Back in my day we could all fit in grocery stores

Shopping carts used to be smaller.

Costco has wide aisles. People still block them with their shit because people suck.

That feeling you get though when you pick out a shopping cart and all four wheels roll smoothly. Hnnnngg

The maker of this meme-thing is personally calling me out, and I know it, because I've complained about this exact issue like at least a dozen times on this account/username alone.

The chain grocery stores and major retailers in my part of the world have all done post-COVID renovations in the past 3 to 4 years. Somehow defying the laws of physics, but they've reduced the spacing between aisles, increased the number of aisles, and yet they've also reduced product selection at the same time.

Pretty much all them now only have barely enough width for 2 well carts directed by well-behaved customers. However, roughly 1/3 of all aisle have some kind of obstruction, like support columns or hanging displays, mini-displays on the floor, so that it creates a bottleneck where only 1 cart can pass.

Honestly, some times I just want to compare products, read the ingredients, maybe do the math to compare prices but I can't without inconveniencing folks.

when i lived in the city ~ 25 years ago, the 'upscale' grocery chain not only had wide aisles, but they were carpeted, too.. and short people like my mom (~ 5ft) could reach the top shelf.

People got wider

In the US it's generally a good sign if you're in a store with tiny aisles and over packed shelves. It means you're probably not in a chain store but something locally owned that is taking advantage of every inch of space.

I was in the grocery store last week and the main aisle is wide enough for three shopping carts side by side. Me and my basket were trying to pass some old jerk with his cart and the asshole was walking slowly weaving back and forth across the entire aisle and wouldn't let anyone pass him. I finally ran past him and he swerved over and tried to collide with me as I was going by and then had the nerve to get mad at me.

The aisles should be wide enough for me and my neighbor to pass each other in our F-150s

Still as wide, but now Boomers park their carts sideways because fuck you kids.

At my local grocery stores the main issue is not the isle size but the stupid amount of random freestanding product displays in front of the shelves like every 10 feet that used to be relegated to only end caps. Not to mention the crap that they have hanging from the isle shelves that almost always get knocked over at the slightest brush, like hanging chip bags, or crappy dollar store junk like garbage disposal deodorizing balls that no one buys and are still in stock from 1933.

Lately it's gotten so bad, I literally have the urge to just knock them over when I walk down the isle because it's so in your face it feels like an assault.

They want the carts big so you fill them up and the want the aisle right so that there's as much inventory on the floor.

Also these stores want to trap you in so that you're in the store longer