But that is not an immutable fact of life. It's not "cultural" either. I see the main reason there aren't grocery stores on every other corner to be single family zoning. Not wanting to have "noise" around your house, pushing any kind of business away from your neighborhood, and not wanting "shadows" pushing away denser kind of buildings that can easily support local business. Change the zoning, and the built environment will change, I would argue for the better.