Grocery stores scarce for many DC residents

Sustainability

Grocery stores scarce for many DC residents

by Lynda Laughlin • January 22, 2009 8:35 am

Please welcome Lynda Laughlin, a family demographer at the U.S. Census Bureau and a resident of Petworth. (Lynda's posts are, of course, her own opinions and not official U.S. Census statements.) Welcome Lynda!

Photo by Wiedmaier on Flickr.

Grocery stores and supermarkets are many residents' primary source of food. Having access to affordable sources of food has a major impact on our quality of life and public health. But while wealthy neighborhoods have an ample supply of supermarkets, in many parts of DC, grocery stores are few and far between.

The District of Columbia has 24 major grocery store chains and 10 smaller/regional food markets. There are 15 Safeways, three Whole Foods, six Giants, two Harris Teeters, six Yes! Organic Markets, one Super Fresh, and one Trader Joe's. There are plans for an Ellwood Thompson in Columbia Heights and a Yes! Organic Market in Petworth.

View Larger Map

As the map demonstrates, grocery stores are not evenly distributed across the District. Wards 2 and 3 have 16 grocery stores. That's one store for every 8,911 residents. Ward 4 is the most populated ward (about 75,000 people), but only has one grocery store. There are only three grocery stores east of the river for residents of Wards 7 and 8. That's one store for every 47,151 residents. Communities with large populations in poverty or large minority populations have poor access to grocery stores. Wards 4, 5, 7, and 8 are all majority African-American and all have large numbers of residents living in poverty, while wealthier, whiter Wards 2 and 3 have almost half the city's grocery stores.

For low-income residents without a car, poor transit access to grocery stores is an immediate barrier to healthful eating. Sadly, inadequate access to grocery stores is not unique to DC. It is a common problem across urban areas, and cities and states haven't done enough. A few states have taken some steps. In Pennsylvania, for instance, the state contributed $30 million in seed money to lure grocery stores to low-income neighborhoods in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. New York City recently passed legislation for up to 1,000 "green carts" to operate in certain areas of the city to sell fresh produce.

What kind of initiatives could DC take to ensure equal access to healthier (and affordable) food options? How can convenience store owners be convinced to carry more than Tasty Kakes and Utz potato chips? Could we change land-use policies to prioritize food? City officials and urban planners need to realize the important role they can play in ensuring access to healthy food and improving the quality of life for urban residents.

58 comments

Tags: DC, food, public health, retail

Will tax incentives make food deserts bloom? (Dec 4, 2009)
Grocery stores disappearing in NYC (Feb 19, 2008)
Food desert or mirage? (Mar 30, 2010)
Food insecurity in the District (Feb 5, 2009)
Ensuring retail and residential diversity in zoning (Jan 29, 2009)

Lynda Laughlin is a family demographer at the U.S. Census Bureau. She holds a PhD in sociology and enjoys reading, writing, and researching issues related to families and communities, urban economics, and urban development. Lynda lives in Mt. Pleasant. Views expressed here are strictly her own.

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FYI: There is another Safeway in Ward 4, near the intersection of Piney Branch Road and Georgia Ave. The back of the store is along Van Buren Street. The store locator at safeway.com is borked right now, so I can't give you the full address.

by John on Jan 22, 2009 9:01 am • link • report

What kind of correlation is there between density and the provision of grocery stores? Obviously, the relative wealth of an area is a strong determinant, but many of the regions without good access are also less dense.

http://ftp2.census.gov/geo/maps/special/profile2k/DC_2K_Profile.pdf

by Alex B. on Jan 22, 2009 9:03 am • link • report

Wait a sec, large grocery stores aren't the only option for produce. When I visited Brooklyn I saw many small, narrow, independently owned shops selling produce and other grocery items -- which seemed much more appropriate for an urban setting than a few huge supermarkets. Is there nothing like this in DC? (I have to admit, I have not lived in the city and rarely venture out of NW when I go.) If not, why not?

by Scott on Jan 22, 2009 9:11 am • link • report

I suspect that population-proportional cartograms take forever to make, but seeing how evenly distributed grocers are on one such map might be illuminating if anyone has the time/skills.

Ideally for this application, we wouldn't bother and would just dissolve zoning restrictions & let grocery stores pop up wherever demand exceeds the marginal cost of accumulating properties.

by Squalish on Jan 22, 2009 9:13 am • link • report

John: 6500 Piney Branch Rd NW, according to Google Maps.

by Scott on Jan 22, 2009 9:13 am • link • report

There's also a Safeway at Connecticut and McKinley. That's in Ward 3, so it doesn't negate your point. However, the fact that two omissions have been discovered very quickly makes me question the reliability of the data.

