How far do you drive for groceries? Mine is five minutes. Gold River residents on Vancouver Island travel 90 minutes to Campbell River. That's in good weather.
Northern island winter weather can be challenging and time consuming.
Hundreds of Alaskans living on the coast in the Panhandle receive groceries once a month by barge as do many on British Columbia's coast.
Gold River is on the verge of having a grocery store after a lapse of five years.
Photo credit to Global News
https://www.campbellrivermirror.com/news/co-op-grocery-store-could-be-coming-to-gold-river/
Photo credit to Alamy