In communities that lack supermarkets, families often depend on corner stores for food purchases. The choices at these stores are often limited to packaged food and little if any fresh produce. Corner stores are also frequent destinations for kids, many of whom stop daily on the way to and from school for snacks. A recent study reported that student purchases are usually more than 350 calories on each visit to the corner store — and 29 percent of them shop at corner stores twice a day, five days a week, consuming almost a pound worth of additional calories each week.
The Food Trust, an organization in Philadelphia, developed the Healthy Corner Store Initiative to increase the availability of healthy foods in corner stores and to educate young people about healthy snacking through nutrition education in schools.
Food Trust supports storeowners in starting to stock healthy foods. To be in the program, a store has to have at least 2 minimum healthy foods for sale (which could be yogurt, apples, small salads, etc.) Food Trust will provide a refrigerator and give advice on how to stock and promote the items, and other information. After participating in the program, some storeowners have reported as much as a 40% increase in sales after putting healthy snacks in the store.
The idea of using corner stores in campaigns to improve diets has spread from a few cities over the last decade — among them, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Hartford and Oakland, Calif. Today there are over a hundred or more organizations that similarly to The Food Trust are working to get healthy and fresh food in corner stores.
The Healthy Corner Stores Network is a network that brings together community members, local government staff, nonprofits, funders, and others across the country to share best practices and to develop solutions. Network activities include bimonthly webinars, in-person meeting at national conferences, this website, and a listserve. The network includes more than 500 participants all over the country.
A banana or apple on every corner? Might be happening soon, one corner at a time.
Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hcsn/5751767433/
Links:
Getting to Grocery : Tools for Attracting Healthy Food Retail to Underserved Neighborhoods
Snacking in Children: The Role of Urban Corner Stores from Pediatrics Magazine