Of course, I agree with your argument overall, that poorer and blacker areas are inadequately served by grocery stores. I think this is more of a problem in wards 7 and 8 than in 4, though.

by ratnerstar on Jan 22, 2009 9:16 am • link • report

This doesn't excuse the lack of stores in Wards 4, 7, and 8, but what about stores located in Maryland near the DC border? For example, there is a Giant in Silver Spring at 1280 E West Highway, another at 5815 Eastern Ave in Hyattsville, and another at 5463 Wisconsin Ave in Chevy Chase. There are a few others if you count ones not right next to the border. There are also Safeway stores at 6300 Central Ave in Capitol Heights and 2346 Iverson St. in Temple Hills. I realize if people don't have a car or do not live near the border this does not alleviate the problem, but they should be included if people are going to effectively plan or surmise the best locations and policies for grocery stores.

by Ed on Jan 22, 2009 9:17 am • link • report

And just imagine how many more people would have inadequate access to grocery stores if the District made it harder to build parking lots and thus to own a car ...

Of course, I know the 'Central Planners' will have a solution that doesn't involve car ownership. Never mind that central planning rarely works other than on the drawing board.

by Lance on Jan 22, 2009 9:32 am • link • report

The ERS division of the USDA held a conference back in Sept/Oct that dealt with the concept of Food Deserts, that is places where quality food cannot be found.

I attended and found it very interesting. The take home point was that low density AND low incomes are the two biggest barriers to getting quality food to most people, along the lines of what Lynda and many of the commenters are saying.

One of the solutions being tried in Baltimore was to get corner stores to stock real food but those stores found that their customer base had little interest in those foods. So at least some of this problem is genuinely market related. It was a complicated issue - many people were studying it.

Good article though - hope to see more from you

by staypuftman on Jan 22, 2009 9:38 am • link • report

The most suburban places of the city also have the least grocery stores. The most suburban places in the city are also the less affluent wards. I have to wonder if there were more foot traffic in the less affluent wards due to walkable land uses, if more grocery stores could be supported.

Of course, the ability to support a store and one actually opening up are different things altogether. Just ask Cleveland Park.

by Cavan on Jan 22, 2009 9:38 am • link • report

Thank you Lynda for bringing this public health concern to a greater audience.

One facet of nutrition/buying behavior is that the foods worst for us are also the cheapest. It's easier to feed 5 people with mac-n-cheese and potatoes than vegetable ratoutuille (sp?). Navel oranges are >$1 @. That's more expensive than cheap meat. Part of the prices we see in grocery stores are a result of federal farm subsidy policies. Essentially, we subsidize fats, sugars and salt, so those are the cheapest. It turns out we humans have millenia worth of evolution to crave those very foods-fat, sugar, salt-because we were challenged to get enough calories to survive and those foods are rich in calories. Salt is a necessary nutrient but scarce in the environment in which we evolved. This biologically driven food-seeking behavior adds another layer of complexity to meeting nutrition needs. We are not helping by making these foods the cheapest ones in the store.

Also, something like half oF DC's population <18y.o. lives in wards 7&8. This is reason enough to get more grocery stores in those neighborhoods. Urban farms are another form that has worked in other cities, e.g. Havana has had a great success with urban farms.

This issue is of course one of the factors driving the obesity and diabetes epidemic and is included in the definition of "built environment".

by Bianchi on Jan 22, 2009 10:10 am • link • report

I believe a new Giant opened on Alabama Ave SE after a big push by the city. However, there seem to be many groceries right around Anacostia. Just type in "grocery Anacostia DC" in Google Maps, you'll see all the options. Many of them are smaller grocers, but they exist nonetheless. There are even more stores right over the border in Maryland, such as two Safeway stores in Forest Hills and District Heights.

Sure, these stores may be unfriendly for transit, but so are all the areas without grocery stores. Remember http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/Washington_D.C. ? Anacostia, and good chunks of Ward 4, getting low scores in contrast to the rest of the city.

I think the "walkability" score is the fundamental issue in the grocery business. Those who live in walkable areas are more likely to take more frequent trips to the grocery and, if I had to guess, buy more fresh foods. For that reason, grocers have been keen on including more grocery stores in those areas in order to provide better access to walkers, who are more than likely to make the closest store their primary grocery.

If you live in non-walkable areas, such as Ward 4 and Anacostia, you're going to be driving everywhere no matter what. So, your loyalty to going to the closest grocery is basically zilch. For drivers, there's little difference between a store that's right down the street versus a mile away. If grocers cannot attract the type of store loyalty and constant foot traffic that it can get in more walkable areas, they're going to be less likely to set up shop.

by Adam on Jan 22, 2009 10:13 am • link • report

Lance notice all the grocery stores near where many people don't have cars. The safeway on 17th doesn't even have a parking lot or any easy street parking and it does quite well. the whole foods on P st seems to have 3 times as many people walk in as use one of the parking lots.

