Convenience stores in lower income neighborhoods are notorious for their unsightliness and for carrying unhealthful foods. This article highlights one project that aims to help the corner store evolve into a healthy, community-oriented place.
"Stuffed with a cook book for bodega customers, a reusable shopping bag, bodega-style flags and party invitations, the $35 'Bodega [Party] in a Box' challenges people to reconsider their views of the corner store. Proceeds go to The Neighbors Project's concurrent goal, the Food and Liquor project, which encourages people to buy fresh produce from their local bodegas. If stores don't have fruits or veggies, the F&L project helps citizens collaborate with store owners to stock healthy food.
The benefits of the F&L project are considerable. When you buy food at a small business around the corner, and not from a Whole Foods in a different zip code, you support the local economy. You interact with your neighbors. You can walk or take a bus to the bodega, so you use less gas. And perhaps most importantly, you help to place healthy food on a local store's shelves, thereby fighting obesity in your neighborhood."
"'It's easy to go into a store and buy pop soda and a pickle. It's cheap and you get a high from it,' Kit Hodge, CEO of The Neighbors Project, says. 'We want to change that knee-jerk reaction, and give people the opportunity to eat good food.'"
FULL STORY: Rethinking the Bodega
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Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
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ULI Northwest Arkansas
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