Such markets need advocates in local and state government, Ray believes, especially when so much support already goes to major enterprises like the Schnucks Culinara. “It would be better to support small businesses, help them become nice little markets, than it would to support multimillion-dollar companies that don’t need the help,” he said. “We should be setting up co-ops to give some of these smaller businesses buying power to buy bulk purchases in order to be competitive. It’s almost impossible to compete. It just is.” Years after the St. Louis Healthy Corner Store Project’s official end, Regal Meat Market still moves a lot of potatoes, lettuce, apples, oranges, tomatoes and green peppers. Hamed spoke favorably of the project’s goals, but lamented the difficulty the store has had marketing healthy goods to younger customers, who he said still seem to prefer “junk food.” “If it wasn’t for the old people who come here and cook, a lot of my stuff would go to waste,” he said. Still, one of the strong sellers at Regal Meat Market is a holdover from the Healthy Corner Store Project. A few years ago, on the advice of project leaders, the Hameds used a donated chalkboard sidewalk sign to advertise a new prepared food product: fresh chicken salad. “That worked,” Hamed said, “bringing us different clientele: healthy food eaters.”
Businesses and organizations working to eradicate St. Louis food deserts
from left, majd and saddam hamed at regal meat market
administered by St. Louis Development Corporation, ran out in 2015. The project ended. Its leaders used the lessons they’d learned to create a similar, Missouri-wide program called Stock Healthy, Shop Healthy. Lubischer oversees the program, which operates in 14 counties and counting, from Kansas City. Seven other states have emulated the new program. St. Louis, Lubischer said, deserves full credit for its success. “We learned great things from our store owners. They taught us so much,” she added.
November 2017
It’s possible that the corner store program will return to St. Louis, if the right local partner champions it. Whether the model can sustain itself and how much it could transform food deserts, though, depends on who you ask. Some corner stores have trouble processing food assistance benefits, for instance, which reduces their usefulness to many customers. Corner stores will never become Whole Foods, Lubischer cautions. Rather, she hopes businesses like Regal Meat Market will stock enough tomatoes and whole-grain bread to sustain families without ready access to a car until their next major supermarket trip.
City Greens Market 4260 Manchester Ave., St. Louis, 314.884.8460, stlcitygreens.org Good Life Growing 4057 Evans Ave., St. Louis, goodlifegrowing.com Old North Provisions 2720 N. 14th St., St. Louis (opening 2018) Operation Food Search operationfoodsearch. org Regal Meat Market 5791 Thekla Ave., St. Louis, 314.382.8509 St. Louis Metro Market stlmetromarket.com Stock Healthy, Shop Healthy extension. missouri.edu/stockhealthy Washington Avenue Post 1315 Washington Ave., St. Louis, 314.588.0545, Facebook: Washington Ave Post
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