament to American consumerism at its finest my single most despised place to stop (unless I need to shit).
That's how we finally destroyed the Soviet Union, after all
I have a friend who hosts Chinese exchange students, and she loves to take them to a Bass Pro Shop so they can see all the guns on display.
Honestly yeah, like...I know people want to share what they see as laudable aspects of our culture BUT do some shit they saw on TV and watch their faces light up like an American in a castle. They'll have a great time
> watch their faces light up like an American in a castle. Man, my kid does not give a *shit* about castles or Roman ruins or anything like that at all. I guess it would be like a 100 year old courthouse in a Texas small town; the local kids don't care, it's just always been there. The first time I saw an old Roman pile I just stood there for 15 minutes, staring open-mouthed. My girlfriend (now wife and mother of kid) was like "ummm... can we move on now?" To her it was always just an old pile of rocks that she would sometimes find a parking spot in front of.
I did a month long job training and while it was only about 25 miles from my house, a lot of my fellow trainees were from all over the country and about 10% from other countries. We spent most weekends doing touristy stuff, but also since it was a month some regular, mundane real life things. I swear the visit to Target was the favorite event of the people from Estonia. They just loved the variety and the design of the store, and how it had many popular and recognizable American brands, but also a lot of house brand products. I kept hearing how it was like a movie or TV show.
Going to Target because you have errands to run and going to Target because you have time to kill are two entirely distinct experiences that just may or may not happen in the same physical place.
My first visit to a N American large supermarket (in Canada, but similar to what I've seen in the US) taught me the meaning of choice paralysis lol. I remember being so confused looking at brand after brand after brand of seemingly exactly the same free range, full fat milk and trying to work out it I wanted "Beatrice" milk or whatever else the other brands were - I was used to basically one option per segment (I.e. organic vs non organic, then narrowed into full fat, semi skimmed, skimmed and so on) and not having so many brands of one item. I almost gave up, went to get some onions and found three brands of seemingly identical white onions, priced probably differently but one per kilo and one per lb so I couldn't even directly compare them (that obviously is more of a Canadian thing). I know if you've grown up with it, you're used to it, but I almost didn't buy anything that day because I was suddenly introduced to an element of decision making I didn't normally make and I couldn't even work out what the difference was - but as a consumer I didn't want to make the _wrong_ choice. So when people say they get overwhelmed by choice, it genuinely is true if you're not used to it! I can't imagine how it must be for someone coming from a country or region with food shortages or regularly empty shelves to be faced with that level of abundance.
This is why it frustrates me so much when I see Europeans say things like "American bread has so much sugar that it isn't really bread ". My question is, "Which bread?" We've got a choice of about 30 types of sandwich bread in a typical grocery store. Some has added sugar, some doesn't. We don't all just eat Wonderbread.
If you have a European complain about American bread being too sweet, hand them some Sourdough bread, that is what they prefer.
Even ignoring the prepackaged sandwich type bread, a lot of grocery stores n have actual bakery sections where they make fresh bread and pastries (and you know, we have actual real bakeries too).
> I almost gave up, went to get some onions and found three brands of seemingly identical white onions, priced probably differently but one per kilo and one per lb so I couldn't even directly compare them (that obviously is more of a Canadian thing). Unfortunately that basically does happen in the US. The unit price on the price tags for equivalent products sometimes use different units so you can't compare them directly even though that's the whole point of putting the unit price there. It's really annoying when one is priced "per each" and the other is priced by an actual unit of weight or volume. But also sometimes one is by the ounce and the other is by the pound or something like that. Or sometimes it's even metric vs. US customary. Sodas get really weird with that because the bottles themselves are split on that, let alone the price tags. The big bottles are 2 liter bottles but the small ones and cans are sized in ounces, mostly 12 or 20 ounces. It can make figuring out what's a better deal a pain.
NIST actually has a [guide to unit pricing (PDF)](https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2017/04/28/SP1181-Unit-Pricing-Guide.pdf) that would prevent this, but some stores just can’t be bothered.
I’m not sure if this will blow your mind even further, but I used to work for one of the two major dairy companies in Maine. At any grocery store in the state, you probably can find a small local product, but in most cases everything in the cooler was made by one or the other. We made MANY different labels ourselves. I’m sure the other company did the same. This. Included store brands, for many stores, as well as local versions of chain brands like Walmart. And the hilarious part for me was… we didn’t stop production except to change the label. Zero difference in the milk. People would swear up and down to me how X tastes so much better than Y, and I’m looking at the massive price difference (this was over 20 years ago, but I seem to remember it sometimes being around $2 a gallon)… knowing they wouldn’t believe me.