You can take the bus to get groceries or walk. (Before you talk about old people, I ahve seen many old people with those wheeled carts) You can encourage small stores that sell produce and other such things. there are many solutions other than just building lots of parking.

by nathaniel on Jan 22, 2009 10:21 am • link • report

why is this a surprise when the aim of the DC city government is to tax the living feces out of any independent businesses and force them to move to non-places like Ballston or Tysons, etc...add to this the seeming policy of NIMBYs and "Historic Districts " to turn mom & pop stores into residential properties - this has been going on for quite some time w/o any kind of notice- and it also forces DC residents to buy cars and drive to N Virigina and other locales to buy regular living needs items that used to be avialble on just about every block in DC prior to 1970 or so. The city government is at war with Independent businesses in this city. They are bought and sold by the creeps that build basball stadiums and suck the life blood out of our neighborhoods and decent taxpayers who never get the big deal Tax Increment Financing "packages" [ I hate that over-used word "package"] .

by w on Jan 22, 2009 10:29 am • link • report

Food deserts are certainly a reality, and not just because of a lack of grocery stores. I currently live in Ward 4 about 12 minutes walking from a Safeway. I can also walk 15 minutes to a Giant in Ward 1. I don't drive, so other grocers are out of reach for me, although I will occasionally take things from Whole Foods on the Metro.

Despite that fact, just having a grocery store is not all it takes to have food access. I've found that urban grocery stores, including the one I used to shop at in Hyattsville, have terrible selections of meat and produce, and scarce selections of many other things.

When I was still living in Atlanta, I started out living in a food desert. I was not in the poorest section of town, but I wasn't in the most affluent section either. I lived in the same neighborhood for 4 years. When I first moved there, there were no grocery stores within walking distance. By the time I moved to Washington, I could easily walk to 3.

But the selection at each of these grocery stores was excellent. Despite their urban location, they were always stocked with good produce and meats, and I never had problems finding things there. Perhaps the grocery chains up here aren't as urban friendly as their southern counterparts.

Anyone else notice problems with the quality/selection of food here?

by Matt' on Jan 22, 2009 10:30 am • link • report

Adam: she's already included the new Giant on Alabama Ave SE. The purple "G"...the sole grocery store shown in Ward 8.

by Froggie on Jan 22, 2009 10:32 am • link • report

Matt-

It all depends on the area. Grocers stock what they think will sell and in poorer areas, that typically means lower quality food. When I lived in PG, the poultry section at the grocery store consisted of mostly lower-quality chicken pieces. That is in contrast to my current grocery store which sells almost all "organic" or "natural" chicken breast. It all depends on what the community can support and definitely confirms Bianchi's food subsidy comments.

by Adam on Jan 22, 2009 10:52 am • link • report

I live on the SE Hill, and when I moved in, I had the Safeway within walking distance. The quality was bad. The mere availability of staples (bread, milk) was questionable, depending on what day and what time you went to the store.

With the recent opening of the new Harris-Teeter, the situation is vastly improved. There's a price premium, but I will gladly pay it for the increase in quality and availability (not to mention vastly improved customer service).

I think the grocery industry has been recognizing trends in urban areas, and have been adopting their stores. Urban supermarkets are like the anti Sam's Club, where people make multiple trips a week and buy little bits at one time, rather than one large grocery run per week. This kind of purchasing enables walking to and from the store rather than driving.

by Alex B. on Jan 22, 2009 10:53 am • link • report

This is a real issue, and a real interesting one -- thanks for bringing it up. Easier access to healthier food doesn't necessarily mean people will eat healthier, but it helps. A few points I haven't seen mentioned yet:

* Farmers' markets are also a viable source for a lot of fresh produce. It'd be interesting to map these, too.

* Remember that Giant (and Safeway?) have delivery options. It's not the same thing as going to the store yourself, I think there's an extra charge, and I suppose you need Internet access to shop online, but it's an option.

* There are also CSAs, which make their weekly delivery to a local distribution point or direct to your house. These are usually expensive, but again, another option for getting fresh food.

* One thing that's been tried is making government food benefits (e.g. WIC) able to be used at farmers' markets, opening that option to those customers (and driving more business to those vendors, and making farmers' markets more lively). I don't know the details of this. Aren't benefits programs administered through the states? If so, does anybody know how it works in DC?

by Gavin Baker on Jan 22, 2009 11:01 am • link • report

I'd bet dollars to pesos that there is some law cause unintended consequences (in this time, a presumed shortage of food vendors).

