Kogure, Mone “Grocery Stores”

The biggest joy of going to a grocery store is looking for the best or favorite food from huge shelves filled with tons of products. The United States is way keener on unique variety in each food products in grocery stores. The different choices in each food category allow customers to find their best products based on their food habits, and this is very friendly for religious or ethical customs. For example, grocery stores offer a variety of breakfast cereal options: there are plain, regular, seasonal, but also high protein, gluten free, lower calories, or lower cholesterol, so that people can start their day off right with the choice of cereal that gives them more joy. Because of the great variety of food products in each grocery around the area I currently live, it is hard to see the disparity between food secure and insecure environments within Washington D.C., which is known to have a serious issue with socioeconomical segregation in its food system. I will discuss the relationship between a variety of food resources in grocery stores and food deserts through addressing the issues in socio structural, geographical and behavioral factors. The variation of products in grocery store, itself is a tool for creating structural segregation, as resources may not be equally accessible to everyone. 

I strongly believe that grocery stores are crucial resources that cannot be changed to other food markets such as convenience stores. This is because these two markets are built for different purposes. The grocery store specializes in wide options of brand, food and its freshness which can fulfill the essential productions fulfilling different kinds of necessity by individual customers. Therefore, the products in the grocery are designed to be friendly with diverse food culture by religion and eating habits. In order to stock them, the grocery stores are larger than convenience stores, usually located around the place where people easily gather such as shopping malls. On the other hand, convenience stores are keen on quick service with consumable foods that are prepackaged. Most of the products are for short periods of time such as one meal or little snack, not for daily meals. Additionally, as the productions are made for easily go and grab, the store barely stocks fresh meals, meat or fish which are healthier than prepackaged food (Petersen). Both have important roles in the food market; however, it is obvious that grocery stores can provide healthy, enough food resources with a great variety of selections for larger population rather than convenience store. 

The few grocery stores located in the South East DC, faces challenges of safety that threaten local people to get access to variety of food resources. The issues of safety in the South East DC illustrate how institutional power interacts with insecurity of food. News4 reported that Ward 8 in the Washington D.C. area is on the edge of losing their essential lifeline. One resident spoke in the interview “[t]he Giant is essential, like the anchor of this particular area” (Casillas 1:40). Giant Food is one of the very few grocery stores in the southeast area of D.C., and it is seeking support from government and local enterprises so it can stay in those communities. The store is recently threatened by a lack of public safety which forces the store to close their business. Once this grocery store closes, the nearest fully operated grocery store will be a few miles away in Ward 7. Along with the constant rise of violence and declining food market in the subordinate area, skyrocketing inflation in public infrastructure has significant impact on small business or food retailers to run their business in urban areas (CITE). The recent situation of Ward 8 shows invisible power that works narrowing down choice and food resources within certain community. Economic pressure makes it inevitable for the concentration of small convenience stores, or fast-food outlets outside of urban cities. Due to high cost of land and other equipment, it is risky for small business or food retailers to manage their business in an urban area; meanwhile large company can be eligible to get financial sponsors that make their business possible as they could maintain huge parking lots, great number of productions, and system to maintain quality of food. The Network for Public Health Law indicates geographical concentration of groceries reflects “the saturation of suburban markets and the relative lack of competition in urban areas” (The Network for Publish Health Law, 2016). The information from News4 and the Network for Publish Health Law refers to how social instability effect on the vitality of business in Ward 8. Furthermore, the institution in society prioritizes or deprioritizes the community to invest and develop. While this systematic prioritization is not addressable to be judged, the economic movement of enterprises and lacking government monitoring of social safety consistently lead the food desert into further isolated; consequently, normalize its isolation. Both instability of social security and economic prioritization by industry become the essence of empowering urban grocery stores, which involve structural boundaries between lower class of people. Indeed, this sequence creates a food desert, where people who live there struggle to get out from the vicious cycle of poverty. Thus, the fact of food insecurity is not the only result of lacking the accessibility and resources, but also the abandonment by government and company to support social stability in that area. Neighborhoods like Ward 8 is left out from fundamental system of society, and its environment is not conductive to supporting food resources in the first place. 

