On the subject of food deserts...

[Deleted]

Do any of you have difficulties getting groceries? This is starting to become a real problem in my city

A few years back, all of the Double 8 stores (based in Indianapolis) closed without notice, stranding the city's African-American neighborhoods without reliable access to fresh produce.

Now, all the Marsh stores (again, based in Indianapolis) could potentially close in 60 days. They had, at one point, 80 stores in two states & gas stations, and now it looks like all of them will be done for. Already, they've closed stores here and there the past few years, but the floodgates opened this past winter. They lost their liquor license, which also killed their pharmacies due to our state's strange laws. Shoot, they just built a new store a little over two years ago downtown & that'll be vacant soon.

I always thought Marsh was too expensive (I prefer Kroger & the occasional Aldi or Save A Lot), but that's going to really put people around the area in a bad situation.

[Spider2024]

Wow, that sort of amazes me, because there are certainly no shortage of supermarkets here in the Boston area. In fact, we've got a rotation of 3 markets we go to regularly, with a handful more within driving range.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

I've been fortunate enough to never have this problem. I think the longest I've ever had to drive for groceries was 15 minutes, and have always been in a financial position where I could drive

It is one of those often under the radar problems that really hurts those in poverty even further

[jagilki]

I live in a small town (3k people). We have two locally owned grocery stores. At the moment, they are both directly across the street from each other.

However town rumor is that one of them is going to build a brand new location.

However, however. I once worked for one of them and the owner there is a huge asshole and I'll never give him a dime.

[StuntGranny®]

It's not hard to find food around here, but it is hard to find good/healthy food. We only have Ingles and Wal-Mart in my town. Both have a horrible selection and pretty shitty food. There's a Whole Foods and an Earth Fare about an hour away, but by the time you factor in the gas to make the drive and factor in how expensive those places are, it's not worth it.

[ayumidah]

There's about four grocery stores in my immediate area, and then Walmart a bit further out. I'm kinda lucky that my store of choice is within walking distance.

[Back to being Cenanuff]

No trouble here, but I live in a suburban area. I have 3 Kroger stores within 3 miles of my house, as well as a Meijer, a Remke, and a Wal Mart. In fact, one of the Krogers is the biggest one in the country, opened up a mile away from another one, and they're both still packed on the weekend. I thought for sure the older one would taper off, but apparently the area is seeing a population boom.

Anyway, food deserts are largely something I've only read and heard about. When I went to college, it was in an area you didn't want to go out at night in. There was one grocery store within walking distance, and it had cops patrolling it. It eventually closed due to the amount of crime it still saw, which is the common thread in food deserts. Grocery stores make about 3% profit. That's why so many added higher profit retail items. They get robbed and shoplifted enough, it's not going to stay open, and that screws over the good people in the area just trying to get by.

[A Platypus Rave]

The local grocery store in my town closed down years ago... (this is what "winning" dirtiest grocery store on Long Island does).

there are alternatives only a few minutes away luckily... but I know some older people that couldn't drive were having problems with groceries at one point... but they clearly are getting food from somewhere.

as it reopened under a new name and new management a few times afterwards but were gone within a year.

[Annette]

No shortage around my town. I can think of at least 12 stores I could go to.

[Glitch]

The problem with this issue is that people think this isn't a problem because their area has plenty of grocery stores.

[Deleted]

Gary kinda has that issue up here. They have a couple stores on the outskirts of town, but nothing really nearby. (It's a larger town area wise than you think. The population is just sparse because not a lot of people want to live there; nothing really to do in town and the constant threat of violent crime puts a damper on that.) Now, the group that owns the largest chain of grocery stores in the area is closing one of them.
Issue is a lot of the shoppers (older people, mainly) get to the store by bus, and they go where the bus goes. Only place they can really go to now (at least to the west) is a KMart.