This is so true. My local grocery store has cardboard displays in just about every aisle, sometimes more than one. They get in the way as the aisles aren’t that wide to start and I don’t know about other shoppers, but I hardly pay attention to them. I work from a list, I know which items that I need are on sale, and usually prices are marked on the shelves so I don’t need big, bulky displays blocking the way.
There should be a gated community of nothing but elderly shoppers so they can fully immerse themselves in the shopping experience. But since they’re complete unaware of the world around them it would not be fully appreciated.
Most of these problems aren’t if you are willing to be a little (or a lot) rude. Ask people politely to move and they usually will. If they ignore you and continue blocking the aisle, ask “Jebus, lady! How much hemorrhoid cream does one family use in a week?” in a very loud voice. Or start randomly tossing items into their cart.
They’ll move. 
Well that’s the problem with having manners. Just because I fantasize about using a taser on them doesn’t mean I should.
When my mother was frail I helped her with her shopping. It was as much a public service as it was help for her. Not everybody has a support system.
I usually follow the approach the OP does, except our layouts are different. I’ll pick one or two spots in the produce aisle and camp the cart there. It’s much faster for me to navigate through clueless people without a cart. Grab some avocados, tomatoes, onions, tomatillos, drop them in the cart. Then some serranos, brussels sprouts, head of cabbage, back to the cart. It only takes two or three trips, and the produce section isn’t huge.
I tend to push my cart down the beer-wine-liquor aisle, though, 'cos those are bulky and heavy.
Bread? Leave the cart. Dairy and meat? Those are a main aisle, so my cart’s there.
I guess it helps that I don’t go up and down most of the other aisles in the store.
Edit to humblebrag: when I lived in China my driver would accompany me shopping, and would always try to chase after me with the cart. As a result I often didn’t know where my cart was because I’m so much quicker on my own two feet navigating through masses, and would usually lose him. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I usually had most of my dry goods done by time he parked the car, and he usually knew to catch up with me in the liquor section. :o
You have intrigued the devil in me. I usually try to keep thing in good standing karma-wise, but I grin at the thought of someone unloading their cart to find strange random things. Or maybe not noticing till they’re at home putting things away. I wiil try to NOT do this next time I’m at the store, but I’m making no promises.
If someone has blocked an aisle and left their cart, I tend to put some random things into it. I like it if the sauerkraut is close by, or hair dye.
If you put sauerkraut in my cart, I’d say, “That wasn’t on my list, but what the hell, I’ll buy it, anyway.” I love sauerkraut and I’ll buy some hot dogs and buns to go along with it.
Condoms? Pregnancy tests? Diet pills? 
Pregnancy tests are the perfect addition to a cart belonging to a family with 3 small kids in tow. Or one being pushed by the tween on her phone shopping with mom.
I don’t understand the people who stand there with card in hand waiting for everything to be rung up before popping it into the machine, and then they stand there staring as if they’ve never used the card reader before. As soon as the clerk starts ringing up my purchases, my card is in the chip reader. Then the only delay is however long it takes for the approval.
I envy those of you who can get away with using a handbasket. When I shop, it’s for at least a week’s worth, if not two, of supplies. No way I can get by without a cart.
I had to haul out an “Excuse me, please” the other day. Two women had their carts along side the cheese section, minutely comparing blocks vs. sliced chunks of cheese. Naturally, they were right in front of the provolone and swiss that I needed. I waited long enough to realize that they were going to be a while and I spoke up. They apologized, and the carts parted, allowing me to make my selections and get out of there before my ice cream melted. Who knew buying some cheddar was such an ordeal??
I have poor balance and use my cart to keep me from falling , I see a lot of older people getting a shopping cart from the parking lot to use it for support. I think it a bad idea when some women park their cart and leave their pocketbooks in it and it really piss me off when people leave their small child alone and the child not wearing
their seat belt. I will watch the child until the fool get back !
In Kroger, it’s rarely other customers’ carts that are a problem, it’s the stockers, always dragging GIANT carts down the aisles, always at the busiest time of day.
I get if something runs out you might want to get new stock out ASAP, but this is their normal stocking procedure. Why can’t they do this after closing (or before opening) or at the very least at non-peak hours?
My local Wal-Mart had this problem, and I made a point of complaining about it every time I visited. Management said the baskets are stolen by customers; that’s why there are so few.
I told them there was a very simple solution. Get some more. For the customers that DON’T steal them.
A few months later, they got some more. Perhaps my idea never occurred to them.
It’s possible they have some physical issue makes it harder for them to walk longer distances?
I’m not disabled enough to require handicapped plates, but I’m old enough that I don’t want to walk any farther than I have to, especially in bad weather and carrying a shopping bag or pushing a cart that has to be parked.
My wife does this however I’m not scared to maneuver carts or say excuse me. Funny though when some think they have the answer for everyone else, life doesn’t work like that. If you do not like how others shop then grow your own food. Tolerance is part of living in a society.
This. Especially those markets that are open 24 hours a day.
Different stores have different philosophies.
When I lived in Los Angeles, one large chain’s procedure was to fill up all the aisles with large pallets during the evening, making each aisle only one-cart narrow. This took several hours as the pallets built up. Then when the graveyard shift came in, they would move the product from pallet to shelves, gradually reducing the blockage. Meanwhile, if you shopped late-evening, it was hard to get around and many shelves were empty anyway before the stocking crew arrived, since they were never restocked during the day.
In contrast, Gelson’s, a more upscale chain, albeit with smaller stores, deliberately (according to a manager I spoke to) used a small cart to carry a fraction of a pallet from warehouse to retail. The cart, only one of which was used at a time, only slightly blocked the aisle, and was there only while a clerk was restocking the shelves. Since the shelves were continuously restocked, they were always kept full, and a customer didn’t have to go running to find a manager when a sale item was gone.
Quite a different philosophy.
No one put back gammon?
I used to like playing a little game when someone left a cart and was busy and blocking the lane. I try to find the most weird useless item and see if I can smuggle it into their cart. I first started doing this with my roommate at the time. Even knowing that I was prone to do that I’d often get something by and hear a curse and see him holding up a can of generic anchovy paste or whatever.
The key is blending it in so it doesn’t stand out. It doesn’t work all the time in the aisle but no one ever knows who really put the item there. I imagine more is caught at the cashier level but if it’s a pair or more of people more chance that the item slips by.
I was never confronted but if I would have been I’d have thought I was putting it in my cart and my cart was always with me when I was on a mission.