Brits nip to the shop to buy milk. What do Americans buy?

[Fordian]

As in, we nip down the local Tesco metro to buy milk, bread, wine or beer.

What would an American nip down to buy?

And how far away is if?

Mine's a 2 minute drive.

I always thought the car-based use of shop is short for workshop in American English, and without context most people would hear "shop" and think [work]shop.

In British English the only time I use store to mean shop is for some reason within the retail trade when I worked there - we would say things like "Oh they have stock in the Coventry store" or "I'm working in the Banbury store next week" or "Coventry is a bigger store whereas Warwick is a smaller store so we don't stock this line but they do." I suppose equivalent to branch? Otherwise without context, store is a verb to me. (I store my bread in a breadbin)

I’m in the UK, fairly rural so closest supermarket is a 8ish min drive or 30ish min walk. We do one big shop at the weekend but always seem to run out of milk, Greek yoghurt, squash and often fruit too so pop back for those.

I used to live in a big city with a supermarket a 2 min walk away. I miss that in ways but I used to go in most days often for shit I didn’t need just because it was there.

The most important thing to know about corn in the US is that no one would ever think to mix it with tuna, and most people would think that sounds totally disgusting : )

(not me, I'm a happy convert to the idea!)

Also it's not called sweetcorn, just corn

I think possibly Americans eat more corn on the cob, especially in summer

Oh, Trader Joe's my favourite shop in all the world - I'm very envious!

Also it's not called sweetcorn, just corn

True. The only time an American would say "sweet corn" is if there were a need to distinguish it from feed corn for animals. I grew up on a farm and we grew both kinds.

@BertieBotts You are not living in Berlin or Hamburg or the Ruhr, then?

@StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind1 & @Fordian Ah yes, the drive thru bottle shop, marvelous in the feirce heat like today in the UK! I remember beer was sold in 'slabs'!
We had a milk bar and 7-11 near us for Slurpees and Aussie burgers with 'the lot'. They had a great propensity for beetroot in food. Sorry to hijacked the thread but couldn't resist.

Rural Montana or Wyoming: 1-2 hours to get anywhere (each way). You sure as heck don't drop in idly. You bring a few coolers ready to put ice in & buy enough milk & meat to last 2 weeks. $200/receipt in the 1980s & who knows how much nowadays.

We run to the store for milk, bread, and eggs. It’s a 15 minute drive one way.

there was also a popular kids show in the 70s where the child was tasked to go pick up supplies and she repeats to herself over and over again what she needs to get so she doesn’t forget, “a loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter” so sometimes people of my generation will make a joke that we are picking up that list.

Beetroot and pineapple go on burgers with, "the lot", I make them sometimes.
Absolutely delicious.

The best corn is sold out of the back of a truck still in the husk. You will recognize the farmer and know when in the year he is likely to show up in which particular parking lot. The stuff sold in grocery stores pales in comparison.

we drive about 30 minutes to the big grocery store to get the big grocery list for the week. It has a much bigger and higher quality fresh food selection. The closer store is really only good for top ups and packaged items.

The best corn is sold out of the back of a truck still in the husk.

True, or fresh from the field, and cooked immediately. My husband's grandmother would put the pot on to boil as someone picked the corn from her garden, husked it, and then she put in in the pot. The sugars in corn begin to break down as soon as it's picked so it should be cooked as close to picking as possible.

The best corn is sold out of the back of a truck still in the husk. You will recognize the farmer and know when in the year he is likely to show up in which particular parking lot. The stuff sold in grocery stores pales in comparison.

This is 100% true. Same goes for tomatoes.

And the trick to making grocery store corn taste better (if that's all you can get) is to put a bit of sugar in the water to replace what has already turned to starch.

I popped down just now for strawberry nesquick. Kids been asking for it.
4 min walk (Uk, sorry)

True. The only time an American would say "sweet corn" is if there were a need to distinguish it from feed corn for animals. I grew up on a farm and we grew both kinds.

The local farmers definitely get a kick out of "corn thieves" who steal corn from most of the road-facing fields -- it's FEED CORN. Have fun with that.

If I pop to the shop then I'm walking to a small-medium tesco. It's the nearest shop of any kind from my house. It recently extended its opening hours until 10pm (it was 8pm ). About 10 minutes walk away.
When I visit BIL on one of the larger Scottish islands its a small Spar. If the ferry from the mainland is cancelled then things run out I'm store. Likewise fuel for the petrol station and cash for the cashpoint.

I am an American living in a midwestern suburb. Supermarkets are located in business districts so few people are within walking distance of them. Convenience stores and local mom and pop stores can be within walking distance but are higher in price for goods. I try to get all my groceries for the week at the supermarket about 5 minutes from our home. I rarely run out of anything in between but might stop into a convenience store to buy soft drinks or bread etc if there is a deal going or I do run out.

Our grocery store is actually walking distance from our house, a bit unusual in the US I think. But we have had several days where the temperature has reached over 100° Fahrenheit. No one wants to walk in that kind of heat.

What a nice thread. I have shopped a little in the USA. I once worked in Italy so I went regularly to the latteria to buy latte fresco, fresh milk, to put in my English tea, as well as doing the other food shopping in other places. Since then, when I went abroad on holidays, I always liked to go to the food shops and poke around to see what they sell - gizzards and hearts in Arizona. Now in England I might be one of the last rurally-living people who has the milk delivered in glass bottles - no plastic pollution, but rather expensive. If I need extra I can cycle to the local shop in 5 - 10 minutes. I also nip there for small amounts of chocolate.

You can't ( well in 2012) in W.A. either. I travelled to all other states too but only lived in WA and QLD so can't remember. This caused me so much confusion when I first arrived. I was asking people where the off-licence was 😓drive thro bottle-o's were a funny concept too!!

I will add that small local shops are very rare in the states. Most rural towns only have a convenience store/gas station at best.

They're common in cities though. Though just like in the UK more expensive than the bigger chains so more for picking up a couple things.

In DC one of the main chains is Safeway, sometimes I see Safeway products here in the UK which I don't understand at all

The one near me was called the Soviet Safeway because it was near the Soviet embassy and was always out of meat, fish and milk. (That was a million years ago obviously!)

Thanks to everyone for replying!

I, too, am fascinated by other people's lives! Like buying milk (by which I mean, fresh cow's milk) in the USA. I obvs put it largely in tea, sometimes in (instant) coffee, sometimes breakfast cereal.

You?

During road trips-epic ones of 3000 miles, we’d stop for snacks and supplies-why are all blue drinks cherry flavour?-(whilst singing along to the Chili Peppers on Pacific Highway number one and shitting ourselves at the drop) and there’d be booze in the petrol stations. We would load up on candy you couldn’t get in the UK. Happy days!