A big part of it is that you have to walk back home, so a 15 minute walk is actually a 30 minute commitment at the minimum just to buy some snacks.
I think we need to make a distinction between “possible to walk” and “walking is the default”. A 30 minute walk to work with a grocery store on the way is doable but you’re not gonna find many people doing it, plus factors like how enjoyable the environment is affects whether you’ll actually want to walk.
I used to have a grocery store that was about a 5 minute walk from my house, and even with a 5 minute walk, there were many things that I couldn’t buy from the grocery store and walk back. Heavy things or bulky things. So I brought my own cart for those things. I also once lived a 15 minute walk from a grocery store, and I simply biked there.
What I’m saying is that people figure these things out. A 15 minute walk isn’t bad for most people, even for groceries, but if it’s only 15 minutes, they can probably figure it out.
Even when I lived very close to the grocery, I still frequently took a bus to go to a different grocery store that I liked. So, that’s another option, living close to transit.
A big part of it is that you have to walk back home, so a 15 minute walk is actually a 30 minute commitment at the minimum just to buy some snacks.
I think we need to make a distinction between “possible to walk” and “walking is the default”. A 30 minute walk to work with a grocery store on the way is doable but you’re not gonna find many people doing it, plus factors like how enjoyable the environment is affects whether you’ll actually want to walk.
I used to have a grocery store that was about a 5 minute walk from my house, and even with a 5 minute walk, there were many things that I couldn’t buy from the grocery store and walk back. Heavy things or bulky things. So I brought my own cart for those things. I also once lived a 15 minute walk from a grocery store, and I simply biked there.
What I’m saying is that people figure these things out. A 15 minute walk isn’t bad for most people, even for groceries, but if it’s only 15 minutes, they can probably figure it out.
Even when I lived very close to the grocery, I still frequently took a bus to go to a different grocery store that I liked. So, that’s another option, living close to transit.