Frankly, it never would have crossed my mind that anyone (store owner, store employees, other shoppers) would care.

The notion that luggage is somehow improves the likelihood of shoplifting seems comical. Shoplifters want to blend in. Taking an usual item like a rolling suitcase into a store would magnify attention, making it harder to steal.

As long as there's no sign that prohibits items like backpacks, I wouldn't hesitate to wheel around your bag. It's far less conducive to shoplifting than big purses, baggy coats, or baby strollers.

I wouldn't want to bring luggage into a store at a place and time when incoming bags are being inspected for weapons/explosives. I'm thinking mostly of Israel, but I've experienced this in other countries too, IIRC Russia, China, Turkey (where everything entering the hotel premises was inspected), Bali (the same in principle, but it mostly didn't happen), etc. I also wouldn't want to be forced to leave a bag with staff or in some (unguarded) place where anyone could take it, like the bookshelves you sometimes see for bags at the entrance to stores where they're concerned about shoplifting.

Makes me think about stores within the airport terminal in other countries - wish we had this at airports in the US

Ever since luggage sprouted wheels, they are mostly rolled and not lugged around.

David

I’m not sure I’d give this mental exercise a second thought.

ditto for bus terminals and train stations :-)

I was taught to head for a major train station if you wanted to buy something after hours (including on Sunday) in Europe. Flowers, chocolate, and other gifts were always possible there.

Luggage is luggage because it is lugged. Wheeled or otherwise, luggage can be lugged.

The grocery stores at train stations in Europe often have higher prices than grocery stores further away from the central train stations. But, yes, they indeed often do seem to have the latest evening hours of operation.

If you were perceived as an ethnic minority at grocery stores where the ethnic minority is perceived by locals as being a possible member of a poorer-than-average ethnic group, the "comical" isn't comical. It's downright offensive and real to the targets of the ridiculous flagging down as a "shoplifter".

Well, yeah, there's often a price to pay for some convenience, as they say. But as per recent upthread, rolling your luggage around in the supermarket or grocery store really shouldn't be a problem or concern to you or anyone around you, generally speaking.

I daresay that a few folks are unable to lug their own rolling luggage as is often the case during boarding on many aircraft...

David

If one were truly planning to go to the store with their rollaboard, I'm sure they are also planning not to buy so much that they would need to lug all those grocery bags with their luggage!

That's a completely separate issue. If you want to bring "what ifs" into every discussion, then every scenario can potentially devolve into a dangerous or discriminatory situation.

I fully stand by my statement. The likelihood that an obvious traveler with a roller bag is going to be labeled as a potential shoplifter in an average grocery store is comical.

Low likelihood ≠ "what if" any more or less than "high likelihood" = "what if". I am speaking from experience of what I've witnessed repeatedly at grocery stores in different countries when it comes to shopping with luggage in tow after trips by air and rail. You aren't forced to consider the likelihood of something hitting others who aren't you, but it's something that I do have to consider and that I shared here for the benefit of others. ;)

I travel very often internationally, and I am about as much the proverbial cabin-baggage-only traveler as anyone else that travels a lot. It's not rare for me to arrive into airports or train stations in Europe or the Americas with cabin baggage-only, then hitting the grocery stores with my cabin baggage and come out of the store with 4 to 5 bags full of groceries. Why do that? Because I and my travel party members may be heading onward to somewhere where it's not sure when next it will be as convenient to get to the grocery stores of choice.

There's no problem with this. I know flight attendants who do this all the time to stock up on food at their crash pad. I've even done it once or twice.

-J.

Sure, if that works for you. For most/many, including myself, I occasionally do this, but I only get enough such that I'm not overwhelmed with extra grocery bags, or I'm not physically inconvenienced by it.