Photos show how terrible New York City's grocery stores are compared to the Midwest

At Meijer.Talia Lakritz/Business Insider

• New York City grocery stores are about half the size of the average US supermarket.
• As a Midwesterner living in NYC, I miss shopping for groceries in giant superstores.

When I lived in the Midwest, I looked forward to grocery shopping. Browsing spacious stores with seemingly endless aisles of products to try felt like an enjoyable outing. (Granted, there's not much else to do in my small Wisconsin hometown.)

Upon moving to New York City, trips to the city's small, crowded, hectic supermarkets became a chore.

A 2009 grocery-store analysis by New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found that New York City supermarkets are about half the size of the average US grocery store, with 1.5 square feet per person compared to 3 square feet per person.

New York City has gained some larger supermarket locations since then, like a new 82,000-square-foot Wegmans at Astor Place, but they only serve some parts of the city and remain the exception.

While there are many great things about living in New York City, these photos show how the grocery stores I shop at pale in comparison to the Midwestern chains I know and love.