From the very beginning of Bike Year, shopping for groceries has been one of my favorite bicycle errands. Grocery bag panniers, either store bought or homemade, make the job significantly more enjoyable. Some folks prefer using a large messenger bag or backpack. I'm still pleased about discovering a back route into Twelve Oaks Shopping Center, which sits near the confluence of two five-lane rivers of asphalt. Penetrating the exclusive domain of cars and seeing the surprise on motorists faces as I pedal through the parking lot remains satisfying. They look at me as if to say, "I wonder how he got in here."
The novelty of a bicycle appearance at the Twelve Oaks Publix store probably explains the absence of a bicycle rack. The idea of providing a bike rack probably never occurred to the store's managers. It doesn't occur to most, it seems.
To my knowledge only two grocery stores in the city of Savannah offer bicycle storage facilities. Both are located within a mile of each other, but they occupy opposite ends of the retail grocery spectrum. Brighter Day Natural Foods is a locally-owned, independent store located in a historic building on Park Avenue at the southern end of Forsyth Park. The Gwinnett Street Kroger is one of five local manifestations of the nation's largest supermarket chain. Yet both stores have seen fit to provide bicycle parking for their customers. Bike nerds will notice differences in the bicycles parked at each store.
2 comments:
Have you ever taken your bike into the store? I've done it several times because there's no place to lock my bike up, but only to pick up prescriptions (at the front of the store).
I haven't yet worked up the chutzpah to push it through like a basket and pick up groceries.
Nice post.
My commute is just a commute. But I really enjoy grocery shopping with the bicycle. In fact, I love doing nearly any errand on the bike. Tomorrow, I'll take the beer keg emptied at Thanksgiving back to the brewery. Weird as it sounds, I'm already looking forward to it.
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