In many urban and rural accross the nation, residents have little access to grocery stores and must rely on small corner stores to purchase their groceries. In many corner stores, fresh produce tends to be scarce and expensive. The Local Foods Program at the Insitute for Agriculture and Trade Policy is working with the Minnesota Department of Health, distributors and corner store owners to increase access to fresh produce at corner stores across the state.  The recently revised nutrition guidelines for Minnesota's Women's Infants and Children (WIC) Program have provided new opportunities for partnering with these corner stores to provide fresh, healthy food to those who need it most.

Healthy Corner Stores

You probably don’t think of your neighborhood corner store as the place to go for fresh fruits and vegetables. But as of August, it might be worth a second look.

As a result of the new improved nutrition guidelines for Minnesota’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program (see Notables page 4 for information on the WIC changes), all stores that accept the WIC vouchers will be required to adhere to a new minimum stocking requirement for fresh produce. For stores located in counties with a population of 250,000 or more—currently Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin, and Ramsey Counties—this means carrying at least seven varieties of produce, two of which must be bananas and carrots (stores in other counties need five varieties). While the new WIC stocking requirements aren’t specifically targeted at corner stores, they’re the ones for whom implementation means the biggest change from the status quo. And as corner stores often serve as the only source of groceries in the so-called "food deserts" of low-income neighborhoods, their new inventory stands to have the most impact.

In the past, corner stores in Minnesota had no easy way to tap into a wholesale produce distribution system. Owners most often had to buy their produce inventory from retail sources like supermarkets or buying clubs, then mark up the price to account for their labor. This created a price-barrier for many shoppers who couldn’t afford the twice-marked-up products. Consequently, the inventory didn’t move, got worse-looking by the day, and often had to be thrown out. “The system wasn’t working well for shoppers or for many corner stores,” says JoAnne Berkenkamp of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).

Berkenkamp is the head of IATP’s Local Foods Program, and worked closely with the Minnesota Department of Health to create the healthy corner store initiative, helping corner stores to easily access affordable, fresh produce without changing their current ordering or distribution system. IATP partnered with H. Brooks & Co., a local wholesale produce distributor willing to sell small quantities to the so-called “broadline distributors” who provide corner stores with their existing inventory of refrigerated and shelf-stable products. This innovative collaboration allows corner stores to tap into a global produce market, as well as a large local inventory during the growing season. The diversity of options means that corner stores can easily tailor their inventory to reflect the needs of their clientele’s particular food interests and traditions. “It’s really about connecting the dots,” says Berkenkamp. “And about leveraging the existing distribution system to give stores access to products that they haven’t had before.”

Read the full article by By Emily Freeman in Edible Twin Cities.

Further Resources:

Healthy Food for All: This IATP report explores how cornerstores around the US are providing healthier food options.

Food Stamps, Food Security, and Public Health:  Lessons from Minnesota