Getting Started on Supermarkets & Healthy Food Vendors

Attract Grocery Stores That Provide High-Quality, Healthy, Affordable Foods to Lower-Income Neighborhoods

• State and local policy-makers can develop a food policy council that includes state government officials, retail industry leaders, state and local health and zoning boards, nonprofit organizations and economic development or redevelopment officials. The food policy council may also want to include officials from agriculture departments and schools. Supermarket strategies may need to be part of a more comprehensive food retail development program, which could include farmers’ markets, specialty food stores and other direct marketing programs and specialty food stores.
• State and/or local policy-makers can engage in public-private partnerships with developers to identify and assemble parcels of land to be developed for grocery retail.
• Through neighborhood planning grant programs, local governments can help neighborhood associations gain financial support for administering market surveys because the results may help recruit grocery stores.
• Local officials can use redevelopment agencies to access unique financing mechanisms that otherwise would not be available to cities and counties. The most important of these is Tax Increment Financing (TIF), which allows the redevelopment agency to use the increased property and sales taxes that result from redevelopment projects to repay debts incurred in financing such projects. For example, redevelopment agencies can provide land, grants or investment capital to induce the development of supermarkets. They can provide business financing to support small store improvement projects. When plans for TIF districts are reviewed, local governments can consider grocery store access.
• State and local governments can partner with nonprofit organizations (such as the Reinvestment Fund that created the Fresh Food Financing Initiative in Philadelphia) that provide loans, grants and technical assistance to provide incentives to supermarkets to relocate in lower-income areas.
• State and/or local policy-makers and/or government agencies can arm themselves with market analyses and data on spending patterns and health issues in underserved areas. For example, local governments and/or food councils can conduct assessments of citywide and neighborhood-level demand for food and identify supermarkets that can be competitively recruited. They also can map the health issues in those neighborhoods to determine if greater access to healthy food and supermarkets can lead to improved health outcomes. Community organizations, for instance, can recruit volunteers to conduct a survey, and city agencies, such as health clinics and food banks, can distribute the survey to clients.
• Local policy-makers can help facilitate negotiations between grocery stores and land owners.
• Local policy-makers can provide a stipulation in local government land leases that favors leases for supermarkets.
• Within a local government’s capital revolving loan program, funds could be dedicated to existing grocery stores for equipment upgrades and façade improvements.
• Local government officials can evaluate transportation needs in areas with a high concentration of residents without vehicles to determine if additional transportation options are needed.

Encourage Convenience Stores and Bodegas to Offer Healthier Food

• State and local policy-makers can develop a food policy council that includes state government officials, retail industry leaders, state and local health and zoning boards, nonprofit organizations and economic development or redevelopment officials. Although food policy councils may take a variety of forms, they are typically commissioned by state or local government. Some boards include officials from agriculture departments and schools. Healthy corner store strategies may need to be part of a more comprehensive food retail development program.
• Within a local government’s capital revolving loan program, funds could be dedicated to existing corner stores for equipment upgrades and façade improvements.
• Local government officials can facilitate partnerships between city agencies, community-based organizations and private businesses in order to package incentives for corner store conversions. For example, partners can help to set up a distribution system for fresh fruits and vegetables and provide equipment, such as refrigerators, so that store owners can stock healthier options, such as fresh produce, fruits and vegetables.
• Local government officials can help store owners promote healthy food options by developing a citywide marketing and branding campaign that acknowledges the changes. They also can design a poster or seal for the participating stores to display.
• Local government officials can provide technical assistance to stores to help them market healthy foods in displays near the check-out counter or simply locate them at eye level and in prominent places. For example, members of local chambers of commerce, with their marketing expertise, can provide assistance in food promotions and store design to emphasize healthy items.
• Local government agencies or task forces can provide technical assistance to store owners to help them become approved vendors for the WIC program.

Establish Healthy Mobile Markets

• State and local government officials can develop a food policy council that includes state government officials, retail industry leaders, state and local health and zoning boards, nonprofit organizations and economic development or redevelopment officials. Although councils may take a variety of forms, they are typically commissioned by state or local government. Some boards include officials from agriculture departments and schools. Mobile markets may need to be part of a more comprehensive food retail development program.
• State legislatures can offer grants to communities to improve residents’ access to healthy food in underserved areas. Local governments can offer grants for mobile refrigeration units and traffic provisions that make it easier for mobile sales (e.g., designated curbside locations, and access to restricted parking areas).
• Local policy-makers can require licensing and certification of healthy mobile markets to ensure that they meet high standards of food safety (e.g., temperature control).
• Local government officials can provide periodic security checks to ensure healthy carts are operating within the law.
• Local government agencies can develop healthy mobile market promotional campaigns to increase awareness of the program.