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A look at Richmond Food Deserts
06/29/2010 11:05 AM by John M
Alix Bryan recently looked at the grocery store / corner store divide:
In Churchill, corner store shopping is a way of life. Witout personal transportation, the closest grocery store is far away. Many residents have no choice but to pay higher prices for corner store convenience shopping. The selections are also scant, and offer little produce.
Many lower income neighborhood residents depend upon food stamps. The noticeable price difference between retailers affects a family’s budget, as does the lack of available healthy food at cornerstores.
Excellent report!!
“the lack of available healthy food”
A good reason to support and have more community gardens.
When I was a teacher we used to do a pretty good unit for the kids about corner-store economics and rent-to-own ripoffs. And we didn’t even get into the nutrition aspect in that unit.
For the money people are spending for junky, expensive and processed food, you’d think a case could be make for a medium sized full service marker, a la Nick’s Produce downtown. While Nick’s is a specialty market, I can get quite a few essentials there, including produce. An expansion to include more everyday necessities could draw everyday shoppers and the specialty market crowd, which seems a pretty good fit for Church Hill.
Too bad today’s economics and culture don’t support a mix a specialty shops like a butcher, baker, produce stand, etc. That would really restore some unique retail to the hood.
Hopefully the new market at 29th and Broad will become a reality and will help with this problem. We just need to show community support to make it happen.
The Market is more expensive and walking up and down the 25th street hill with groceries is exhausting. a friend of mine and i usually carpool to get groceries but the bus is still the best way to get fresh foods.
Perhaps no one wants to invest in a grocery store in a neighborhood where there are daily shootings and anything that isn’t nailed down (and some things that are) gets stolen. They even stole the tip jar at Alamo. Perhaps the costs at the local markets have something to do with amount of inventory that walks off the shelves. Perhaps….
An interesting study –
http://www.trfund.com/resource/downloads/policypubs/Supermarkets_Full_Study.pdf
– found that supermarkets, given the capital to overcome higher startup costs in high-poverty urban areas, can operate at or very close to the same profit margins as suburban stores.
However, this is all based on Philadelphia population density, which is significantly higher than Richmond population density.
Still, perhaps we should be looking for innovative financing rather than excuses.
#2… just wondering? are you saying the size of the plots at the Chimbo Garden will produce enough food to feed a family? Or are they just hobby garden and adding a few fresh items for the week. I can not see enough produce to be canned for winter use.
#9, yes, the garden plots, when gardened well, with succession plantings, and proper crop rotations can feed a family of 4 with a healthy amount of veggies. By adding a cold frame, you can grow greens and salad thru the winter. Check out “square foot gardening” when you get a moment.
You are right about canning though, it is too small for that (especially if you are going for a diverse set of crops)-but freezing is great for the smaller quantities. And plenty of greens thru the winter. Chard and kale and collards are quite hardy and can with stand pretty cold temperatures.
I sure do get tired of seeing people buying junk food and candy with food stamps.
I agree with #9 to a certain extent. I don’t think a small plot will feed a family but for only a short season. But if we look around the neighborhood, there is so much unused green space that could be used for larger gardens. Yes water may be an issue but maybe there are ways around that problem. I don’t know how legal it is but I think we should be putting in gardens in places around the neighborhood where either a) space is not being used (i.e. a behind a dilapidated house), or help families to build gardens in their unused space (i.e. their front or back yards). It is great to have community gardens, don’t get me wrong, but they are still inaccessible to poor families who can’t afford the supplies for upkeep and annual dues. Could it be possible that Farms to Families run free workshops for families to learn how to grow their own garden?
#9, I wouldn’t think it would be enough for canning and yes you would still need a grocery store…even my aunt and uncle with a huge farm out in Amelia county made trips to the store for certain can goods and pork (they didn’t have pigs), etc. But something about gardening teaches you about nutrition and what the body needs. You can carry on the knowledge to your own small yard. It is much like breast feeding -those before you can pass on the know how. We can’t continue to be helpless in how to take care of ourselves. I recommend seeing the movie “Dirt” and how it changes people who work with the earth.
Imagine living in an area surrounded by small patches of crab grass and dust then one day having your hand in rich soil.
I’m hoping Chimbo is just the beginning. We need more gardens -everywhere land is unused. As much as we can grow locally the better. Takes oil to get all those foods to the table otherwise.
What would be some good locations for a grocery store?
The old community pride location on 25th would be a great spot for a grocery store.
The recent East End Transformation Charrette included the suggestion of a grocery store at 25th and Nine Mile. This would allow for a much larger store than the old Sunny Market space.
It’s difficult to get grocery stores to locate in central city neighborhoods because the profit margins are so small, and because most grocery chains have based their business model on large footprints: very few central city neighborhoods have parcels, or are zoned, to accommodate a 100,000 square foot grocery store–or whatever size they are. I’m not so good with the estimating square footage, myself.
That said, there are models of successful central city grocery stores out there. The Food Trust, in Philadelphia, has a program for just that. Check out their site, it’s pretty awesome: http://www.thefoodtrust.org/
Unfortunately, and this is more on the western side of the city, there are some convenience store owners who are content to simply concentrate on selling cheap beer, cigarettes, and condoms to college kids.
Until our demographics improve (with better schools and transportation to keep the working families in the city), I don’t expect retail standards to improve.