By extension, the environment of neighborhood is one of the crucial element to shape one’s daily meal. The chief scientist of the Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Intervention Network, Angela Hilmers emerged the environment of the neighborhood is the root of either providing or limiting the choice of food. She has done collaborative research about environmental justice, which drives limited access to healthy food in lower income areas (Hilmers et al, 2012). According to the study, as people in lower income areas are geographically segregated, they do not have any choice but to rely on convenience stores and fast-food outlets for their daily food resources. In fact, those isolation is a consequence of racial, ethical and socioeconomical aspects. Along with high consumption of quick serve food, lacking accessible grocery stores force lower income people to lead unhealthy food diet with limited options. Toni Lawson from the video of “Food Desert in D.C. ” tells of her living condition as a resident of the Southeast area of D.C., which is known as the area of food desert. In order to head to the nearest supermarket, Toni travels for more than 40 minutes by taking a bus unless the place she can get meals is from a convenience store or fast-food restaurant (Simmon, 0:54). The area is called “food apartheid, where it is something planned” (2:00). The socioeconomic barrier geographically blocks out people of minority or vulnerable, whose choice of food resources is limited to unhealthy fast food; otherwise, they need to take great effort to reach out to grocery stores which have plenty of options of healthy products and. Intertwining the geographical barrier brings resources in one place in an urban or wealthy area, while its resources and variety have obvious disparity within people. Normalizing environmental disparity for food resources makes the market and people in the food secure areas blind about food wasting and food insecure community, which are suffering from accessing daily meals.  

The TV show of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver introduces the reality of food waste in the United States. In the macro level perspective, about 40 percent of food production is not eaten every year; in the meantime, a quarter of purchased food is thrown away by each customer on average (Oliver 1:44 & 5:27). This is due to the behavioral trend of customers in grocery stores to have negative perception on the last option or leftover; thus, the seller tries to put an extra number of products to avoid those circumstances (Oliver 7:13). Furthermore, food waste is a result of store policies that seek to attract customers’ attention by displaying a greater number of products tapping buyer’s impulse shopping, consequently.  

The correlation of store policies in supermarkets and the behavior of customers causes chain reactions of outnumbered productions, extra buying, and food waste. Accordingly, the presence of people who live in food insecure environments are ignored in this food system and market. Many food justice activists are researching this issue. The claims of Angela Hilmers address people’s concern and attention toward access. Along with other food justice activists Hilmers notes that, while some resources are disturbed to increase access, others are present to inspire dominant consumption. On the contrary and a much smaller scale to the significance of the grocery market, Kathleen M Lenk emphasizes her focal point on improving the quality of convenience stores for tackling food poverty. A researcher of epidemiology and public health in the University of Minnesota, Lenk has conducted a collaborative study that found the high frequency of using small shops by food-insecure populations, including those who lack infrastructure such as equipment and transportation as well as single parents’ house. Lenk concludes, “Interventions requiring or incentivizing small food stores to stock healthful products could be important for improving access to nutritious food for food-insecure persons” (Lenk et al). The results and quote are used for supporting their argument that small shops like convenience stores or a dollar store are more affordable and accessible for food insecure people, thus addressing the quality of food with fresh and healthy options in the store are expected to solve the problem of food crisis in the suburban area. Although this perspective is valid for making action as a short-term solution, it does not fundamentally solve geographical, and socioeconomic disparity. Because it will still minimize the options of food within physically small capacity in the convenient store. Furthermore, as those food stores tend to be located around gas stations or areas lacking a huge food market, the public security around that area is still unstable. For long-term food security and creating an inclusive food system, enhancing reliance of convenience stores is not the first priority for addressing as it consistently isolates subordinated people geographically and socially to access grocery stores, where the majority of food secure people use for getting their daily meals. Lenk’s claim for convenience stores is a questionable assumption as small or local businesses are more vulnerable in the economy.  

According to the economist Jennifer F. Helgeson, the vulnerability of small business is due to “less human and financial capital, less diversified products and services, and a high potential that their customers are the victims of the same disaster” (Helgeson et al). He claims both market and neighbor living there are stuck in the poor human and food resources; therefore, both enterprise and people in lower income areas are unstable in economic fields and subordinated in a negative spiral cycle. Despite that fact, large counterparts’ needless food companies can support the current situation of the food system. For instance, technology enterprise Amazon is recently running a grocery business called Amazon Fresh, which operates with fewer employees and adapts online shopping or delivery. Furthermore, the company donates essential food resources to students living in food insecure areas in D.C., which are worth over 250,000 dollars (Hand). Accordingly, there is a way to change the vicious spiral by taking action with larger cooperation; indeed, it is support for creating the environment instead of dominating the economy.  

To summarize, the significance of grocery stores is found in their rich variation of products that can accommodate diverse dietary cultures. However, there are ways in which state power and social systems interact that result in the removal of grocery stores from lower income areas. The consequences of structural pressure over low-income communities are found in the geographical concentration of the markets in urban areas and normalizing the monopolized use and waste of food resources. Hence, the current grocery food markets are systematically segregated and blind to vulnerable communities. Social, economic, environmental, and even behavioral aspects are connected in the food system. In one day, an inclusive and sustainable food system allows the joys of the morning meals with one’s favorite cereals, available at the local grocery store.