Vilnius, Lithuania. 3 different shops 5 min walk from home. And its not even high density urban area. I shop almost every day

Got four different shops within ~500m.

I don't have to walk more that 10 minutes to a "grocery store" where I live (which is kind of in between rural and urban) but occasionally I might walk 3+ km and back to somewhere with a better selection, take a backpack, that's not an unreasonable walk to me. If I had to do it every day I might complain.

Europeans aren’t a homogeneous blob - we’re individuals. There’s no universal consensus among us about what counts as a reasonable distance to the grocery store.

• 180m to the nearest small supermarket which has a satisfactory selection

• 450m-650m to three normal-sized supermarkets which have everything I need in daily life

• 1km to a mall which has everything I could ever ask for in life

Yes, I live in the city.

One more opinion: 3km is definitely too far for groceries, that's driving distance. It's half an hour walking each way, the return loaded with bags? Forget about it.

I live on the edge of a small-ish town and it takes me 15 min to the nearest supermarket, and that's quite a lot, everyone on this streets bikes there, in about 5 min. From there towards the center you don't need to walk more than 5 min to get groceries.

I'd say having to walk more than a 10 minutes for groceries already affects the apartment value.

I've lived in different places here, currently I have a couple of options in a 400m radius, in my previous house I used to have two options in a 100m radius. Before that I lived in another country and had a small market at around 600m and the nearest supermarket was at 1.5km, I almost never went to the big one and instead had them deliver to my house, but it wasn't a chore going there, it was just boring and a waste of time when I could just order online.

A few years back I used to live in a small city and my options were 1km for a small market or 3km for a big one, you sort of get used to going the 3km to the big one when needed, but it's not fun, and I would consistently put out going to the big one until it was absolutely necessary. I believe 3km is bike distance, sure you can walk that much, it's not that far away, but it takes a long time and is exhausting carrying lots of groceries in summer for that long.

All of that being said, I was not born in Europe, so locals might have different opinions, although I think everyone I've talked to thinks that above 1km it becomes bike/scooter distance for routine things (you don't need a bike if you're going to the cinema at 1km, but grocery or other routine stuff it's worth the investment just on the time you'll save)

My nearest store is about 3km away and I will usually walk there unless I'm picking up anything especially heavy or bulky.

Nearest grocery store is 100m away. Nearest supermarket is 850m (just cheched). I walked to the supermarket moments ago, bought grocery and brought it back all in less than 1 hour. I wouldn't do it with 30 degrees in the middle of the day though. If there were no sidewalks and I had to make a 6km round trip to get groceries, I would invest in the cheapest electric bike possible.

I'd ask your friend if they walk 3k to the market, and if the answer is no, tell them to STFU.

the walk is good for your though. You can feel like a badass for doing it, but complaining kind of weakens that.

80 meters lol. I've lived in cities, where it's always been less than 700 meters.

Not European, but most people in my city would say "3 minutes" as they'd live directly above a mall. I live somewhere quieter, so it's about 12 minutes for me to the closest supermarket, and 4 more if I want to go for cheaper groceries, hella restaurants and food stalls, and boba.

When I was staying in Berlin, the closest Lidl was a 15-minute walk away.

From Serbia, I have a supermarket about 200m from my apartment and a mall with a huge supermarket about 20 mins away on foot. In my city at least, you're rarely more than 15 mins away by foot from a supermarket, they're everywhere.

About a 4 minute walk!

The closest small one is about 1 km, a reasonably sized one for stocking up is 5 km or so. I have never walked to either in 5+ years of living here. Even the closer one is like a 10 minute walk (ish), and then I would have to carry back what I bought, which also means I can barely buy anything. 5 km is more like an hour by foot one way, so that's just not happening, ever.

I usually take my bike to the closer one, or the cargo bike to the bigger one. I also pass by the smaller one on the way home from work (I commute by bike). The fact that I own bikes is why there's never any rain to walk anywhere, basically. Additionally, there is very little sense in taking a (relatively small capacity) bike to a big store when a cargo bike is available. I also don't own a car. I don't know a single person who would regularly walk 1 km+ for shopping, but I also don't know anyone who doesn't own any form of personal transport. Most would usually take a bike, and take a car for bigger or heavier trips.

Taking a bus or tram/train for grocery shopping does happen for some, but highly depends on the local situation and town or city layout if that can bring useful time savings. Unless you live is the middle of nowhere, bus and train schedules are anywhere from every 10 to 30 minutes or so, more frequent in dense areas where there's multiple lines.

