April 2008

Supermarkets Matter: Here's Why

BY AMY HAGEDORN AND SARAH LANSDALE

You probably didn't notice when Waldbaum's closed its East Patchogue-North Bellport supermarket in February, citing poor performance and marketing conditions, unless you were a regular shopper there.

And if you read Newsday's brief editorial about how much this decision pained the community, it would probably have struck you as a local issue for the residents of East Patchogue-North Bellport to worry about, especially if you have access to one or more supermarkets.

Sustainable Long Island has been working with a number of communities such as Elmont and New Cassel that don't have access to quality, convenient supermarkets, and we have been thinking about the reasons that we all really need them.

Why? In a nutshell, because when a neighborhood has no supermarket, it lacks access to fresh, healthy food. The people in these communities therefore depend on local convenience stores which, lacking chain buying power, charge high prices and stock limited supplies of perishables. Non-perishables, the alternative, tend to retain less nutritional value.

Certainly this is an equity issue. But it's much more, quite possibly a root cause of an enormous public health problem. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease and some forms of cancer are directly linked to our diets. Lack of healthy food means kids brought up without fresh fruit and vegetables, kids who are affected physically, psychologically and educationally-for life. All the way through to the other end of the spectrum, senior citizens with limited mobility are also unable to travel to obtain nutritious food.

When there's no supermarket, it becomes an economic issue as well. Experience shows that when one closes, it's bad for the entire community. The smaller stores that cluster around the market don't benefit from its absence, but typically lose business and close also. A downward economic spiral is set in motion.

So, we worry that the Waldbaum's closing is a wakeup call. It's not because closings are new. Since the 1980s, chains have been merging, participating in leveraged buyouts, and closing stores, For example, Boston used to have 50 supermarkets, but only 34 at last count. Chicago went from 1000 to 500. Most of the closings were in distressed communities. It's called redlining, just like the discriminatory mortgage practice. Supermarket redlining creates what has been called "a food desert."

This trend has been considered an urban phenomenon. But now we're seeing redlining right here on Long Island. Why?

In part, we think, because today's mature suburban world has evolved to share many characteristics we think of as urban: segregated neighborhoods, dilapidated housing, and gaps in the quality of our schools. We have neighborhoods that large retailers shy away from for the same reasons as in the big cities.

The supermarket chain business is highly competitive and has a low profit margin. Stores need a very high volume and need to be very large, thus the trend toward shiny new mega-stores. But when land costs are high and suitably sized parcels are not available for building or expanding, the case for much of Long Island, the economics are even tougher.

We believe that coordinated initiatives between private and public entities, motivated citizens and government leaders can prevent more communities from losing their supermarkets, and help those who've suffered without them remedy that lack. We take our inspiration from several promising experiments in other regions of the country.

A sterling example comes from Pennsylvania, Philadelphia in particular. That city had come to possess the second lowest number of supermarkets per capita in the country. In response, a private group called the Food Trust was assembled in 1992, to work on "initiatives to improve food access, education and marketing campaigns to help consumers improve their health, and public policies to advance these initiatives."

The Food Trust has built a collaborative program, leveraging seed money from the legislature and arranging millions of dollars in public and private loans. Cash grants and loans to prospective supermarket developers have helped lure two dozen supermarkets to deprived urban and rural areas. It's proven a win-win situation for everyone.

Some of the lessons we can learn from Pennsylvania: Do our homework. The Food Trust initiated a survey of 10,000 households in 2004, and came up with data showing a strong association between poverty, poor health and lack of access to fresh food through supermarkets. This information is used to support their cause.

Community survey research can also be combined with business and government data to show that there is, in fact, high untapped demand in specific areas.

Encourage training of local workers. Using grant money for this purpose provides a boost to the community as well as individuals.
Revitalization impetus: A shiny new supermarket can help revitalize a whole community and serve as a beacon to economic development. More shoppers are drawn in creating an uplift for the entire neighborhood.

Region-wide collaboration: Government on every level plus community agencies and the business community must work together to foster creative approaches and build public support. Even factors like transportation must be taken into account; some communities provide minibuses to take residents to a farmers' market or supermarket.

Support local farmers: Pennsylvania's experience shows an added benefit, the opportunity to actively support the products of local farmers.

These lessons have also been borne out by a project much closer to home-in Harlem. It took years of hard work, but in the late 1990s a local association successfully brought a Pathmark to East Harlem, the first in three decades. Private investment combined with tax breaks and low-interest loans made it work. By Pathmark's own account the project is a success-more than 30,000 customers shop there weekly, making it Pathmark's most profitable store, and a commercial renaissance of 125th street was sparked.

Another attractive avenue for Long Island is to foster more farmers' markets. They offer an excellent way to entice neighborhood residents to improve their diets. In fact, a recent UCLA study tracked the eating habits of 600 women and then gave them cash vouchers to shop for fruits and vegetables. After six months, the women who shopped in the farmers' market were found to be eating three additional servings per day of fruits and vegetables. Those who shopped in the supermarket had added 1.5 servings to their daily diet.

There are more farmers' markets in this region than you are probably aware of. Check them out through www.nyfarmersmarker.com/index.htm.

One more thing to know: Something we can all do is to advocate for the reauthorization of the USDA's Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program. This would offer a new set of project grants of up to $300,000 to establish community food projects that promote the self-sufficiency of low-income communities. See www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/food/in_focus/hunger_if_competitive.html.

Above all, be alert to the issue of supermarket closings and all the implications they carry for equitable distribution of life's most basic essential, as well as economic development and sustainability. We must care what happens in our communities because ultimately, as we come to realize more every day, we do not and cannot live in separate worlds.

Tell us what you think. Send an email to stuttle@sustainableLI.org

Amy Hagedorn, president of the board and Sarah Lansdale, executive director, head up the team at Sustainable LI (www.sustainableli.org), a non-profit organization that focuses on facilitating real change in our region by promoting the concepts and practices of sustainable development. Sustainable specializes in a community-based planning process in which residents, municipal leaders, businesspeople and all interested stakeholders come together to plan and implement sustainable development initiatives in their communities.