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A comment on Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major grocers. Parent comment

Re:Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major... by Shivetya on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @10:34AM (#20095389)
Well until SNAP[1] is blocked from being spent on snacks and sodas these sites will always be in use. The list of foods that are acceptable encourage these stores to focus on the high profit side of the list which equates to what many would see as pure junk.

Plus in some areas you cannot get a grocery in due to zoning or regulatory agencies which can increase the costs of worker and compliance needs beyond normal. There are many rules regarding handling of produce and raw foods that drug store type sellers never have to meet.

[1] https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligible-food-items

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Re:Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major... by alexhutcheson on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @12:08PM (#20096334)
Zoning in Manhattan has made it essentially impossible to build a new grocery store in a normal location. Pretty much all recently-built grocery stores are in basements, due to a "zoning hack" that makes that compliant: https://twitter.com/MarketUrbanism/status/105451854997111193...

This is unfortunate, because Manhattan clearly has excess demand for good grocery stores, and the incumbents (Gristedes, etc.) are terrible.

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Re:Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major... by schoolboard on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @01:44PM (#20097392)
When I lived there we called Gristedes "Grosstedes" and Gourmet Garage "Greedy Garage"... 125th street Fairway made up for it but it was Hell getting through there ...
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Re:Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major... by alexhutcheson on Tuesday June 04, 2019 @02:17PM (#20097721)
Heh, we call it "Gristicky". I'm consistently shocked that anyone shops there. Expired food on shelves, wilted or moldy produce, long waits for slow checkout clerks, and prices that are easily 3x what comparable items cost at Trader Joe's.

Those grocery stores would easily be extinct with more meaningful competition. The only thing that keeps them in business is the "natural monopoly" caused by the fact that most Manhattanites don't have cars and aren't willing to travel very far for groceries.

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