Park life: shopper uses every supermarket bay
Armed with a spreadsheet, map and time to kill, bored shopper parks in every spot at local supermarket
A “bored shopper” has taken six years to complete his mission of parking in every space at his local supermarket. Gareth Wild, 39, parked in all 211 permissible bays at Sainsbury’s in Bromley, south-east London. His mission captured the imagination of thousands of fans worldwide who thanked the father of two for being the “right type of crazy”. He even released a map ranking spaces from “god tier” to “ones to avoid” for those who may want to make a “pilgrimage”.
‘Getting all of area B was the same sort of joy I had at the birth of my first born. Maybe better…’
HE DESCRIBES it as his magnum opus, a quest containing moments of joy comparable to the birth of his first child.
It has taken him six years, but Gareth Wild has at last completed parking in every space at his local supermarket.
The bored shopper used a map and some spreadsheets to ensure he parked in all 211 permissible bays at Sainsbury’s in Bromley, south-east London.
His mission captured the imagination of thousands of fans worldwide who thanked the father of two for being the “right type of crazy”. He has even released a map ranking spaces from “god tier” to “ones to avoid”, for those who may want to make a “pilgrimage [and] bathe in my glory”.
His social media thread, including diagrams, spreadsheets and an explanation of his methods, had yesterday received almost 90,000 likes on Twitter and 15,000 retweets.
After a decade of doing his family’s weekly shop at the same supermarket, Mr Wild, 39, decided in 2015 that he would spice things up by setting himself a challenge.
Describing it as “comfortably in my top 5 Bromley car parks”, he said: “I said to myself, ‘wow I could probably park in every single one of these spaces given enough time’ – and time is on your side when you’re doing the weekly shop.
“It’s a long time to do anything, let alone something as trivial as this. I’ve been through three different cars in that time. I find enjoyment in the little banal things in life.”
Crossing off disabled and motorbike spaces that he could not use, Mr Wild printed an aerial photograph of the superstore car park and divided it into zones to ensure he did not miss a space.
Describing his life as “one long roller coaster”, he would make a note on his phone of the space he had parked in and then add it to a colour-coded spreadsheet when he got home.
Beginning his mission in a Ford Puma, he saw it through in a Honda Jazz before completing his challenge in a Skoda Octavia.
In a question-and-answer session for “car park nuts” on social media he revealed that “distance to shop” as well as “distance to trolley bays, ease of parking, bottlenecking” all had an impact on his rating for spaces.
Describing one corner space as “dangertown” he said: “If you’re reversing out of there you’re causing people to wait – and Bromley folk have no patience.”
Another, B8, he described as “a lovely space to drive into, it feels risqué but also like a familiar old shoe”.
The production director also joked: “Getting all of area B was the same sort of joy I had at the birth of my first born. Maybe better.”
Finding one of the most coveted spots empty was only possible on a latenight snack mission, but he insisted he never went to the superstore just to tick off a space, describing that as the “car parking equivalent of doping”.
In theory, on a conservative estimate of 60 visits a year, Mr Wild could have completed the car park in four years. But on some visits he had to abandon his mission as his daughters, aged two and four, had “no patience whatsoever” and were “screaming” at him.
For his parking swansong at Sainsbury’s he saved a “fairly undesirable spot” to complete his mission and was able to say he “snagged it first time”.
Now he has set his eyes on other missions, including the car parks at Lidl and the local shopping centre, but for his next quest he said: “I’m keen to use a running app to spell out across the entire borough, ‘no one cares about your running route’.”
But while basking in the glory of his new-found fame, Mr Wild said he would first be “considering calling up my old teacher who told me I’d never amount to anything”.