Can We Get Some Fruit At The Corner Store?

There is an article in the New York Times today about corner stores pushing fruit rather than cookies. The effort is an attempt to provide low income neighborhoods healthier options in choice of foods. This is a long overdue but good strategy. As someone who grew up in a low income neighborhood, I’m here to tell you that the corner stores are your lifeline. It’s the closest thing you have to a grocery store because most of the big grocery store chains don’t see the value proposition in low income neighborhoods either because of crime and high insurance rates. For those grocery chains that do, many of the residents don’t shop at them because they aren’t conveniently located and you need a car to get to it or there prices are ridiculously high so the corner store becomes really the only viable option.



As a kid growing up with the corner store, they definitely did and continue to push the potato chips, cookies and fruit drink to the community. I understand this is what’s cheapest but if we plan to really make a dent in the obesity rates in this country and promote healthy eating then we have to get better healthy choices in low income neighborhoods. It seems that we’re pushing in this direction. A few months ago, the WIC program was revised to allow fruit and vegetables to be purchased and now there’s an effort to have the corner stores offer better health choices. This is good but it only works if we make the healthier option affordable. It makes no sense to have healthier options without affordability because no one, especially someone with limited means, is going to pay $5 for an apple or $2 an orange.

What else do you think can be done to offer healthier options in low income neighborhoods? Click HERE to read the NY Times article.