Corner Store Owners' Perspectives on Increasing Access to Healthy Foods

Abstract

Limited access to healthy foods (HF) especially in corner stores (CS) is linked to food intake and health outcomes. Impact of CS interventions relies on tailored strategies and CS involvement. This study aimed to identify the barriers and needs in selling HF in CS in New Brunswick, NJ where majority of the residents are at-risk minorities with limited resources. Semi-structured interviews with 23 CS owners included their customer purchase patterns and demand, barriers to stocking HF (low-salt, low-fat, whole-grain foods; fruits and vegetables [FV]) and interest in improvements. Participants (48% Latino, 26% Black, 26% other) reported that children mostly bought chips and candy; large segments (20-80%) of adult customers came to CS primarily for eggs, milk, bread or snacks. Most of the participants reported that less than 20% of their customers came to CS primarily for FV and that customers bought most of their food in larger stores. Barriers to stocking FV included lack of space/refrigeration, low profit, low demand, spoilage, and price competition from larger stores. Main barriers to stocking other HF were low customer demand, high cost and lack of space. On a scale of 1(low) to 10(high), mean customer demand was 1.1 for organic, 1.9 for local, 2.4 for low-salt, 3.4 for whole-grain, and 3.5 for fat-free foods; 4.4 for FV, 5.9 for soda and 6.1 for energy drinks. Suggested strategies to improve sale of HF included consumer education, healthy recipe cards, CS training on sourcing strategies and resources for store improvements. The results suggest that interventions to increase access to HF should target CS as well as larger size stores and include strategies both for the consumers and the CS owners. Funding:Community-University Partnership & USDA Hunger-free Communities grants.