Edit: for context, I live on the outskirts of a medium sized city (250k inhabitants), but my town only has 3500 or so. The small supermarket is on the literal other side of that town, the bigger one is one town over (opposite direction of city). Distance to the city is also only only 10 km or so (to the center), but there happen to be no "attractive" supermarkets in that direction for me.

If it is more than 1 km, I bike. Not that it is too much to walk but it is too much to carry heavy bags.

I have a neighbourhood small shop at 5 min from me. But I usually go to bigger ones 30 min or a bit more so I can get some exercise and enjoy nature and fresh air.

As a european, it takes me 8 minutes to walk to a supermarket, though i use a bicycle

I live in a city center in Norway. Grocery stores surround me. Several within a few blocks. Maybe moving soon to a rural area where the closest will probably be 10 minutes via bus. But still not too shabby.

500 meters to the more expensive one in my small "sister" village, and around 3km to the bigger ones in the main village (where I buy bulk every few weeks using the car).

I have a grocery store in the first floor of the building, so just an elevator down and up. One supermarket in each direction 550 and 650 meters. But I live in the city centre, so that is a privilege most people do not have.

About 1,5 km for daily things and for more i take the bike vor public transport

I'm in the glorious position that I have to cross the road once to get to the baker that is a supermarket too, another road crossing and I'm at the butcher. From my door to the bakery, to the butcher and back home... 200m.

The next Aldi, Tedi and REWE is about a kilometer away.

American here... 3km is just under 2 miles, so you're looking at a 4 mile walk just to get to the grocery store and back?

I wouldn't walk that, mostly because bringing the groceries back is the problem. Maybe if you had a wagon or a cart or something.

Closest grocery to me is 1.77km, I wouldn't walk that either. No sidewalks all the way so you'd be feet away from vehicle traffic, and coming home with groceries would be up-hill. No thank you.

The nearest store is about 200 m away, or about 30–40 seconds away by bike. 🤷‍♂️

3 km is quite the distance to carry a big load of groceries in 30°C weather, yes indeed. That's not being lazy.

Not european but 2km to the nearest grocery store with fewer selection, 3.8km to the nearest town with better selection. The caveat here is i moved into a rather new residential area and it's in the middle of nowhere. Before this the grocery store is 3min walk, and the furthest part of the residential area is still 1km away from the nearest grocery store.

I wouldn't walk 3km though, that is still 30min to 40min walk one way. Cycling is better.

Usually walk once a week to a grocery store 2.25 km away to stock up, but I'll supplement that with a trip every other day to the smaller grocery store 0.5 km away. I don't own a car and walk/scooter most places and I'd say that's a decent trek. I mostly walk it instead of taking my scooter because I go with my girlfriend and we'll talk, also can carry more back, and it gets us our steps which we like to track.

If it was just me and it was 30C I'd probably just take my scooter or the bus which is decent for getting there most times.

Around 2.2km at the moment, according to google maps :3

Most places I lived before were significantly closer to the store tho.. 3km is still walking distance for groceries I'd say, but anything further than that and I'd definitely be considering a different transport method, just cause of the bags

800m by foot only.

Or about 50m and 2 tram stops.

edit: counting is hard.

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 have 5 supermarkets to choose from within a 10 min walking distance

The nearest to me is super run down and gross with people doing drugs in the parking lot, and its 2.7km from me. Instead I end up going to a nice one in a different part of town just over 9km away. Obviously driving is the only option for either.

Nearest store 8 min walk. The one i perfer, 20 min biking and 10km away. Living on the countryside

500m to the cheap one and 750m to the one with the bigger selection. I walk or bike there. 3km would be too much for me i think. I would take the bus or train as i don’t have a car either, but doesn’t sound like fun.

Depends on what I want (availability in the shop).
But anything is in a range of about 6km in every direction and reachable by bike.
Got a Lidl, Aldi, Edeka Center, Rewe, Kaufland in my range.
All of mid size.

Depending on the weight I am willing to carry the groceries (if they don't need cooling).
But that depends on how much time I have and if I am in the mood.

I’m in the US (and in FL no less so it’s routinely 30-38C/80-100F). I moved to my specific house, among other reasons, because it’s about 250M/a quarter mile from a grocery store. I walk there 2x/week and carry back on average about 10kg/20-25 lbs of groceries. Lots of others in my neighborhood do the same, but most of Florida is not built for walking which is incredibly disappointing.

I don't live in Europe anymore, but it was about 2.5km one way. There was a closer one, but from a chain I absolutely hated, so there I'd only pick up heavy or bulky stuff, like drinks, toilet paper etc.

Europeans

Huge diversity.

I have 1km and there are 3 different supermarkets, and I go there either by car or by bicycle.

Friends who live in Sweden have 10km to the nearest supermarket and then 50 km to the next one.