People say this a lot. I think it's mostly not true.
Milk and eggs are at the back of the store because they're high-turnover items that require refrigeration. In literally every grocery store in my area --- Pete's, Whole Foods, Caputo's, and Jewel --- produce and high-volume soft drinks are both in the front of the store; in fact, the major soft drinks are stocked outside the store at Pete's, in the vestibule where the shopping carts are.
In no grocery store I have ever been in have the bulk of the milk and eggs been in the front of the store, despite the fact that stores compete with each other, and are a low-margin business.
Grocery store layouts are certainly optimized. But I don't think the "milk and eggs are hidden so you'll buy snacks" narrative makes much sense. The stores are loaded from the back, and easiest to refrigerate from the back, and having clerks constantly trucking milk from one refrigerator in the back to another in the front of the store seems pretty suboptimal. I think dairy placement is a constraint the stores work around, not an evil scheme.
Milk and eggs are at the back of the store because they're high-turnover items that require refrigeration. In literally every grocery store in my area --- Pete's, Whole Foods, Caputo's, and Jewel --- produce and high-volume soft drinks are both in the front of the store; in fact, the major soft drinks are stocked outside the store at Pete's, in the vestibule where the shopping carts are.
In no grocery store I have ever been in have the bulk of the milk and eggs been in the front of the store, despite the fact that stores compete with each other, and are a low-margin business.
Grocery store layouts are certainly optimized. But I don't think the "milk and eggs are hidden so you'll buy snacks" narrative makes much sense. The stores are loaded from the back, and easiest to refrigerate from the back, and having clerks constantly trucking milk from one refrigerator in the back to another in the front of the store seems pretty suboptimal. I think dairy placement is a constraint the stores work around, not an evil scheme.