- New York grocery stores are about half the size of the average US supermarket.
- As a Midwesterner living in New York City, I miss grocery shopping in huge superstores.
- The photos show how New York grocery stores pale in comparison to the Midwest.
When I lived in the Midwest, I looked forward to grocery shopping. Browse spacious stores with seemingly endless aisles of products to sample as an indulgent outing. (Granted, there's not much else to do in my little hometown of Wisconsin.)
Onto moves to New Yorktrips to the city's small, crowded, bustling supermarkets became a chore.
A 2009 grocery analysis by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found that New York supermarkets are about half the size of the average U.S. grocery store, with 1.5 square feet per person compared to 3 square feet per person .
New York has gotten some larger supermarket locations since then, including a new 82,000-sq.-ft. Wegmans at Astor Place, but they only serve certain parts of the city and remain the exception.
While there are many great things about living in New York, these photos show how the grocery stores I shop at pale in comparison to the Midwestern chains I know and love.
Even the new Wegmans in New York have shorter aisles and smaller shelves than Midwestern superstores.
The Wegmans The location, which opened at 770 Broadway in October, spans 82,000 square feet and features two levels of grocery and takeout counters.
In my experience, it almost feels like a Midwestern grocery store because it's so much bigger and nicer than many other supermarkets I've visited in the city. Even so, the low ceilings, narrow aisles and smaller shelves make it feel a little more cramped than stores in the Midwest.
