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Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major grocers

theguardian.com

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Re: Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major grocers

#11

Post by TheLoneTechNerd »

gbear605 wrote: post #6
TheLoneTechNerd wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I'm honestly not sure why people would be surprised at this comparison - Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are specialty stores. Nobody goes into them just to buy a head of lettuce. Trader Joe's has their own in-store brands for tons of products, which has spawned various guides on what should/shouldn't be bough there ( https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/save-money/what-to-buy-at-tr... for example). CVS, on the other ha…

I know a lot of people who do all their shopping at Trader Joe’s.

I know a lot of people that don't. Now we can have an anecdote duel!

Re: Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major grocers

#12

Post by manojlds »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #9

That's a pity, because doing grocery shopping at CVS is like doing grocery shopping at a gas station / convenience mart: there's a $1-3 markup on damn near everything. And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with, so, that hits them even worse.

> And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with

Why so?

Re: Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major grocers

#13

Post by TheLoneTechNerd »

dagw wrote: post #8
TheLoneTechNerd wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I'm honestly not sure why people would be surprised at this comparison - Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are specialty stores. Nobody goes into them just to buy a head of lettuce. Trader Joe's has their own in-store brands for tons of products, which has spawned various guides on what should/shouldn't be bough there ( https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/save-money/what-to-buy-at-tr... for example). CVS, on the other ha…

I don't live in the US, but I've been to Whole Foods when visiting and certainly felt like a perfectly normal grocery store, not too different from most other grocery stores I've been to. What makes it a specialty store and why wouldn't you go there to buy a head of lettuce?

"Whole Foods" has earned its nickname of "Whole Paycheck" (https://www.fastcompany.com/90305918/whole-foods-is-becoming...) although they've tried various ways of combating this, some mentioned in that article

Re: Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major grocers

#14

Post by samayylmao »

manojlds wrote: post #12
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #9

That's a pity, because doing grocery shopping at CVS is like doing grocery shopping at a gas station / convenience mart: there's a $1-3 markup on damn near everything. And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with, so, that hits them even worse.

> And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with Why so?

If you can't afford transportation you're limited to what you can walk to. In the area I live you cannot bring more than one bag with you on public transportation and it takes almost an hour to get across town on the bus. It would be cheaper to buy marked up food from a gas station or drugstore than pay for a taxi ride or waste half a day riding the bus.

Edit: essentially, a lot of the time it is expensive to be poor.

Re: Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major grocers

#15

Post by monocasa »

manojlds wrote: post #12
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #9

That's a pity, because doing grocery shopping at CVS is like doing grocery shopping at a gas station / convenience mart: there's a $1-3 markup on damn near everything. And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with, so, that hits them even worse.

> And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with Why so?

Because drugstores tend to be a replacement for grocery stores in food deserts.

Re: Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major grocers

#16

Post by nerdponx »

manojlds wrote: post #12
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #9

That's a pity, because doing grocery shopping at CVS is like doing grocery shopping at a gas station / convenience mart: there's a $1-3 markup on damn near everything. And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with, so, that hits them even worse.

> And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with Why so?

Anecdotally, the areas in the USA that most lack proper grocery stores tend to be low-income urban neighborhoods.

Re: Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major grocers

#17

Post by noer »

manojlds wrote: post #12
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #9

That's a pity, because doing grocery shopping at CVS is like doing grocery shopping at a gas station / convenience mart: there's a $1-3 markup on damn near everything. And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with, so, that hits them even worse.

> And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with Why so?

I think because if someone does their grocery shopping at a drug store, then they probably live in a food desert which are typically in lower income areas.

Re: Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major grocers

#18

Post by CarVac »

manojlds wrote: post #12
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #9

That's a pity, because doing grocery shopping at CVS is like doing grocery shopping at a gas station / convenience mart: there's a $1-3 markup on damn near everything. And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with, so, that hits them even worse.

> And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with Why so?

Being in a "food desert" where there are no grocery stores nearby.

Re: Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major grocers

#19

Post by dsfyu404ed »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #9

That's a pity, because doing grocery shopping at CVS is like doing grocery shopping at a gas station / convenience mart: there's a $1-3 markup on damn near everything. And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with, so, that hits them even worse.

Where real estate is expensive the only grocery stores that can stay afloat are fat margin chains that cater to upscale customers. The poor people are then forced to shop at CVS or wherever, sure it's more expensive than Walmart or a proper grocery store but it's still cheaper than whole paycheck.

WF (or Trader Joes for that matter) simply doesn't sell value priced versions of a lot of items. CVS will sell it at a ripoff. It probably comes out close to a wash put poor people are poor, not stupid. If the numbers worked out in favor of WF they would be shopping there. Also, nobody(TM) does their entire shopping at CVS. People will drag their asses elsewhere on a regular basis to buy certain items that are cheap. Many convenience stores, bodegas, etc. will sell a couple staples or classes of items dirt cheap in order to attract business. You buy your regular items where they are cheap (e.g. $1.50/gal brand name milk from the bodega that buys about to expire milk from a restaurant supplier for pennies and passes on the savings to create foot traffic) and buy everything else at CVS.

Re: Fears grow over 'food swamps' as drugstores outsell major grocers

#20

Post by JustSomeNobody »

manojlds wrote: post #12
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #9

That's a pity, because doing grocery shopping at CVS is like doing grocery shopping at a gas station / convenience mart: there's a $1-3 markup on damn near everything. And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with, so, that hits them even worse.

> And I imagine the people that are forced to shop at a drugstore are probably poor to begin with Why so?

This is known as the poverty tax. People in poverty pay more for necessities than people who are not in poverty because they can't easily get to places where they can buy more for their money.
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