Non-fast food drive thrus

[dawnfire]

The discussion of the word "lazy" will now come to an end.  I'd like to remind everyone that the purpose of this folder is to bridge differences, and not to take such quick offense.  Cross-cultural communication requires patience and flexibility.  If you aren't willing to be patient and flexible, go away.

...and I'll take this opportunity to mention the drive-through liquor stores I saw in Oz. 

As a side note, our drive through liquor stores still require you to get out of the car.  I'm not quite sure what the point is except as a slightly quicker transaction and less choice.

I think it less distance to lug heavy items like cases of beer.

[WillyNilly]

On Long Island in New York there is a drive thru convenience store, I think it's called "Dairy Barn".  You can pick up milk, eggs, bread and other basic grocery items, plus coffee and beer I think.  I believe the premise is that it's all about convenience as some of the PP's have mentioned (not having to get kids out of the car, late at night safety, etc.)  I believe it's also safer and more economical for the shop owner.  They are less likely to be robbed in the middle of the night by an intruder, they don't have to have extra staff to maintain the shelves and do cleanup/stocking, etc.    Plus they are usually located in small parcel lots that don't have big parking lots, so the land and rent is ostensibly cheaper.

I used to live near a Dairy barn and it was great for lazy weekend mornings: I could go straight to my car in my PJs, drive to DB for bacon, eggs, and a newspaper and go straight home. I didn't have to worry about being dressed because I was never leaving my car, and the whole thing was very quick and easy.

But the small lots I think are a big thing. Most fast food, banks, and all sorts of other businesses in NYC and even in neighboring Nassau (Long Island) don't have big parking lots, or any parking lot at all. By having a drive-thru they are able to court customers in cars that would otherwise not realistically be able to get to the business at all because they would have no where to park.

[perpetua]

But the small lots I think are a big thing. Most fast food, banks, and all sorts of other businesses in NYC and even in neighboring Nassau (Long Island) don't have big parking lots, or any parking lot at all. By having a drive-thru they are able to court customers in cars that would otherwise not realistically be able to get to the business at all because they would have no where to park.

Are there no businesses situated in town centres that people can walk to? This is what confuses me, why someone has to drive to and park at the bank. Here, we'd either drive into town and park in the car park, or get the bus into town, and 'town' is somewhere you can walk around and take care of all your business and shopping.

[cwm]

But the small lots I think are a big thing. Most fast food, banks, and all sorts of other businesses in NYC and even in neighboring Nassau (Long Island) don't have big parking lots, or any parking lot at all. By having a drive-thru they are able to court customers in cars that would otherwise not realistically be able to get to the business at all because they would have no where to park.

Are there no businesses situated in town centres that people can walk to? This is what confuses me, why someone has to drive to and park at the bank. Here, we'd either drive into town and park in the car park, or get the bus into town, and 'town' is somewhere you can walk around and take care of all your business and shopping.

Ah, the joys of suburban sprawl. Where I live grew up, up the street there was a grocery store, pharmacy, one bank, a few fast food places, and a few hole in the wall stores, as well as a couple of liquor stores and a gas station.

Up another street and around a corner, about just as far away, had an actual strip mall with a few chain stores, a grocery store, a few boutiques, a pharmacy, a gas station, and one bank.

Go in a third direction from my home and at about half the distance was a grocery store, a few restaurants, a few more boutique shops, an eyeglasses shop, a tailor, a gas station, and two banks.

Each of these places is about a mile in any direction from my home. But if you didn't belong to any of those three banks, you'd have to go further to get to your bank. And the grocery stores varied wildly as quality of produce/meat and price. Plus where and when I grew up, there was no public transportation. Now there are a very few limited stops along the street where the first shopping center is, but it's nearly prohibitively expensive to ride it, it doesn't take you where you need to go, and if you need to go into the next state over (I live in a city that straddles two states), you'll have to get off of our buses and wait on one of theirs. And there's one county in my state that just doesn't connect well with anything else. I've never seen public transit there. I don't know if they have any.