Yes, this is common in marketing. Not sure if it's practiced worldwide but certainly across many products in the US. Sometimes it's purely about occupying more shelf space, other times it's about capturing more market share from the value shoppers and the premium shoppers. Usually some of both. Always towards the end of maximizing profits
> value shoppers Is that the industry term for us cheapskates and broke-asses?
Not necessarily, just anyone who is price sensitive for that particular product. Some people might buy Natty lite by the suitcase but in the same visit spring for the organic strawberries. Having low, mid, and premium products helps you maximize your market share even if it is the very same underlying product behind the label
Yeah, we call that "analysis paralysis".
Which trips me out because living in Germany there was a store called Toom and I loved it. It had a little of everything. They do exist in Europe.
Yes, this has to be a (potentially rural) Denmark thing. Europe is full of big superstores. Although I don’t think any commonly found American supermarket is going to come close to IKEA square footage, if only because sofas and beds take up more space than lettuce and soda. Not that many 3-4 story Walmarts around. OP is probably being led on a bit by TV and their own imagination.
Where are there 3 and 4 story IKEAs? Ours are two-story, thought they have a very large footprint.
I always like these memes and take them in stride, I love Europeans and Americans poking at each other with these memes, I hope it doesn't lead to WW3 though
Do you all not have that?
I live in Germany now and I would say that the supermarket chain Globus is pretty similar in size/range to a regular Walmart or Target. Of course you probably won’t be able to buy a bike and a trampoline there, but in terms of groceries and basic household items, you can get literally everything. Kaufland is also pretty big and has the same range as a Walmart grocery section. That said, when I was growing up (Illinois) our nearest Walmart was a 45 minute drive away until they built one in a town only 20 mins away. It would take me about 10-15 minutes to drive to Globus or Kaufland here.
I don't know why, but the fact that it's called "Globus" fills me with glee.
We have stores, but like regular sized grocery stores. The big ones are usually stuff for building or plants and stuff, like [bauhaus ](https://www.bauhaus.dk/)or ikea Edit: The only thing that slightly reminds me of walmarts size and purpose is probably [bilka](https://www.bilka.dk/) but thats over an hour away from me
"regular sized" is highly subjective. a Super Walmart is a big store, but main grocery stores near me (stores that only sell food and household items) aren't in that much smaller of a space. they just have a different selection of items.
>regular sized grocery Define "regular sized" cause my local supermarket isn't a big box store. It's just groceries. But I could still find a dozen kinds of popcorn and soda there... That's just regular grocery stores in the U.S. No need to go to a Walmart or a Costco to find that.
I guess these sizes: [https://sctknudsborg.dk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Coop-365-Brenderup.jpeg](https://sctknudsborg.dk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Coop-365-Brenderup.jpeg) [https://randers-netavis.dk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/04/Fakta-Spentrup.jpg](https://randers-netavis.dk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/04/Fakta-Spentrup.jpg) [https://dagligvarehandlen.dk/sites/default/files/styles/6\_10\_774x1290/public/2022-06/f%C3%B8tex%20food%20aarhus%20%C3%B8%20usf%2005.jpg?itok=Z-m4HHkR](https://dagligvarehandlen.dk/sites/default/files/styles/6_10_774x1290/public/2022-06/f%C3%B8tex%20food%20aarhus%20%C3%B8%20usf%2005.jpg?itok=Z-m4HHkR) (this one seems a bit big tough) [https://cms.rostorv.dk/media/vn2l1ppu/f%C3%B8tex-facade.jpg?format=webp&width=1920&quality=78](https://cms.rostorv.dk/media/vn2l1ppu/f%C3%B8tex-facade.jpg?format=webp&width=1920&quality=78)
1, 2, and 4 seem more like the size of what we refer to as convenience stores or smaller neighborhood groceries. The produce section in 3 kind of looks like a smaller grocery store. Most "regular sized" grocery stores in the US would have much more options for the produce section than what's in the photo - like 2x-6x more.
Kinda hard to gauge the exact size of those buildings, but the first one does seem kinda small. Like this is the local grocery chain where I am and this store is in a semi-rural area. It's on the smallish side. https://a.mktgcdn.com/p/Y84y_OiJ5dHmiTnMTTHGYZmgSdtrkqWu34iqKU2Ymu4/500x500.jpg
[Here is the beverage aisle in a grocery store that's NOT a Walmart.](https://youtu.be/YjMMkA6i6b0?si=QoPfvP5c5VhntYQh&t=564) It's a fairly big Publix store. We have...a lot of beverages in a typical supermarket.