Grocery stores will usually follow demand. Why not in this case?

Again, I wonder if some city law has created perverse incentives.

by MPC on Jan 22, 2009 11:07 am • link • report

Alex B

Im old enough to recall when there were small groecery stores on just about every other block in Capitol Hill/Navy Yard. It was not that long ago- in the early 1970's there were mom&pop places all over. Then there was a move to convert them into houses- that is- when they were boarded up for a long time and no other viable use could be envisioned. This is an anti-urban mindset- and goes totally against the grain of the historic uses of these buildings. there needs to be a concerted push in this particular area for more mixed use and conversion of residential back to small commercial usage. It will keep money in the city, give us more choices, and keep cars off of the roads.

by w on Jan 22, 2009 11:13 am • link • report

That's fine, w, I'd love to see more mom and pop shops. However, their decline was not specific to DC. There are larger forces at work here, and it's unlikely that any one policy change on the local side of things would reverse it.

MPC, it's not a law thing, exactly. Grocery Stores follow demand, but the grocery business is very low margin. Look at Detroit's food desert - a city of more than 800,000 people (covering 143 square miles!) has virtually no supermarkets within its borders. Surely, there's demand for some amongst those 800,000 residents?

http://metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=11830

by Alex B. on Jan 22, 2009 11:31 am • link • report

John Talmage, president of the organization Social Compact, gave a speech at last year's DC Economic Partnership Annual Meeting.

Social Compact, based in DC, produces demographic and economic surveys of cities. They operate on the premise that traditional demographic studies, including the US Census, provide badly flawed information on poor, urban areas, partly because those studies employ models that are tuned for suburban conditions.

They have come to the conclusion that retailers' usual location studies dramatically underreport the economic potential of neighborhoods like the ones under discussion in this post. They produce their own reports, using different metrics and their own models - reports which make a much better case for locating stores and banks in these neighborhoods.

Their "District of Columbia Neighborhood Drill Down" focuses on Anacostia/Hillcrest and Columbia Heights/Petworth.

http://www.socialcompact.org/DC.htm

They find a Columbia Heights/Petworth population that's 50% larger than the US Census' estimate: 78,272 vs. 51,823 in the 2000 Census. Housing values and buying power are similarly off.

by David Ramos on Jan 22, 2009 11:52 am • link • report

Related to what David Ramos wrote, Earvin 'Magic' Johnson has a successful multimillion $ business plan and foundation based on the same premise-that underserved areas have buying power unrecognized by traditional investment schemes.

by Bianchi on Jan 22, 2009 12:06 pm • link • report

DC policies I'd favor? One that I don't think has (or will) come up: more community gardens. More food in the backyard, on rooftops, on decks - it's possible to grow a useful quantity of food locally, even in a city, and that kind of produce is exactly the stuff that can help with poor diets. Once again, it's the counter to kiwis flown from New Zealand and billions of gallons of water pumped over California mountain ranges.

I'm not so sure about corner stores though.

There's a fascinating book by Alan Ehrenhalt called The Lost City: The Forgotten Virtues of Community in America - it's one of those books that makes me, as a 2000s left-winger, angry, but I come back to it always because of some of his bitterly pointed observations about community.

He takes Chicago of the 1950s, both city and new car-oriented suburbs, as the source for his examples. He's intending the book as a repudiation of the 1960s, but I'm just as aware of the limitations that

Neighborhoods of the 1960s functioned as they did

He recognizes the physical and demographic differences between the city and the suburbs, but his case depends on the idea that, at some core level, 1950s cities and suburbs operated because inhabitants were willing to compromise their own social identities and to forgo the degree of choice to which we are now accustomed.

He's writing about the level that shapes retail.

In particular, he finds that neighborhood stores depended on a stable population that is unwilling or unable to travel farther. The stores he examines (in Chicago of the 1950s) offered less choice than the supermarkets that had begun to edge them out, and they charged higher prices.

If I were to sum up the changes since the 1950s, it's a push toward lower prices and greater choice, in every aspect of society.

I'm saddened by the drive toward lower and lower prices, and what it brings, like Wal-Mart. I'm mindful, though, of the truth that Ehrenhalt recognizes: the social unity that produced successful 1950s neighborhoods was splintering even then. The supermarket's killed the corner store as anything more than a convenience - and good riddance.

by David Ramos on Jan 22, 2009 12:13 pm • link • report

Oops. Sorry. Closed italic.
by David Ramos on Jan 22, 2009 12:14 pm • link • report

Or not.