The nearest hospital growing up was about two and a half miles away, but we were lucky to have a dentist within a block that I could walk to when I was old enough. Optometrists that were covered on our insurance were quite a drive away, I'm fairly certain it took us 10-15 minutes driving to get there. Same for orthodontists. And the doctor's office was at the hospital (large medical building, several practices attached to a massive hospital), but if I had to see a specialist, I had to go to another hospital more than seven miles away.

And outside the major city centers, suburban sprawl is pretty normal in the US. People rely on their cars to get them places because there's no infrastructure for public transit and nothing is close enough to get to by walking. That's the trade off for large yards and single family homes.

[Hillia]

In places I've lived, there's not a central 'car park' with multiple businesses located around it.  The closest thing might be a shopping center or mall - but even then, you're not likely to find all of your needs (bank, pharmacy, grocery) located there - it's more clothes, department stores, maybe a few specialty stores.  Some places are building pedestrian malls, which do have a central parking area and many stores within walking distance, but they tend to have the same assortment of stores.  Your daily life destinations will more likely be located in separate buildings and have their own parking lots.  I'm lucky; my bank has an ATM in the grocery store I frequent, so I can deposit my husband's check there when I go shopping, and there's a KMart (discount department store) nearby, but it's still 6-7 miles to the grocery store, another mile down the road to KMart, and another 2 miles to the pharmacy.

[camlan]

Are there no businesses situated in town centres that people can walk to? This is what confuses me, why someone has to drive to and park at the bank. Here, we'd either drive into town and park in the car park, or get the bus into town, and 'town' is somewhere you can walk around and take care of all your business and shopping.

This really depends on where you live in the US.

When I lived in Boston, a car was more a liability than anything else. I walked or took public transportation everywhere. There was a supermarket on the way home from work, so I could stop in whenever I needed to buy food. My apartment was a 10-15 minute walk from several major shopping areas.

Currently, I live in a small city in New Hampshire. It's an older city, so there is a town center. Within a mile walk is the Post Office, library, City Hall, several churches, the best pizza place in town, a drug store, a dry cleaners, a sub shop, a Chinese restaurant, an awesome bakery and three banks.

What's not within walking distance is a large supermarket or any store along the lines of Target, Home Depot, Walmart--any chain store, really. The downtown shopping district has a lovely yarn shop, a couple of jewelry stores, a yoga place, a music store, a few card shops--but no real stores for the things you need day to day. It does have a central parking lot and on-street parking. But for the necessities, I pretty much have to take the car and drive to an area with several shopping plazas. (Even 50 years ago, there would have been a greater diversity of stores in the town center. But as chains took over, they moved to the outskirts of town where there is better space for huge parking lots.)

When you look at newer towns or suburbs, the situation is even more bleak. Acres of nothing but houses, with a good chance of no sidewalks. The stores are in strip malls, isolated in one area. And as Hillia points out, you still need to drive from one strip mall to another to get all your errands done.

And then there are the rural areas. Even here in New Hampshire, there are towns with no supermarket. Nothing but one or two convenience stores connected to a gas station. People who live in those towns pretty much have to drive to buy anything. And the further west you go, the longer the distances that people have to drive to find a shopping center of any kind.

It's a completely different model of city/town planning.

[Slartibartfast]

There's actually a drive-through sex toy store here, although it's kind of a gimmick (located in an old bank building).  Pull up, ring the doorbell (literally a regular plastic doorbell) and someone will come ask what you want and will hold up whatever choices they have in the window so you can see them and make a selection.  This all despite the fact that it's technically illegal to sell "three-dimensional devices" here (read: anything except girlie magazines) except in specific situations.  It's convenient for when you know exactly what you want and you're in a hurry, but not so great for browsing    (Disclosure: I've only done the drive-through once, partly for the novelty and partly because I had an infant Babybartfast in the car.  You can't come inside an "adult" store in the US unless you're 18, no exceptions, apparently including babies.)

