I go to the supermarket at 7 a.m., sometimes a little earlier, on Saturday or Sunday precisely to avoid children and other annoying people. I do have to dodge the stockers and their boxes, and engage in evasive maneuvers to avoid the floor cleaner, but it's still better than children and other annoying shoppers.
My pet peeve is that 3 out of 4 weeks, I have to wrnagle my own shopping cart from the parking lot because all of the little ones are still out there. Plenty of big carts are available all the time but they don't have enough little ones and don't send people out to gather the abandoned little ones often enough.