Maybe this will work.

by David Ramos on Jan 22, 2009 12:18 pm • link • report

Hey - you got the Secret Safeway! (The Townhouse Safeway.) But, you forgot the "Best DC Market" at 1507 U St NW. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/mvjantzen/3176070744/

Re ward population - the wards are redrawn every 10 years (after the census); by law they are supposed to have roughly equal numbers of residents - it's the geographic size - the acreage - that will vary. GGW wasn't here the last time this was done, but trust me you will have fun watching all the politics that accompanies the redrawing of boundaries.

by Michael on Jan 22, 2009 12:20 pm • link • report

Matt -

I do think there might be something specific to DC going on here that you wouldn't have seen in Altanta. Anecdotally, the Safeway on 17th Street is better known as the Soviet Safeway. Though that might not seem fitting anymore, until a few years ago even that location was plagued by bad selection and frequently near-empty shelves. This state of affairs lasted well into the 2000's, years and years after Dupont Circle went upscale.

Now, this isn't to lament the "sad plight" of Duponters, but it does show how, at the least, grocery stores are very slow in responding to market conditions. In the last few years this Safeway was significantly improved and the Whole Foods and Harris Teeter opened nearby. Even the Trader Joes in the west end competes for some of the dollars. Either this recent explosion of options is a decade-late market response or something else is going on.

And, tangentially, I completely agree that farm subsidies have skewed the market and that if we want to improve the national diet we need to enact policies that make healthy options cheap options.

by RyanA on Jan 22, 2009 1:04 pm • link • report

Ryan, I think it's just quite simply a decade-late response on the part of the grocery stores. As with anything, the Conventional Wisdom (backed up with computer models, so we know it's true!) is always a decade behind. Remember, lots of people out in suburbia use the word "urban" as a euphamism for "underpriviledged" despite the fact that it's not true. That's just the current Conventional Wisdom, always a decade behind.

It's similar to Apple opening a store in Georgetown when they could just as easily open one on U St. or in Columbia Heights, generate similar foot traffic and sales, and pay a lower rent than in Georgetown. Their computer models tell them to open in Georgetown because it's the "good" part of DC. In this case, it wasn't true 10 years ago, and it's far less true now. But we know that outsiders' perceptions of a place based on what they've heard and reality on the ground are often misinformed at best.

by Cavan on Jan 22, 2009 1:51 pm • link • report

Ryan, Perhaps you are a relative newcomer to the DC area, but the "Soviet Safeway" used to be at Cleveland Park on Connecticut Avenue. Sometime after that store closed, the name was reused by newcomers to describe the far superior store you mentioned.

Cavan, "Remember, lots of people out in suburbia use the word "urban" as a euphamism for "underpriviledged" despite the fact that it's not true." Is there any basis for this statement? Who are these "lots of people out in suburbia" that you are characterizing? Let's try to be responsible and not generalize in the absence of knowledge about what others say or think.

by JW on Jan 22, 2009 2:20 pm • link • report

JW, only if you consider 8 years "new"

by RyanA on Jan 22, 2009 2:41 pm • link • report

Specifics? My old co-workers at a high school in Anne Arundel county, MD. Is that specific enough?

Once again, I didn't stand on a street corner and conduct a "scientific" survey. I used that sentence to make a larger point about perceptions being behind reality. We can agree on that point, right?

by Cavan on Jan 22, 2009 2:41 pm • link • report

Cavan: "I used that sentence to make a larger point about perceptions being behind reality." I can agree that your perceptions of what others (people in suburbia) think are quite a bit behind reality. Perhaps that sentence is or was accurate for a handful of acquaintances, but as a generality about what suburbanites generally think about urban areas, if such a general statement could ever properly be made, it is decades behind what I suspect most suburbanites would say.

by JW on Jan 22, 2009 2:54 pm • link • report

In the early '90's the Safeway on 17th NW was already reffered to as the Soviet Safeway. (17 years ago). But back to the post: I agree community gardens/urban farms can and do fill a niche for good nutrition cities. This is a land-use issue. The land needs to be dedicated as part of long-term planning.

by Bianchi on Jan 22, 2009 3:28 pm • link • report

Wards 7 & 8 had dozens of smaller grocery stores up until the 1970s. I know: I grew up on Alabama Avenue SE. All the groceries closed because of rampant shoplifting and theft; employees would fence goods out to their friends for a percentage. This still goes on today at the Giant and Home Depot on Rhode Island Avenue; they're both losing A LOT of money to theft.

Also, lots of small downtown bodegas have tried carrying fresh produce. Most end up dropping them after a month or so because nobody buys them. When you're running a business, it's easier to stock goods with a long shelf life than it is easily perishable goods.

