Grocery chains leave food deserts barren, AP analysis finds

(AP) — As part of Michelle Obama's healthy eating initiative, a group of major food retailers promised in 2011 to open or expand 1,500 grocery or convenience stores in and around neighborhoods with no supermarkets by 2016.

By their own count, they're far short.

[...] an analysis of federal food stamp data by The Associated Press reveals that the nation's largest chains — not just the handful involved in the first lady's group — have since built new supermarkets in only a fraction of the neighborhoods where they're needed most.

Take away convenience stores and "dollar stores," which generally don't sell fresh fruits, vegetables or meat, and barely more than 250 of the new supermarkets were in so-called food deserts, or neighborhoods without stores that offer fresh produce and meats.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture considers a neighborhood a food desert if at least a fifth of the residents live in poverty and a third live more than a mile from a supermarket in urban areas, or more than 10 miles in rural areas, where residents are more likely to have cars.

The first lady's group's 2014 progress report, its most recent, says the companies that made pledges have opened or renovated 602 grocery stores or other food retail locations, well below halfway toward their collective goal.

There are no fresh fruits, vegetables or meats at the Family Dollar or Poncho's Market corner store in Eatonville, and a $3 loaf of Nature's Own wheat bread at those stores cost $2.19 at Publix on a recent visit.

"The dollar stores are popping up everywhere in the food deserts, but that doesn't mean anything if the owners don't give customers the opportunity for fresh produce," said Norman Wilson Sr., a food desert activist who is pastor of a Pentecostal church in Orlando.

Supermarkets often build stores close to each other to compete in an area and highlight each store's niche, said Ira Goldstein, president of policy solutions at The Reinvestment Fund, a Philadelphia-based community development firm that has invested in grocery store construction in low-income neighborhoods.

Building stores in low-income neighborhoods comes with unique complications, according to the Food Marketing Institute, a Washington-based trade group for food retailers.

The average supermarket operates on a 1 or 2 percent profit margin and must be sustainable for at least a decade to recoup any profit, so retailers can't afford to pick unprofitable locations, said David Fikes, vice president of consumer and community affairs for the Food Marketing Institute.

Two of its biggest players — Stop & Shop owner Ahold USA and Delhaize Group SA, the Brussels conglomerate that owns the Food Lion and Hannaford chains in the U.S. — recently announced merger plans.