It’s simply a different system. The markets are adjusted to it. There is enough room and sometimes even tables for this purpose. The markets are simply using different mechanisms to speed up the process so that they can have more customers per minute. Aldi is a big player here. The cashiers are trained and drilled to be super fast. There are no baggers, but enough room to pack your stuff yourself later. Recently they added a new kind of “double line”. Now there is enough space for two trolleys right behind the cashier. Each line has their own card reader. The cashier has minimum waiting time for the next customer. Also almost zero time for customer interaction or any talk. Probably effective, but it really feels rushed out.
The only way you could add space would be to take out and move all the checkout lanes.
This doesn’t pose a big problem for a company like Aldi. They are in the process of updating their older stores here so lots of things (big coolers, checkout lanes and baking stations included) get moved around.
Or the whole building is designed to accommodate the different customer expectations in the first place.
Globally operating companies can’t just build one blueprint for every market, with few exceptions.
See also (for a negative example): Why Walmart failed in Germany.
