If by this you mean you'll use shopping as a reason to ride you're putting yourself in greater danger.
The places to avoid are supermarkets, they are not places to visit as an excuse for a bike ride.
Oh, FFS...!
I do not drive. I have
never driven. I live 1.5 km from the supermarket. I have the choice of
walking to and from the shops or
cycling to and from the shops. So, that would be a 5 minute bike ride on roads where I do
NOT have to pass people closely, or a 15-20 minute walk on pavements where I sometimes
DO have to pass people closely. Which would
YOU say is safer?
I go to the shop at times when it is not busy. There is often only one checkout operating at that time but there are so few people shopping that either
one person is ahead of me (AT A DISTANCE OF SEVERAL METRES!!!!) or
nobody is and I get through straight away.
Before you suggest
combining my bike rides and shopping trips... For shopping I carry a ferking great D-lock which weighs 1.6 kg and a 35 litre rucksack to carry my purchases. For bike rides, I carry a
small backpack with tools etc in. I do not want to ride any further than necessary equipped for shopping and if I did, I would have to take up valuable space in my rucksack with the tools etc. which would mean that I couldn't carry as much shopping and would have to go shopping more often, so that isn't exactly a sensible plan.