Ben Ball

Baltimore Goes By-The-Book Dealing With Food Deserts

August 13, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
Food deserts, most public health officials agree, are a major problem when it comes to tackling some of the most pressing issues of the day. But, the fact that many of these deserts are located in poorer neighborhoods means that grocers are not rushing in. What do you think of Baltimore's virtual supermarket approach to dealing with the food desert issue?      [more...]

I have never been comfortable with the term "food deserts." Do we mean that there is literally no food available to the people who live there? It seems they would leave or starve. Or do we mean there is no food there of the sort we think they should prefer? I think it is the latter.

None of this is to say that people who want to buy it shouldn't have access to the fresh and healthy foods deemed most appropriate for them. But is that what they truly prefer? Let's find out.

Here's a proposal for a truly bold government/business partnership. Condemn a suitable site in an urban neighborhood and give it to a major supermarket operator lease free with 100% tax abatement. Provide the necessary security to maintain both the store's appearance and the employee's and shopper's safety at no charge.

In return, the supermarket provides the same product range its suburban locations carry. It also passes along all the attendant operating savings of the government largess to shoppers in the form of the lowest everyday price possible. Provide manufacturer's coupons and other price incentives that would normally have to be sought out by regular consumers to these shoppers right in the store automatically.

In other words, make it as attractive as humanly possible for the people who live in these "food deserts" to buy fresh, healthy food. Also make achieving a break-even on the store as easy as possible for the operator. Then sit back and see if the store does enough volume to stay afloat.

I'm betting against it.