Grocery stores are stressful places with lots of people where you want to be in and out as fast as possible. So you develop a routine that helps you to do it as efficient as you can.
When they move stuff around it’s not the changes as such that give you trouble, it’s that you have to change your routine, and that takes time. And because you are in this stressful place full of people it can take a longer time to adapt your routine.
If, every time you go to the store, they would empty the store for the whole day, just for you, so no time pressure, no people, you wouldn’t mind if they changed stuff around. You’d take your time to find the new location, maybe even remember it faster, and you’d also examine the stuff that’s now occupying the location of where the things you want used to be. Maybe even think about it it’s something you need. Having stuff turn up in unexpected places can make you revaluate themI just realised that I made a generalisation when this may just only be how I personally experience this. So … Just replace every “you” with “I” … Sorry.
I did feel this today and so I empathise, as the Lidl close to my place got new shelving and they reorganised the whole store.
I felt very out of sorts as my routine hinged on me going through almost all aisles in an S pattern, and I took longer to see if I had everything I needed.
It will take some time, sure, and I’d say that the categories are better organised now, but it was still a bit lame.
I love change but they completely rearranged our local grocery store after ten years of living here and it never being rearranged and the new layout makes ZERO sense. The sandwich bread got moved from being next to the fresh bread and is now next to the shampoo and flowers. The fake meds (idr the name right now, super tired) are where the real meds used to be, and the real meds are split into two sections, one in the pharmacy and the other in the normal “bathroom” section with makeup and shampoo and stuff.
With all of the rearranging they also got rid of more than half the selection of everything. Before we had a ridiculous number of nice breads and now it’s pretty much just cheap unhealthy shit like Wonder and Sara Lee. But they kept all the expensive jellies and jams and got rid of the cheap ones.
Fucking nightmare. I think whomever decided all of it has never walked into a grocery store before.
Sounds like they might have arranged it so that customers have to search for things and hope they impulse buy things they did not intend to. Profit seeking is likely behind the reduced selection as well.
Oh definitely but it’s had the opposite effect. There are fewer people in the store than ever and personally I’m shopping at much smaller mom and pop grocery stores now.
It can do that yes - I also avoid some stores that do it. I guess it works for them though as they still keep doing it again every few years.
It was working just fine the way it was before, though…
Roughly 30% increase in sales every time they do it.
Confused customers take longer to find what they’re looking for. Taking longer to find things means they stay in the store longer. Staying in the store longer makes them more likely to buy more things.
Ah, the wonders of capitalism – making a service worse, more frustrating, and less efficient because that’s more profitable.
I cannot stand when they do this. It’s been months and I still can’t find some things so just give up and buy it from elsewhere. Not sure why they’re willing to give up sales like this.
Most people just put up with it.
I don’t like transitions periods. Change is fine. But that time switching from the old to new, is awkward and uncomfortable. So I sprint through it as fast as I can. I want to get to the new predictable normal as quickly as possible.
it’s been over a year here at wm, i still go to the wrong aisle more than once each trip for groceries. the new layout makes no fucking sense.
Rearranging the grocery store is a betrayal
By some cruel twist of fate, I watched them decommission the nut dispenser leaving us to choose between buying nuts packaged in single-use plastic or not buying nuts. 'Twas a sad day.
Badly, I’m automatically against any change. Though it depends how much I’m affected by that change.
Yes I’m fully aware that some changes can be good. I’m still against those on the principle that all change is bad, but i will suck it up for the first few weeks to months until it takes me to get used to it and push through if the change has some overall positive effect.
So i don’t like change at all. It’s rather stressful, but i can push through it if necessary. Just don’t expect me to be in a good mood or get any positive feedback on it for few weeks to months.
Though, screw grocery store rearrangement. There’s no forgiveness for that one.
Changes I make are fine, It’s external ones I very much dislike and end up internalizing my reaction.
Mine stems from trying to plan every little detail (when needed) of whatever activity it is.
I just try to remember I unfortunately can’t control the world like I’d want to.
I hate it, when that happens!
I got a new boss three months ago and they create chaos, stress, and uncertainty with their wildly inconsistent directives. I am driven to the edge of insanity multiple times per week an all I can do is try my best to disassociate and do the best I can with the work while doing the best I can to not give a fuck all-around.
And things are not calming down into a steady-state, its just more unhinged with each passing day.
Autism is my excuse
I actually kind of like it. When physical world around me stays the same for a long time, I start to feel stuck, which makes me very anxious, instead of feeling safe. This leads to me liking stuff like, moving to new places, re-arraging furniture, even grocery stores changing their insides. I also cannot have strict schedule to do stuff, because that makes me really anxious and paralyzed too, so I have “about-ish” time-windows (usually around 1-2h). However, mess with that schedule, and I might be upset and anxious, for multiple days.
Oh no, I hope they don’t rearrange it into one of the other 3-4 layouts every grocery store uses! I can walk into a Target or Walmart for the first time, check if the electronics section is in a front corner or the back of the store, and based on that I can track down anything in the grocery section to within an aisle without even looking at the signage because they all use the same design principles.
Dedicated grocery stores can mix it up a little since they have more than one line of aisles and a wall of refrigerated space, but generally they fall into similar patterns as well.
