Small Food Stores Research Articles

The School Food Environment: Associations with Adolescent Soft Drink and Snack Consumption

Because students may purchase food and drinks in and around their schools, the school food environment may be important for obesity-related eating behaviors such as soft drink and snack consumption. However, research exploring the associations between school environments and specific eating behaviors is sparse. Associations of the availability of canteen food and drinks, the presence of food stores around schools, and individual cognitions (attitudes, norms, modeling, perceived behavioral control, and intentions) with soft drink and snack consumption were examined in a cross-sectional study (2005-2006) among 1,293 adolescents aged 12-15 years. Soft drink and snack consumption and related cognitions were assessed with self-administered questionnaires. The presence of food stores and the distance to the nearest food store were calculated within a 500-meter buffer around each school. Data on the availability of soft drinks and snacks in school canteens were gathered by observation. In 2007, multilevel regression models were run to analyze associations and mediation pathways between cognitions, environmental factors, and behaviors. Adolescents' attitudes, subjective norms, parental and peer modeling, and intentions were positively associated with soft drink and snack consumption. There was an inverse association between the distance to the nearest store and the number of small food stores with soft drink consumption. These effects were mediated partly by cognitions. This study provided little evidence for associations of environmental factors in the school environment with soft drink and snack consumption. Individual cognitions appeared to be stronger correlates of intake than physical school-environmental factors. Longitudinal research is needed to confirm these findings.

Neighbourhood fruit and vegetable availability and consumption: the role of small food stores in an urban environment

Previous studies on the relationship of dietary intake to the neighbourhood food environment have focused on access to supermarkets, quantified by geographic distance or store concentration measures. However, in-store food availability may also be an important determinant, particularly for urban neighbourhoods with a greater concentration of small food stores. This study synthesises both types of information - store access and in-store availability - to determine their potential relationship to fruit and vegetable consumption. Residents in four census tracts were surveyed in 2001 about their fruit and vegetable intake. Household distances to food stores in these and surrounding tracts were obtained using geographical information system mapping techniques. In-store fruit and vegetable availability was measured by linear shelf space. Multivariate linear regression models were used to measure the association of these neighbourhood availability measures with consumption. Four contiguous census tracts in central-city New Orleans. A random sample of 102 households. Greater fresh vegetable availability within 100 m of a residence was a positive predictor of vegetable intake; each additional metre of shelf space was associated with 0.35 servings per day of increased intake. Fresh fruit availability was not associated with intake, although having a small food store within this same distance was a marginal predictor of fruit consumption. The findings suggest the possible importance of small neighbourhood food stores and their fresh produce availability in affecting fruit and vegetable intake.

Distance to food stores & adolescent male fruit and vegetable consumption: mediation effects.

BackgroundThe physical environments in which adolescents reside and their access to food stores may influence their consumption of fruit and vegetables. This association could either be direct or mediated via psychosocial variables or home availability of fruit and vegetables. A greater understanding of these associations would aide the design of new interventions. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between distance to food stores and restaurants and fruit and vegetable consumption and the possible mediating role of psychosocial variables and home availability.MethodsFruit and vegetable consumption of 204 Boy Scouts was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire in 2003. Participant addresses were geo-coded and distance to different types of food stores and restaurants calculated. Fruit and vegetable preferences, home availability and self-efficacy were measured. Regression models were run with backward deletion of non-significant environmental and psychosocial variables. Mediation tests were performed.ResultsResiding further away from a small food store (SFS) (convenience store and drug store) was associated with increased fruit and juice and low fat vegetable consumption. Residing closer to a fast food restaurant was associated with increased high fat vegetable and fruit and juice consumption. Vegetable preferences partially mediated (26%) the relationship between low fat vegetable consumption and distance to the nearest SFS.ConclusionDistance to SFS and fast food restaurants were associated with fruit and vegetable consumption among male adolescents. Vegetable preferences partially mediated the distance to low fat vegetable relationship. More research is needed to elucidate how environmental variables impact children's dietary intake.

Determinants of Food Retailing in Developing Economies: The Case of Turkey

The relationship among economic development, public policy, and the food retailing structure is studied using historical data from Turkey. It is found that small food stores are the dominant form of food retailing in Turkey, although the stage of eco nomic development predicts "the supermarket age." It is argued that country-specific demand-side variables, such as consumption patterns and shopping habits; supply-side variables, such as marketing functions performed by stores and market entry conditions; competitive factors; and public policy play important roles beyond the stage of economic development in determining the food retailing structure in developing countries.

A Multivariate Analysis of Retail Prescription Prices

Discrimination against blacks may be part of our American marketing system. Little is known about racial discrimination at the retail level because of many confounding factors which affect blacks' expenditure patterns. This study successfully isolated the race factor as a possible cause of price discrimination in a prescription drug purchase. Much confusion exists as to whether the poor pay more, and who is more likely to be poor. For example, only 8% of white families headed by a person under 65 are classified as poor by the Social Security Administration, but approximately 30% of black families headed by a person under 65 are classified as poor [4]. Black families are about four times more likely to be poor than white families. Perhaps the question of the poor paying more should be restated, Do the black poor pay more? A Philadelphia study concluded that the poor do not pay more because they travel outside of their immediate community to purchase food items [2]. The results are misleading because the study measured shopping opinions of respondents whose family incomes averaged between $4,000 and $5,000 per year, which is greater than present poverty levels. Other sources have reported conflicting results. The Wall Street Journal reported that the poor pay more for food and presciption drugs regardless of the type of store patronized [7]. There is confusion about the difference between racial and economic class discrimination because many studies are institutionally, rather than consumer, oriented. For example, in a study of 240 Philadelphia food stores it was found that inner city independent food stores charged less for a food basket than small independent retailers located in higher-income areas [1]. No pattern of price differences was discovered between inner city and suburban supermarkets. However, there were only three supermarkets in the inner city and 84 in the suburbs. The small independent food store universally charged more for a food basket than the supermarket. The study made inferences about institutional price discrimination rather than about discrimination by race and economic class.