Finally, you could limit the salty fried snacks and HFC loaded colas in DC with a snack tax and a bottle bill. Neither will ever happen in DC. You can thank the snack and beverage lobby for that. These bills come before the Council every year. Every year, the lobbyists spread a ton of money around and nothing happens. A lot of the health issues in DC could be remedied if the local politicans would grow a pair.

by monkeyrotica on Jan 22, 2009 3:31 pm • link • report

The problem with this analysis is that it fails to account for supermarket located say within 1-2 miles of DC's border with Maryland. I have written about this before:

http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2008/02/supermarkets.html

I like Giant better than Safeway, and it's easier and quicker for me to go 1.25 miles to the store at Riggs Road and Eastern Ave., just across the border in Maryland, than it is to carry groceries on my bike 3.19 miles to the store in Columbia Heights.

Similarly, who in Ward 5 wants to brave the massive crowds in the Brentwood Road Giant--which does have a better selection--when they can go to the store on Queens Chapel Road in Hyattsville.

And there are many stores bordering Ward 8.

Plus, there isn't enough consumer demand to support many more supermarkets than the city has already.

Now, improving what is sold locally within stores, especially corner stores, is another issue.

by Richard Layman on Jan 22, 2009 3:40 pm • link • report

Bianchi, The "Soviet Safeway" in Cleveland Park closed in 1987.

As for community gardens, how is that consistent with the "smart growth" efforts to cover all the urban open space with mixed use buildings?

by JW on Jan 22, 2009 3:41 pm • link • report

Agree w/ monkeyrot on snack tax and bottle bill. Bottle bill especially. The fat and sugar (corn oil and HFCS) corn lobby and the pols responding to them on the federal level are a big part of the problem. W/o those subsidies the snacks wouldn't be so cheap. Snack tax funds then go right into extant publicly funded healthcare.

by Bianchi on Jan 22, 2009 3:46 pm • link • report

JW, You have seemed to ask me to define "smart growth". My definition obviously includes gardens.

by Bianchi on Jan 22, 2009 3:57 pm • link • report

Another problem with this map is it doesn't list independent grocers including Pan Am (14th Street; Michigan Ave.), the two independent markets on Mount Pleasant Street NW; and other locations. Is Dean and Deluca on the list.

Certain goods I will always try to buy at a bodega equivalent because they are less expensive than the chains. Fruits and vegetables are generally cheaper at Pan Am than Giant (and Giant is much cheaper than Safeway on a lot of the goods I buy consistently). Now Pan Am doesn't have the wood floors and niceties of the newest Safeway downtown, but I'd rather spend less money...

A joke about Social Compact's work (sorry David) is that having more poor people doesn't help you if your focus is trying to attract chains, which in part for the reasons that monkeyrotica notes (he mentions shrinkage, or stealing, also the quality of and access to labor is an issue) but for other reasons (narrow store formats) etc. chains aren't interested. Related to this is the surprising fact that 50% of total retail purchases are made by the top 30% of households by income...

It's why you have to grow your own local retail, which is the work I am focused on as a consultant.

by Richard Layman on Jan 22, 2009 3:58 pm • link • report

Bianchi, I am glad to hear that with your definition of "smart growth," you would include gardens and I hope other open space in urban neighborhoods. Unfortunately, where the rubber hits the road, the attorneys, developers, planners and politicians do not seem to include those important elements when using "smart growth" arguments to get approval for buildings that remove open space and sometimes cover 100% or more of their lots.

I hope that you are persistent and successful in advocating for open space, community gardens and parks avaialable to District residents, even if they happen to live near a rail or bus line.

by JW on Jan 22, 2009 4:41 pm • link • report

I hope that you are persistent and successful in advocating for open space, community gardens and parks avaialable to District residents, even if they happen to live near a rail or bus line.

by JW on Jan 22, 2009 4:42 pm • link • report

"The District of Columbia has 24 major grocery store chains and 10 smaller/regional food markets."

Only ten?? Really? Are you sure about that? I would think there are at least 15 or 20.

I agree with Bianchi (and Michael Pollan?): Yes, it is the farm bill, subsidies for corn, soy, cheaper food in more in abundance (more caloric, least healthy). Still, knowing all this, isn't a standard Giant better than nothing?

DO: Farmers’ markets - they do help. They should accept food stamps at the very least. More numerous and smaller grocery stores, especially run/owned if possible by neighborhood residents or coops.

NOT SURE: Does the mega supermarket plan work well in poor areas? Grocery stores need flexibility in terms of food choice and budgeting. Do supermarkets as a rule open in low income neighborhoods?

POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Try really creative, strongly neighborhood-driven solutions, where corporate solutions don't work, something like maybe opening up a microfinance institution inside a store. Some solution that actually reflects the needs and desires of the locality with goods and services they can and will actually use. (Microfinance works.) And I second Bianchi's observation that there is a unique solution out there. The key just hasn't been turned yet.

by Jazzy on Jan 22, 2009 8:47 pm • link • report

I love having a community garden! Love it! There should be AT LEAST three community gardens in every ward. And the day that someone can come around and tell me how to maximize my space to enable me to grow even 25% of my food in season is one I will heartily celebrate. Until then, however, I don't see how it is possible, absent a block-wide agriculture plan with someone in charge of food production, to honestly advocate community gardens as a true substitute for small markets and grocery stores, and farmers' markets. They are a complement yes. But let's keep it in perspective.

Again - I am ALL FOR COMMUNITY GARDENS!!!

by Jazzy on Jan 22, 2009 8:53 pm • link • report

Missing here is the recognition that there are more real supermarkets than there were 10 years ago and much more competition. Back then, most the vast majority were Safeways and they all charged 10% more than their suburban counterparts, regardless of neighborhood. Since then, Giant has returned to Southeast and opened in Northeast. Since then, we've gained Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Harris-Teeter. Giant has reinvested in Columbia Heights and Van Ness. Things are far less bleak than they were in the early 90s when I moved here the 1st time---in those days, I took advantage of working part time in Shepherd Park and Rockville to shop Giant supermarkets in Silver Spring and "North Bethesda" that were bigger than anything in the District and I used my local Safeway as a convenience store.

by Rich on Jan 22, 2009 10:11 pm • link • report

Hi Linda,

Thanks for the information. I've seen demographics similar to this before, and I believe there has been much progress toward equal access to grocery stores for DC residents over the last 10 years. But, more work must be done on it, especially in Wards 4, 5, 7 and 8.

As for grocery stores in the works in far northeast DC, there are plans for a big new grocery store (approx. 60,000 square feet) at Capitol Gateway Marketplace (58th & East Capitol Streets, NE)

http://www.wdcep.com/dev_record.php?devId=674

http://www.madisonretailgroup.com/files/Capitol_Gateway_Demos.pdf

http://www.madisonretailgroup.com/files/Capitol_Gateway_Flyer.pdf

For Ward 4, there are plans for a large new grocery store at the intersection of Riggs Road and South Dakota Avenue, NE in a new development being led by Lowe Enterprises.

http://www.the-dakotas.com/vision.html

Would you consider adding one more to the grocery store list for east of the river in DC. In addition to the 2 Safeways and 1 Giant, there is a grocery near historic Anacostia. It is independent and also larger than your typical Yes! Organic store. I did a walking tour in Anacostia recently, and I happened upon it. It's called Warehouse Supermarket, and it's located at 1918 14th Street, SE. You can see it on google street view.

Independents like Pan Am (I've shopped there myself at 3552 14th street, nw, and it is heavily used by the Latino community), Dean & Deluca at 3276 M Street, NW in Georgetown, and others should be included unless a pre-set parameter such as stores only over 5,000 square feet or such has been set. Is this the case?

What about Rodman's Discount Gourmet at 5100 Wisconsin Avenue, NW? They sell international food products (herbs/spices, pastas, fresh produce, cheeses, et cetera). Is this one included in your survey?

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge on this most relevant matter.

by otavio on Jan 22, 2009 11:14 pm • link • report

And, sorry for misspelling your name, Lynda!

by otavio on Jan 22, 2009 11:15 pm • link • report

I'm surprised that the Magruders in Cleveland Park was left off. That was a pretty good (albeit kind of small) neighborhood grocer with a pretty wide variety of produce and meats, and I shopped there all the time when i worked in Cleveland Park. Has it closed, or was it just too small for this analysis? I think something like that might fare well in downtown Anacostia, but not many other places in Wards 7 or 8.

by Dave Murphy on Jan 23, 2009 2:20 am • link • report

That Magruders in CP is still there; along with Brookville and Yes!. An abundance of groceries available in CP on Conn Ave.

by Bianchi on Jan 23, 2009 7:53 am • link • report

There is also a Magruders on upper Connecticut Avenue, near the Avalon Theatre, and Balducci's on New Mexico Avenue. Are there other small stores, some larger than Yes!, specialty stores like meat stores, fish markets or bodegas, or ethnic markets that should be added to the map?

by Andy on Jan 23, 2009 8:18 am • link • report

So much to comment on!

I too have wondered about the small groceries in New York that offer fresh produce and even salad bars (caveat: it's been some years since I've been) and why something similar could not exist here in Chicago. I'm guessing it's a density issue.

Neighbors Project was working on a project to get fresh produce in the corner convenience stores:

http://www.neighborsproject.org/pages/local_fresh_food/22.php

A dollar/convenience store that has since closed in my neighborhood was not able to get small quantities of milk delivered. There was a minimum requirement. So perhaps the corner/convenience stores could band together for delivery, but obviously that requires an additional level of effort, tough for stores that may only have one person working at a time (i.e. who would go down the block to pick up their share of the delivery).