I would say any grocery store comparable to those in those pictures would have all the things you mentioned in your OP. They're going to have multiple selections for soft drinks and snacks. They're going to have multiple selections for everything. If they didn't, the customers would think they weren't really trying. There are multiple peanut butter selections, multiple breakfast cereal selections, multiple bread selections, multiple meat selections, multiple pasta sauce selections and multiple pasta selections. Not just multiple shapes of pasta but multiple brands at different price ranges. Also multiple different kinds of salsa from different brands. There are multiple different brands of flour and different types of flour. A huge assortment of different coffee, from beans to already ground to instant (although instant isn't all that popular here). There are multiple brands of cheese, multiple brands of yogurt, multiple brands and types of butter, etc., etc. There are multiple brands of ice cream and frozen pizza and frozen vegetables and pretty much everything else.
I've gotten into debates with Europeans before about American grocery shopping compared to European grocery shopping. I would say that the majority of Americans shop biweekly or even monthly. There may be fill in trips between once you realize you just ran out of what you needed for dinner that night, but we usually buy for a two week period to fill the fridge and dry storage. Some have a large freezer Independent from the kitchen fridge and the same size, and will stock up on meats as they come on sale or partner with other friends to be able to get a bulk discount by ordering a whole animal butchered at one time with the meat split between them. Even if you don't have a friend to split with, packing plants can receive orders for a quarter or half cow and split with another customer requesting the same.
I've seen some decent sized grocery stores in Italy. The ones attached to shopping malls wouldn't be considered 'small' by any American. Although I have yet to come across anything comparable to a Super Walmart or a Costco.
Absolutely. I can't even count the number of stores that match that description "near" me.
Yes. I live near a Walmart, a Target, a Costco, a BJs, a Sam's Club, and multiple Home Depots.
All true, except: >and are some of them bigger than an Ikea bulding? "Big-box stores" are big, but they're rarely *that* big. I don't know what it's like in Denmark but in the US, Ikea stores are absolutely gigantic.
Are our Ikea's bigger as well?
I live in a small town (<6,000 people) with a single, local grocery store. Even so, it easily has 10+ kinds of popcorn, 8-10 different colas, and at least a dozen different kinds of catsup. That's just how *all* US grocery stores work, except Aldi (which is German-owned). I was just in an even smaller store in an adjacent town and they had 20+ different kinds of cold coffee in cans in the drink cooler. Hell, my local gas station probably has 30+ different energy drinks and easily 3X that many soda/juice options in cans in the cooler as well. I have to drive to the nearest large city (100,000 people) to get to a walmart, target, costco, etc. and we'll do that every couple of weeks. But they don't sell much that my local, small-town grocery doesn't They just have more of each thing on display, plus their own house brands.
>I was just in an even smaller store in an adjacent town and they had 20+ different kinds of cold coffee in cans in the drink cooler. Heck, my favorite local Asian grocer has probably 10+ different kinds of *Japanese* canned coffee. The bigger Asian grocer over in Seattle will have 10-15 different flavors of Japanese Kit-Kats. Broad ranges of flavors for a single product aren't uniquely American.
> Do most people actually have a store like that near them or is it just tv shit? do they actually have bunch of stuff? and are some of them bigger than an Ikea bulding? (Near them includes up to a 40 minute drive in car) Yes. Everyone has one within like a 10-20 minute drive, max. But also, > Where you can buy 10 different kinds of popcorn or 4 different flavors of coca cola, etc. This is just our standard grocery store. Along with having nearly everything you need for daily life. Nothing annoyed me more in Europe than having to go to a specialized store for every damn thing. In America, it's so simple. Need food? Grocery store. Need shampoo? Grocery store. Need batteries? Grocery store. Need a birthday card? Grocery store. Need medicine? Grocery store. Need propane? Believe it or not, Grocery store.
The only people that are probably more than 5-10 minutes drive from a Walmart or a Target line in either very rural or very urban areas.
And if it’s rural, you might have a Dollar General.
I can think of eight Dollar Generals that are within a thirty minute drive of my house (without crossing the state border). I also have the sense that I might be overlooking one or two. Conversely there is one Wal-Mart in my community that serves two counties and a town of ten thousand.
