that would kill impulse buying

Clearly you don't work in digital advertising

Holy shit, Service Merchandise, that's a name I haven't heard in a very long time. You just reminded me of taking the tag to the counter. Didn't circuit city also do tag pulls?

Canadian Tire isn't far off from this. They've put so much effort into making their stores as unpleasant and time wasting of an experience as they can. I pretty much only go there when I need something I can only get there, now.

Go back to the old General Store model where you’d bring your list and have them pick it out?

Nah, it would be more expensive since they would need to hire more pickers. also would probably loose customers who wouldn't want someone else picking out their groceries.