It’s hard to generalize because neighborhoods are so different. I’ve lived for 30 years in a walkable/bikeable city neighborhood and lived for years without a car. The full service supermarket is about seven blocks away, but there are numerous small convenience markets throughout the area, most of which have at least some fresh fruits and vegetables and a basic beef/chicken/pork selection. No need to stock up; the easy urban tactic is to plan a path home from work to pass by a store, and just buy for a day or two. Since there’s never a line at the little stores, this is not a problem.
Not all neighborhoods are as well off, but in traditional center cities, the pattern is not uncommon. It’s how most people used to live in cities until the automobile took over and people decided they needed to patronize a big store with a big parking lot.
Reasons why some Pittsburgh neighborhoods are devoid of grocery stores:
1) Unions. Back in the 70’s they were all taking a hard line and driving many supermarket chains away. Thorofare, Loblaws, A&P, Kroger and others fled the area. This left Giant Eagle with a near-monopoly.
2) Declining inner-city neighborhoods have a very high percentage of food stamps, AFDC and shoplifting. The first two cost money to administer and the third is pure shrink. Since grocery is a low-margin business it does not take long until the store is not profitable and becomes a target for closing. Those stores do not have the upscale shoppers to offset the additional admin costs and loss from theft.
3) When Giant Eagle closes a location they generally tie the property up in deed restrictions so that no competing grocery store will ever again occupy the space and provide competition.
4) Supermarkets, like most every business here, have been Pavlov-trained to sit on the sideline and wait for the politicians to come along and wave incentives and subsidies in front of them to do what they should be doing for business reasons.
Yes, I lived in Chicago’s Hyde Park years ago - and it was like that. But it wasn’t a burden - people choose those neighborhoods for the ambiance. It’s the concept behind Disney’s Celebration Village. A person can walk to the places they need to go. I love the idea. Zoning to keep people’s lives separated from where they interact with the market place is modern and horrible. Very alienating.