Some The greatest icons of the streets of Paris are the women pushing grocery carts on the sidewalks. Their stuff always seems to me to be rickety, huge wire baskets on cheap plastic wheels that hold a tarp-like bag for wine, cheese, leeks, and baguettes . Trolleys are very practical, especially when you’re walking or even taking the subway, but thanks to a modern twist, they might be ready to cross the pond.
Photography: Kelsey McClellan
Spanish trolley manufacturer Rolser is a leader in this field. The company sells a full line of carts, including my favorite, the Wallaby Tweed 2-wheel foldable shopping cart. First and foremost, it looks great, replacing the rattling basket with a folding tubular frame and a 40-liter bag that’s approximately 7.5 inches deep, 13 inches wide, and 26 inches tall, and it looks Kind of like a giant, folded flat bag. This sturdy fabric gives the bag sharp corners and is rubberized to prevent your cereal from getting soggy in the rain. Combine that with the thick-toothed zippers set in nice contrasting tape, and the whole thing has a surprisingly funky feel. Additionally, large 6.5-inch diameter wheels and a bit of squeezing help smooth out bumps in the road.
I love using my cart because it allows me to do a complete grocery shopping without having to lug heavy bags all over my neighborhood, but what I immediately noticed once I started using my Wallaby is that every time Every time I hit it, I get as many compliments as I can on the street with it. A nice woman at the Mexican grocery store down the block stopped appreciating its practicality and instead made sure she knew the make and model before I left the store. Two other people on the same outing asked specifically about it. While at the grocery store, I came to appreciate a feature of this model that allows you to fold it in half and use a row of plastic hooks to clip the empty cart to your grocery cart while you shop. At the checkout, you’ll want to make sure to load heavy items first so as not to crush more delicate or delicate items, and there’s a large zipper that runs along most of the outer panel to make loading and unloading easier. While other models have a flap on top of the straps, this model only has a hard flap, which can get in the way a bit when loading. However, there are also some well-placed pockets on the top flap and inside the bag for things like pens, keys, and produce bags. As someone who often walks around the supermarket with a grocery list on a clipboard, I love the large pocket on the back of the bag that holds it well.
Off the pavement, it performed surprisingly well under load. The Rolser has a recommended load limit of 55 pounds and a “maximum load” of 88 pounds. For months, I’d been pushing my bags to what felt like maybe their limits, stuffing them with several six-packs, a giant pot of kombucha, milk, and other heavy groceries. With its fairly large wheels and sturdy frame, it handles well. One day I packed about two-thirds of a load of cookbooks to donate to the Seattle Public Library, and although the tires felt a little splattered on the way to the Columbia branch, it was a nice cross-block walk. Still beautifully simple. If you happen to have extra totes, you can hang them above your main bag to help you have a free hand to wave to jealous neighbors.