From the Gazette
June 4, 2010
By Sarah Severson
When Jewel-Osco closed its Bridgeport store at 3033 S. Halsted St. in fall 2007, residents had few grocery options nearby. Today, their food shopping options remain limited, making life difficult for residents, particularly those dependent on public transit.
The lack of neighborhood groceries also has lowered quality of life and compromised nutrition and health for those unable to make regular visits to the grocery store.
Bridgeport residents’ current options include a small neighborhood market, Halsted Foods at 3416 S. Halsted St., and the large chain stores farther away, such as the Jewel-Osco at 34th St. and King Drive or the Dominick’s at 31st Street and Ashland Avenue.
Local resident Barbara Stack, 61, doesn’t own a car and relies on friends to drive her to the store. “It’s hard—you have to go when someone else wants to go, and I don’t like imposing on people,” Stack said. “Sometimes I walk to Halsted Foods, but then I have to pay to have the food delivered, and that store doesn’t have everything that I need.”
Stack shops for food every couple of weeks. As a result, she eats fewer fresh fruits and vegetables and more frozen foods because they last longer.
“I have high blood pressure and cholesterol,” she said. “My doctor recommends eating fresh fruits and vegetables, but I just don’t have easy access to them.”
For 60-year-old Wendy Shviraga, another long-time Bridgeport resident, grocery shopping has become difficult because she works during the day and the major stores are so far away.
“Sometimes it’s hard to get to the grocery store at night after work,” she said. “We end up eating out more often, which is costing more.”
Resident Irene O’Neill has a car but shops at Halsted Foods when she needs just a few things or is in a hurry. Often, she buys her groceries in Indiana, where she works just across the border.
“There is no tax on food in Indiana, and sales tax on the other items is lower, so the savings adds up,” O’Neill said.
She also shops at Jewel-Osco and Dominick’s stores in the city or the nearby Mexican specialty store, but she greatly misses the convenience of walking to a large grocery store in the neighborhood.
As for the old Jewel-Osco location, it likely will remain empty for the time being. Pete’s Fresh Market had considered opening a store there, but Charles Boulakis, regional manager, said his company has lost interest because “Jewel was asking crazy numbers to rent the building. It was too high of a price, so we stayed away.”
When asked if Jewel-Osco would consider re-opening the store, spokesperson Karen May said, “Jewel-Osco consistently seeks new business opportunities, including those in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood. However, details about the 2007 closure of the company’s Bridgeport store and any detailed analysis about whether to open a new store in Bridgeport are considered internal information that—as a matter of company policy — Jewel-Osco does not publicly discuss.”
Recent research shows statistically significant relationships between food access and diet-related disease and premature death.
Extensive studies by the Mari Gallagher Research & Consulting Group show the negative effects of “food deserts,” which are large geographic areas with no mainstream grocery stores. The studies indicate no “perfect distance” to a grocery store; instead, they evaluate different communities’ density patterns and residents’ particular views on driving and walking.
“We often look for things that are closest to you, but these choices add up,” said Mari Gallagher, president. “We can calculate additional life loss based on food environment after we control key contributing factors like income, race, and education.”
Gallagher’s group has found more adult diseases appearing in children. “We have such epidemics on our hands — this will be the first generation of young people whose quality and length of life is worse” than that enjoyed by their parents, she said.
Gallagher’s research shows convenient access to a grocery store can have a very positive impact on a person’s life, gaining years of life back from diabetes, diet-related cancers, and cardiovascular diseases.
Residents in communities lacking a major grocery store can improve their health and lives by recruiting mainstream grocers, improving convenience stores that may lack healthful food choices, and starting community gardens and farmers’ markets to get access to good, fresh foods more easily and regularly.
Gallagher said the City of Chicago has worked to provide better food in public schools, which is a step in the right direction.
Full Story: The Gazette Chicago
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