Healthy Corner Store Strategies from Across the US

Healthy Food for All: Healthy Corner Store Strategies from Across the US

For many Minnesotans, getting groceries is easy. Just drive a few miles to
the grocery store, peruse the wide variety of products, load up the back seat
with food and you’re set.

But not if you live in a food desert, as an estimated one-third of St. Paul
and one-half of Minneapolis residents do. Coined by the Mari Gallagher Group,
the term “food desert” is defined as a large geographic area with few or no
mainstream grocery stores (such as Cub, Rainbow or Whole Foods). Food may still
be available in a food desert, but options are limited to what are known as
fringe food retailers, such as fast food restaurants, corner stores and gas
stations. In these stores, processed foods high in fat and sugar are typically
plentiful. Even when healthier foods like fresh produce, low-fat milk or whole
grain cereals are available, shoppers in food deserts often face higher prices
and expired or poorer quality products.

When a resident of a food desert owns a car, they may have the option of
driving to a mainstream grocery store. If they don’t have a car, public
transportation or walking may or may not be an option. The difficulties of
managing long rides and multiple transfers while hauling heavy bags of groceries
are considerable, especially when children are involved. Proximity is an
important factor when choosing where to shop, so residents of food deserts often
rely on fringe food retailers for a majority of their groceries.

Recently, academia has begun to focus on how the systemic food environment
influences community health. Studies have shown that an abundance of junk food,
a dearth of fresh and whole foods and limited transportation have a detrimental
effect on the health of communities in food deserts.

Minneapolis is no exception. A 2002 study conducted by the Hennepin County
Community Health Department found that when compared to the western suburbs, the core region of Minneapolis had a lower concentration of grocery stores and a
higher percentage of transportation-vulnerable households. Also, the community
with the least access to mainstream food retailers—Near North Minneapolis—had
the highest rates of overweight and obese adults.6 The Near North and Phillips
neighborhoods have the most corner stores.