Wyoming’s Grocery Shopping Changes

In the age of technology, the act of physically going to the grocery store has slowed down for many Wyomingites. Every store has an app or at least a website where you can order your groceries and either pick them up or have them delivered.

Many people would like to forget that 2020 ever happened, but some good things came from it, like more delivery services and online grocery shopping.

I'm a mixed bag; one week, I'll be energized and decide to drive to the store, roll the shopping cart down the aisles, and stock up on my supplies. The following week, I would rather punch myself in the face than try to fight the crowds at the store.

I can tell that I'm getting old, because I complain about things like gas prices, the price of milk & eggs, and say stuff like "when I was young," quite often. I'm also a creature of habit; my grocery cart (online or physically) and bill total are almost always the same.

I also find that when I grocery shop, I automatically want to go out to eat afterward. Which is kind of odd, but I'm not the only one. Many folks would rather head to a restaurant than the grocery store.

In the 2025 grocery report, JJS Research and the U.S. Census Bureau show that there is a widening gap between grocery shopping and eating out.

Putting those numbers aside, grocery shopping has bounced back quite a bit from the post-2020 decline. Again, the numbers have increased, but time in the store hasn't bounced back as much. People don't want to be in the store longer than necessary.

The average time in the store is 23.4 minutes, which is down 1.4 minutes from 2019.