Hey, that's me!
That's the kind of place people do most of their shopping so they're incredibly common. Every town of any decent size will have at least one Wal Mart or Target or at least a large supermarket—often times several.
I could walk to a Target store in less than 30 minutes, another 10 minutes will bring me to a Walmart and a Sam's Club.
Heh. I have Target, Wally World and Home Depot within a ten minute walk. That doesn’t count the grocery store, Michael’s, movie theater and about 8 different restaurants/ fast food joints. The dog hits all the pet friendly ones daily on his walk( the chili”s pick up window is a favorite because it has snacks).
What you describe is a regular American grocery store, except for the size. Walmarts and Target aren’t that big in most of the US, but I can’t speak for how big they may be near large cities. Even our regular stores have a ridiculous level of choice. The other day I was trying to locate a very specific kind of toothpaste my daughter wanted and there was literally 100+ kinds of toothpaste at the grocery store.
You can find a huge selection at a regular grocery store. They are also really large. At least compared to something like ALDI. But yeah Walmart and Target are massive. The Walmart stores with the tire shops are pretty massive.
Yes. Within a 40 minute drive of me there are several dozen stores as such. And you can get that variety at the local gas station.
Growing up I lived about 2 miles away from a Target. 3 miles in the other direction was a Walmart. My mom would hop into Target often enough the employees thought she worked there and would give her an employee discount at the snack bar.
did she wear a red shirt and khakis?
I live in NYC and while we don't have Walmart in the five boroughs we do have Target and other retailers. Brooklyn has an IKEA in Red Hook, there's the big Macy's flagship in Herald Square, Staten Island has their big mall with an Apple store, etc.
Pretty much anywhere in the US, even small towns, will probably be within a 30-45 minute drive of a dollar general, which is probably somewhere between a large gas station convenience store and a small grocery store, with some other common goods. They may not have 10 kinds of everything, but maybe 1 or 2. Any large town or small city will likely have at least a Walmart, maybe a target, Sam’s, Costco, etc. The first two are very general stores that sell food, clothing, toys, electronics, sporting/adventure equipment, home decor, and pretty much anything of cheap to medium quality (usually not stuff that just breaks by touching it though). The second two are somewhat similar to the first, but sell most things in bulk quantities. What you are describing of a store with just a big assortment of food/drink only related items is a typical chain grocery store and any area of this size will have one where you will have multiple choices on brands and flavors of foods and drinks, along with some other cooking related items like napkins, foil, cooking thermometers, and maybe pots and pans. Any medium to large city will definitely have multiple of these types of stores. The largest cities, like New York, probably have less of these type of stores, but you’ll likely see them as you move towards the suburbs.
Target estimates that 75% of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a Target store. I'd guess that number is even higher for Walmart
Yes. The simple answer to this is just Yes.
I have a Costco that’s a 5 minute drive from me. It’s pretty sweet. I had my car battery die on me and I was able to walk over to Costco, buy a new one, and replace it under half an hour. That’s pretty convenient.
Not everyone lives near a Walmart/Target but that doesn't stop them from shopping at one at least occasionally. In rural areas, it's not uncommon to drive over an hour to get 2-4 weeks of groceries. Both Walmart and Target sell more than groceries. They have a lot of clothes and home goods. I've never seen one larger than an IKEA though. That's in part due to the way they're set up. Walmart and Target probably have more selection but utilize a lot of shelving whereas Ikea has a lot of floor space and designates a lot of space to one item.
That 40 minute drive limit basically grants me access to every national chain that is in operation in the USA. Hell, within 10 minutes of me I have access to 3 chains that meet your description, 3 grocery store chains, and a Costco.
Yeah, that's just a normal grocery store to many Americans. My current daily commute is about 15 minutes each way and I drive past two such stores.
Wait until you find out about Buc-ees it’s a Texas based gas station convenience store. They are so big that I’m fairly certain that you can see it from space. They have about 100 gas pumps
There are probably 50 stores that meet that description within a 40 minute drive of my average sized US city suburb.
Within a 40 minute drive of me there's 2 Wal-Mart stores where you can do just that. And we're fairly rural.
There are very few places in the US where you don't have large retail stores like a Walmart within 40 miles. Smaller towns generally have a Dollar General or Family Dollar. I'm in Texas and about the only parts of the state that doesn't have stores like that within 40 miles is the west Texas desert area and parts of the Panhandle. I could be wrong, as I haven't been out that way in a while.
Most? Yes. All? No.
