Exploring Store Owner and Consumer Preferences for Foods and Beverages to Be Stocked in Corner Stores Located in Under-Resourced Neighborhoods of Baltimore, Maryland

Abstract

ObjectivesIn Baltimore, Maryland, there is a documented lack of accessible healthy foods in under-resourced neighborhood corner stores largely due to gaps in (1) supply-side food distribution and (2) demand-side understanding between store owners and consumers. The Baltimore Urban food Distribution (BUD) study is a systems intervention that leverages a mobile application (app) to address supply-side challenges. For the app to be sustainable, a crucial consideration must be the demand-side desire and appropriateness of available foods. Free-listing allows individuals to list all possible items within a specific domain and has been used successfully in Baltimore to assess desired foods. Therefore, this study seeks to identify corner store owners’ and consumers’ preferred foods for stocking and purchasing in corner stores participating in BUD by using free-listing. MethodsThe primary analysis will utilize BUD baseline data collected between January and April 2022 among corner store owners (n = 38) and consumers (n = 190) in East Baltimore. During in-depth interviews (IDIs), participants will be asked to name the top 5 foods/beverages they would like to see available on the BUD app for stocking or purchasing, followed by probing. Saliency analyses will be conducted using STATA v17 based on the order and frequency of answers given. Extant data from the previous B’more Healthy Communities for Kids (BHCK) trial will inform the primary analysis. ResultsIDIs with corner store owners who participated in BHCK revealed little perceived demand for healthy foods by consumers. However, consumer IDIs generally reported a desire for affordable, high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables in their local stores. Once data collection for BUD is complete, we expect to learn which specific foods and beverages are desirable and appropriate from both the corner store owner and consumer perspectives. ConclusionsFree-listing is a powerful tool for engaging participants in identifying salient foods that are both desirable and culturally appropriate for the target population. Findings from the present study will inform the larger BUD study in preparation for the promotion of certain healthier food items in Baltimore, and eventual scale-up of BUD to additional under-resourced urban settings nationwide. Funding SourcesNHLBI, NIH, award number R34HL145368.