I was surprised that even here in Portland, OR…not far from downtown…I was on my bicycle and pulled into a small shopping center. I guess you could call it a strip mall, but it was pretty small and completely surrounded by small residential streets.
So imagine my surprise when (a) I couldn’t find any bike parking in front of the main grocery store. I had to walk entirely across the parking lot and over to the side of a dentist’s office. Then (b) I went back to the grocery store and discovered it had no indoor seating. There was plenty of room from what I could tell—they had an entire wall dedicated to greeting cards and another entire wall dedicated to flowers. But nope, nobody can sit here—even though they have a significant large deli! They did offer a very bland outdoor seating area over on the side of the building, but given it’s been windy and a bit drizzly I decided against it. (Also it was deserted for obvious reasons.)
Folks, I am so weary of bike/pedestrian-unfriendly retail. The accommodations car drivers get that we don’t continues to astound me—even in areas which are presumably “progressive”. 🤨
Sure, but when one doesn’t exist, I’d prefer to park my bike “improperly” than park at another businesses. Personally I think it’s bad etiquette to park at a business I am not going to patronize.
The plaza provided plenty of opportunity for cars but almost nothing for the cyclists. I wouldn’t consider it wrong to use the only bike rack in the plaza even if its for another business. Maybe if that rack gets filled up someone will finally build more bike parking.