It's also an effort to get people to try out smaller, non-chain, ethnic grocers, especially people who might have grown up in the suburbs. But some stores share some of the blame for not making their stores inviting (e.g. a clean entrance, ability to see through the windows) to those who may be unfamiliar with them.

My local farmers market ("Chicago's coolest farmers market") was the first in Chicago to accept LINK cards (food stamps):

http://www.logansquarefarmersmarket.org/foodstamps

I'm wondering if D.C. has somehow outlawed restrictive covenants as that is often a problem in the Chicago area. As part of their leases the big chain groceries include covenants that say if they leave the owner cannot lease to another grocer for x amount of months/years. This happened in my neighborhood where a disappointing Dominicks (Safeway) closed down only to sit vacant for a couple of years. What else can go in that envelope?: now it's a Best Buy.

The Lost City tale is an interesting one. And mention of the Soviet Safeway brought back memories. I don't remember that one, but do remember the Social Safeway. With regard to farm subsidies, perhaps a campaign with the new Surgeon General and Ag Secretary are in order from city folks.

by Lynn Stevens on Jan 23, 2009 10:45 am • link • report

Safeway had lease restrictions on reuse for their old grocery stores for many years. In the 1980s, Safeway had a specific store "improvement" program that closed neighobrhood commercial district sized stores in favor of more intra-city but regional and larger stores. (It's similar but on a much smaller scale to how Walmart does it with Walmarts and then rolling up three Walmarts into one Supercenter serving what were once three separate retail trade areas.)

They held on to the lease restrictions for as long as it took for grocery shopping behaviors to change. For the most part, it replaced local grocery shopping in neighborhood commercial districts reachable on foot with car-trip-required grocery options. E.g., Brookland had Safeways at each end of 12th Street (Yes is now in one of them). H Street had Safeways at each end. There was a Safeway across from Eastern Market, and one at 8th and D Street SE, and behind Barracks Row on 7th Street SE, etc. These (as well as additional) stores were replaced with bigger stores at 4th and Rhode Island NE, Hechinger Mall, and Kentucky Ave. SE respectively.

by Richard Layman on Jan 23, 2009 1:04 pm • link • report

Welcome Lynda! If you are planning to update this map with suggestions, please add the Bestway on Mt. Pleasant St and Magruders in Cleveland Park (both in NW DC) -- thanks!

by DC_Chica on Jan 23, 2009 4:02 pm • link • report

No mention of Florida Avenue Market?

by Nichole on Jan 24, 2009 1:01 pm • link • report

A lot of what we're talking about here, especially when it comes to locations of new stores, comes back to risk.

Take that Apple store in Georgetown rather than an up-and-coming neighborhood. Georgetown has a track record. A company can predict, with some certainty, how a store there will fare. U St. and Columbia Heights do not have that same record, and their trajectory remains uncertain.

Some firms have a higher tolerance for risk. Some prefer greater predictability. Some observers might prefer strategies that involve riskier locations - I certainly do - but locational decisions hardly stem from foolishness. As we've recently seen in the financial sector, ill-managed risk can bring economic disaster.

by David Ramos on Jan 24, 2009 1:28 pm • link • report

I do mention that there is a Giant on Western Avenue by Wisconsin. I know it's on the MD side, but there is lots of interstate traffic.

But I just don't understand why more grocers don't take the risk of opening a shop in a lower-income neighborhood. I suppose that the extra cash from charging 10-15% more should outweigh money lost from the anticipated shoplifting (although it doesn't happen that much, I've heard).

It's also about the jurisdiction. Some make it tough for retailers (taxes, land use rules, historic preservation), so they just open outside the city to get what they desire- suburban size--city planners won't let them create a superblock to achieve this.

by Adam on Feb 15, 2009 7:21 pm • link • report

Adam, That Giant you mentioned is in Chevy Chase Center, and Montgomery County planners required Chevy Chase Land Company to include neighborhood serving retail in that project, the section along Wisconsin Circle, and they required that the project include a grocery store. I don't think that you were implying that this Giant serves a low-income neighborhood. It usually isn't described as such.

I am not sure why you assume that supermarket chains are charging 10-15% more for the same groceries in urban locations or certain neighborhoods. That was the case a long time ago, but after price surveys showing price differences between suburban and urban stores were published, both Giant and Safeway adopted policies to have the same prices throughout the area. Have those policies changed or been violated or do the other chains (such as Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Harris Teeter) that entered the market since have a different policy?

by Andy on Feb 15, 2009 9:05 pm • link • report