There are better places that facilitate "pickup" but without knowing where the author's situation it's hard to offer advice
Bars/nightlife venues are probably the places where women are most open to being approached in theory.
In practice, bars/nightlife venues don't tend to live up to the promise of the theory. Although more women at bars are in the market for new penis, they will have their biatch/defense shields way up at these venues. Due to having defense shields up, it makes it more difficult to have a meaningful conversation that will lead to something. Additionally, bars late at night are more conducive to arranging short term sex (usually one night of sex) than something longer term and more committed.
Bars are a truly social environment and most of the classic non-bar, daygame approach venues aren't necessarily social.
Some organized social groups/social clubs are useful for meeting people. The newest trend with these are run/walk clubs, which are getting a lot of hype lately. No groups affiliated the website Meetup.com are useful. Meetup.com has always had a horrid reputation, especially with its general social interest groups (ex. 20s/30s in X City group, etc.). Meetup.com was never actually cool and it developed a reputation for thirsty men swarming mediocre at best looking women for dates.
Another very common tactic used by men to meet women is participation in co-ed sports leagues. Any co-ed sports league can be an option, though some are better than others. In the late 2000s/early 2010s, kickball leagues were getting a lot of hype as an option for finding dates. In 2025, I rarely hear anyone talking about kickball leagues or any co-ed sports leagues anymore.
I think the best overall sports leagues for male-female mingling are soccer, kickball, and volleyball.
Co-ed sports leagues can often be challenging places to meet women because many tend to be sausage fests.
It's very difficult to swoop into a co-ed sports league for one season of the sport and walk away with some dates. Nearly every other guy in these leagues is an unattached guy who is trying to get his penis wet in league because he read some advice article online or watched a YouTube video or TikTok about doing this.
If a guy likes in a particular sport and does many league seasons of that sport (spanning multiple calendar years), he might be able to get either social circle-ish opportunities or a direct opportunity at the sponsor bar with a female playing on another team in the league. Same team random relationships also sometimes start, but are rare. Female teammates in a co-ed sports league might be able to give you introductions, which can be helpful.
Most males end up having a disappointing experience in their co-ed sports league from the point of view of arranging dates that lead to extended relationships.
A grocery store isn't really such a place.
I agree with your assessment on grocery stores.
Grocery stores (and other classic daygame venues) do not facilitate social interaction. The main reason why men became interested in doing approaches in grocery stores and similar venues is because women tend to be isolated from their friends in these venues AND their defense shields are not engaged and way up.
It's possible to get dates in grocery stores if you use a strong strategy and useful approach tactics. Someone can learn these things from the Nick Krauser's "Daygame Mastery" as one example. I used Roosh's "Day Bang" (published in 2011, now out of print) as my guide to doing grocery store approaches and all kinds of non-bar approaches.
The biggest drawback to daygame as a whole is that most women aren't seeking new penis at the moment that they are approached in a grocery store or other venues. This will lead to many unpleasant to some degree interactions. Men who approach in grocery stores will often find the experience inefficient, even if they are able to set up first dates as a result of doing it.
Most men will need to linger in grocery stores for an extended period of time in order to do enough approaches to find a date. In "Day Bang", Roosh talked about doing 3-4 hour approach sessions in a single grocery store in a given weekend afternoon. I never went to that level, but there were times when I did 1 hour sessions in one grocery store, then another 1 hour session in a different grocery store 1-3 days later.
I was able to do many socially calibrated approaches doing this but most conversations went nowhere and didn't result in dates arranged. I arranged more dates in grocery stores than other daygame venues that I used. Per date arranged, my time in grocery stores was not very efficient.
Over the years, I've enjoyed my mall and bookstore approaching even less than my grocery store approaching. The general gym floor and group fitness classes have also been inefficient plays for me, even when effective.
