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If you don’t think that walking past people was a problem, then yes, the arrows didn’t help.

You cannot avoid walking past people. Let's assume that everyone is following the arrows as intended. My wife has her list, and she knows where everything is. She goes through the aisles in order.

In aisle two, there is a Hispanic family with four kids in tow (which is fine with us, if mom can handle them and grandma for shopping). They are perusing the cereal section and have not decided which one to take. My wife needs to "play through" as it were.

In aisle 4, there is the old couple shopping together. One is in a scooter. The other is creakily hunched over on the other side of the aisle, reading all the labels, making sure the two of them make the best decision.

Aisle 7 has a young guy, his cart half full on the opposite side of the aisle (again) and he happens to have it positioned in front of the items that my wife needs to get to.

In short, these are nearly immovable obstacles that don't take hints or anticipate competing traffic (my Canadian wife is subtle, the people in the sample don't respond to a pause and a mild stare waiting for them to move). Regardless of direction, they have to be maneuvered around or through.

At the start of the row, you assess the row. If you don’t want to sit and wait for whoever is in the row, you move two rows down, and keep going, and come back.

Me? I just waited for people. And if I had someone behind me, I went ahead, moved back up the other aisle, and circulated back. Although frankly, I wasn’t too worried abuot anybody passing me, I just didn’t want them to feel bad about it.

It’s not that hard. But as soon as the guy with the cough and no mask came up the row the other way, I was stuck. I couldn’t easily turn around and run away. I simply turned my back until he passed.

It’s like one-way roads in the city. They do make it a little “harder” to get around, but end up working better for everybody as a whole.

I don’t think people were ready for one-way shopping, and the people stocking the shelves tended to ignore it because they were always coming from the back so they just walked down the aisle that way.

I won’t miss the arrows, but I think they could have been helpful.