[Library Dragon]

There's actually a drive-through sex toy store here, although it's kind of a gimmick (located in an old bank building).  Pull up, ring the doorbell (literally a regular plastic doorbell) and someone will come ask what you want and will hold up whatever choices they have in the window so you can see them and make a selection.  This all despite the fact that it's technically illegal to sell "three-dimensional devices" here (read: anything except girlie magazines) except in specific situations.  It's convenient for when you know exactly what you want and you're in a hurry, but not so great for browsing    (Disclosure: I've only done the drive-through once, partly for the novelty and partly because I had an infant Babybartfast in the car.  You can't come inside an "adult" store in the US unless you're 18, no exceptions, apparently including babies.)

Neighbor!  I had forgotten about this place.  Yes, here in Dixie you have to have a Dr.'s prescription for "marital aides". 

[Harriet Jones]

Are there no businesses situated in town centres that people can walk to? This is what confuses me, why someone has to drive to and park at the bank. Here, we'd either drive into town and park in the car park, or get the bus into town, and 'town' is somewhere you can walk around and take care of all your business and shopping.

This really depends on where you live in the US.

 

Definitely.  I live in a semi-rural suburb. The closest retail establishment (convenience store) is about 3 miles away.   The closest "real" grocery store is 5 miles away.  While there are closer banks, the closest branch of the one I use is 15 miles away.   We do have a town nearby similar to what perpetua describes, however, most of the businesses there aren't really the kind most people need on a daily basis, like a model train store.

The local library has a drive-thru - you can put books on hold and pick them up at the window, although I prefer to go in and browse when I'm picking up.

[WillyNilly]

Are there no businesses situated in town centres that people can walk to? This is what confuses me, why someone has to drive to and park at the bank. Here, we'd either drive into town and park in the car park, or get the bus into town, and 'town' is somewhere you can walk around and take care of all your business and shopping.

This really depends on where you live in the US...

In Nassau County NY sure there are concentrations of stores, and some have huge parking lots (and some only miniscule lots). But its not unusual for there to be no way to get, on foot, from one set of stores to another. The road might well be 6 lanes wide (Old Country rd, 106/107, etc) with sparse traffic lights and no crosswalks. There might be no footpath from the parking lot to the sidewalk (only from the parking lot to its specific store or group of stores). Etc.

Within NYC, parking is at a major premium and quite expensive and often had to come by. Usually being in a car means you are on the go, although you might still want to run some errands while out and about.

[Library Dragon]

Good point (and Old Country Rd. jangles my nerves driving, I cannot imagine trying to cross by foot). 

Where I live a restaurant may appear to be an easy walk over to the store in the next lot.  There are actually two 4 feet deep ditches and a street separating the two businesses.  No sidewalks or other easy/safe means to walk.  It's very frustrating. 

One area in Arizona that I lived the ditches were 8 feet deep. 

While I would like to easily walk from one to another it gets very dangerous. 

[camlan]

Not exactly a drive-through, but do other countries have drive-in movie theaters?

[Library Dragon]

We do in my city.    

[PastryGoddess]

Not exactly a drive-through, but do other countries have drive-in movie theaters?

they are slowly coming back in fashion.  A lot of them went out of business 15 or so years ago

[pharmagal]

Where I live, we have the usual McD's, KFC drive throughs.  Also the national'state chains like Red Rooster and the like.   And of course the drive through bottle shop. (Supermarkets here don't sell beer or wine)   But the best drive through has got to be Muzz Buzz.  Best coffee evah!!

I don't know of any pharmacies in the Western Australian area that have drive through, or any banks.  That's not say they don't exist here, just that I've never seen them.

When I lived in NZ, I only knew of one drive through pharmacy in the 4 different provinces I lived in, and that was the one that one of the owners of the pharmacy I worked in, owned in another town.