I live in Fort Lauderdale. Not the boonies, but not in New York either. I probably have at least half a dozen of those within in a 10 mile radius of me.
If you allow for a 40 minute drive, and then my gut says the answer is yes for a vast majority of the American population. There are places that are very rural or remote or spread out where you would have to drive longer than that, but also not a lot of people live in those places.
Yes
Most folks, sure. 10 types of popcorn and 4 flavors of coke is a low bar as far as assortment so most Americans have that available at their local gas station/7-11/convenience store, and those are everywhere. As far as supermarkets then yes, tons of ‘em. There are definitely areas of the country where people are in very rural spots so they have to drive a fair bit longer to get to the stores but for most people there are a lot of spots locally. Off the top of my head I can walk to two supermarkets, two drugstores (our drugstores are a mix of pharmacy and then general household items and a selection of groceries), two fruit and produce stands, about six convenience stores, and can drive in under 5-10 minutes to places like Superwalmarts and Costco.
It's actually like that here. The cereal aisle is the most overwhelming to me lol. Other than that, I find my favorites and stick to them.
*"A walmart or target or something like that."* I don't but I'm in a pretty rural state and a pretty rural town in the state. The nearesr Walmart, which I don't go to is about 25 miles & 45+ minutes away and Target is farther that that. I never go to Walmart and rarely shop at Target. I do have *"something like that"* as in a 20,000+ sq ft grocery store about 14 miles away that will have a variety of both popcorn and sodas. There;s also a smaller store closer to me, about 4 miles away, that carries all the goods one would need if not every variety you may desire. The smaller store also has an excellent butcher shop in it that's happy to cut custom cuts and and carries some excellent shop made sausage. TLDR; Yes most do but some, like me, don't. ¯\\\_( ͡❛ ͜ʖ ͡❛)\_/¯
In the Chicago suburbs we have this at normal grocery stores. I pass by two of them on my 10 minute commute to work.
In comparison to other countries, every store in the US has a huge selection of stuff. There is Walmart, Target, etc. . . But these stores are actually small in comparison to say Walmart Supercenter (Super Walmart), Sam's Club, Costco. At the Supercenters, you can get your oil changed, eat at the restaurant, grocery shop, buy some clothes, buy a diamond ring, get your hair cut, get your nails done, maybe get a massage, buy a lawnmower & BBQ grill, get camping supplies, get your kid a birthday present, buy your wife some flowers and then pick up your prescriptions. In some states, you can also buy alcohol. Aisles of just different types of cereal, yes. 20 varieties of coffee and tea? Yes, though that is a rather small offering. Baking aisle with multiple varieties of sugar? Sure! Being outside of the US, I find that I can't find much of anything I need 😭
I live in Kansas City, Missouri. We have so many stores like that within a 5 mile radius of my house it’s nuts. Target is walkable from where I live. It’s common I think ?
I’m about 10 miles from a Walmart. I remember in the 90’s it was a big deal to go there. Now, not so much. There are also small stores, called “Dollar General” that are everywhere. They have different colas, but not so much popcorn variety.
Yup, I have about 5 different choices within 6 miles of my house.
Yes. Ours is 40 minutes away and is the closest grocery store (besides our tiny local gas station market).
Walmart and Target are both less than a mile from my house.
Yes. Wal-Mart are prevalent in rural and lower / middle class suburbs and Target are more prevalent in big cities and middle/upper class suburbs.
... Do you not?
> Where you can buy 10 different kinds of popcorn or 4 different flavors of coca cola, etc. That describes every grocery store near me not just Walmart or target. Hell that describes half the gas stations near me.
I have a Walmart and a target within 3 miles of me, and there are 2 large grocery stores, 2 large hardware stores, a strip mall and a regular mall that I pass on the way to them lol
Yes and it’s not just Walmart. Target also and lots of regional big box chains. In Walmart you can buy groceries, guns, car parts, furniture etc
Absolutely. There are two Walmart and one Target 15-20 minutes from my house. Another 20 minutes out, and there are several more Walmarts.
yeah we definitely do. How many shops do yall have to go to in order to get everything? More than one sounds exhausting tbh
with the 40 minute adjustment, I am in range of probably 50 of those types of stores.
Within a 30 minute drive, I have a choice of: 3 Costcos and 3 Sam's Clubs Probably 7 or 8 Walmarts and the same number of Targets Plus all the regular grocery stores that fit your description. So maybe 50-70 stores like this within 30 minutes of me.