World's thinnest grocery store

The photo above, by urbanist Peter Katz, was taken in the entrance to a subway station in Chicago. This is the latest strategy being tested by Peapod, an online grocery delivery service that was founded in the Chicago area and serves most of the Northeast corridor from northern Virginia to Boston — in addition to several Midwest cities like Chicago, Indianapolis, and Madison, Wisconsin. Transit users can use their smart phones to scan an item — including produce — and have it delivered to their house later that day. If you have a few minutes to wait for a train, Katz notes, you can do your shopping and "kill two birds with the same stone." This eliminates lugging groceries, but delivery speed will be an important factor in the success of this idea, notes retail expert Bob Gibbs. Shoppers don't like delayed gratification.

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