Supermarkets

Access to healthy food is a major issue in public health. But just because there's a grocery store nearby doesn't mean health will improve. One entrepreneur looking at supermarket design says the way stores are laid out negatively affects health.

After the backlash of suburban development in the 80s and 90s, “supermarket-led development” in town centers remain a contentious issue in Britain.

The Save-a-Lot grocery chain has succeeded by going into urban and rural low-income areas that other chains have shied away from.

A new Safeway in Washington, D.C. is breaking the mold in grocery design by tucking the parking away behind the entrance and putting the market upstairs in a 2-story building, with smaller shops for lease on the street.

While developers in the U.K. have fallen prey to the recession, Tesco supermarkets have been extremely successful. Now the company is planning several new developments of their own with homes and shops centered around the grocery store.

Supermarkets of the future may become the center of neighborhood life, predicts planner Mark Hinshaw.

A coalition of community groups in L.A. has banded together to address the lack of access to healthy food in sections of East and South Central Los Angeles.

Supermarkets are moving back to urban areas like Philadelphia. But their big box designs are decidedly un-urban, according to architecture critic Inga Saffron, who calls for more relevant urban designs.

Large supermarkets in San Francisco are being replaced with higher-end specialty grocers, and some say it's a bad thing for many customers.