countries where you find convenience stores inside most neighborhoods?

You don't see this often at all in America because most cities have unreasonably tight-assed zoning regulations keeping residential and commercial properties apart -- too far apart when it comes to convenience stores. The point of convenience stores is convenience, meaning you can take a very small walk to pick up a few key items at just about any time of day. But here you have to drive to one if you don't want your walk to last 45 minutes.

I know in Japan a lot of neighborhoods have their own little stores.

And Germany, too... I remember when I was a lil kid, going for walks with my grandma and grandpa every morning when I stayed there for a couple months and there was a mini-mart there nestled amongst all the houses in the neighborhood.

I guess the UK has this too? I remember the Shaun of the Dead movie... he did just a very quick walk to the convenience store, not more than 2 minutes tops.

I wish convenience stores in the US were actually convenient but they're usually not.

wtf are you talking about D: we have them a stone's throw from my house here in FL. they were all over Oslo & Tromso Norway and Moscow Russia when i was there too.

Antarctica

australia has no time for convenience. we have milk bars.

it's about a 5 minute walk to my nearest convenience store, but it's up a hill on the way back.

still pretty convenient though. 5 minutes is really close.

El Salvador. But it's usually just some one selling things from the window of their house. They just put a Pepsi sign or something so you know what's up.

im pretty sure youre required to live in them in one of those places like denmark

Czech Republic

takes 20 seconds to get to the nearest one

Maybe some are put out of business by competition with the local Megalomart. If you have to drive to go to a convenience store, you'll probably drive a bit more for a better deal at the huge chain.

When I lived in San Francisco I loved being within walking distance of just about everything.

Seoul. Tokyo. Shanghai.

They all destroy Vancouver or London for numbers of convenience stores.

Let's say you're at a park in vancouver. You've run out of water, oh no, wtf are we going to do? In Seoul, there are guaranteed at least two convenience stores within a 2 minute walk. In Vancouver, you're SOL.

My last house in Seoul had 5 convenience stores within a 5 minute walk.

india ? lol ?

I've got 20 or so shops within 5 minutes. 4 are 24/7. All sell alcohol, food, general items.

Also within 5 minutes are 9 breakfast places and about 10 restaurants.

North London is like that.

  chenGOD said:

Seoul. Tokyo. Shanghai.

They all destroy Vancouver or London for numbers of convenience stores.

 

Let's say you're at a park in vancouver. You've run out of water, oh no, wtf are we going to do? In Seoul, there are guaranteed at least two convenience stores within a 2 minute walk. In Vancouver, you're SOL.

My last house in Seoul had 5 convenience stores within a 5 minute walk.

this is true. It doesn't make these infinite apartment block hells any less hellish though. Seriously, China and Korea have taken apartment complexes to some other level of reality. Someone needs to shoot a surreal TV show a la Twin Peaks or The Kingdom in one of these places. I was just in one last night, the place was as close to having no soul as any residential district I can imagine - apartment complexes stretching to infinity, each having it's own little "Family Mart" or "Buddies" or "Lawsons" - convenient, sure, but stupefyingly creepy. It's the same as tract housing in the US burbs, taken to logical suicide.

  fenton said:

I've got 20 or so shops within 5 minutes. 4 are 24/7. All sell alcohol, food, general items.

 

 

Also within 5 minutes are 9 breakfast places and about 10 restaurants.

 

 

 

North London is like that.

holy fuck. i've got one within five minutes that sells smokes (which i think is awesome, to have one) and grocery store within 7 minutes (which also sells smokes) but my closest booze outlet is like 15 or so minutes away.

crazy shit.

yeah canada and it's fucking liquor stores.

Seoul's convenience stores are like that, food, booze, smokes, stuff. Although since the bars never close, getting booze is not an issue....

christ i'm probably lucky i live in canada

least in alberta the liquor stores are open till like 2 or 3 am.

  essines said:

crazy shit.

You'd think there are too many but it's like this on most of the busier roads.

Everyone has their 'favourite' shop. Or, like me, irrationally goes to every single one at different times, depending on mood/time/alcoholism.

I can see 4 out of my window.

Tokyo had fucking shit loads too. I found it very convenient.

There were like, 6, all around the hotel, I could never decide, so I just went to them all until I was unconscious. I swear they have 12 varieties of every beer brand, each subtlety different in terms of crispness and alcohol content.

Place saw me coming.

jesus fuck

i've never once seen any kind of store from my house. ever. and a convenience store that sold booze is unthinkable.

this shit always blows my mind even though i'm completely aware of it.

There is my local shop. Next to it is a derelict storefront. Then a café, then a brothel. It pretty much repeats that formula for a few miles. They try and open any other type of establishment and it goes the way of the derelict storefront.

Belgium,

they sell everything (alcohol, cigarettes,food,...) except medication, which you have to get from specialized shops.

In the bigger cities they are everywhere, although not 24/7 (doesn't seem to be allowed over here) although there are plenty dayshops and nightshops

Amsterdam ain't great for convenience stores. there's a 'nightshop' near me but it's ridiculously expensive and doesn't have all basic food (like normal bread, only has french bread), only good for booze but only open til 12. three small-ish supermarkets 5 minutes away though.

where i lived in Bristol there was 4 convenience stores and an off-license within 1 minute (all with booze, essines, and cheap deals on the booze), a street with around 10 convenience stores 5 minutes away, and huge all-night Tescos 10 minutes away.

edit: interesting innit

  my usernames always really suck said:

You don't see this often at all in America because most cities have unreasonably tight-assed zoning regulations keeping residential and commercial properties apart -- too far apart when it comes to convenience stores. The point of convenience stores is convenience, meaning you can take a very small walk to pick up a few key items at just about any time of day. But here you have to drive to one if you don't want your walk to last 45 minutes.

same in canada. man, i hate north american town planning. fucking endless grids of bullshit from horizon to horizon

you tend to get houses mixed in with shops/pubs/etc here in Blighty. less so in newer suburban developments though.

Amazingly, walking down my street to the main road, you'll actually find a cornershop on the corner. It takes less than a minute to walk there!

i have a 24 hour gym, bank, 4 ATMs, a mom & pop mexican food place, donut shop, ham radio supply, pet store, theatre, best buy, target, pier one, gas station, hotel, and many more within walking distance. 24 hour kroger, burger king, whataburger, and walmart within 1-2 miles