Assessing the Impact of Improved Retail Access on Diet in a 'Food Desert': A Preliminary Report

Abstract

If poor food retail access in deprived areas of British cities is linked, as suggested in many of the policy debates of the late 1990s, via compromised diets/undernutrition to poor health and widening health inequalities, what is the impact of a sudden and significant improvement in food retail access likely to be on the food consumption patterns of residents? In this paper, we describe and provide preliminary results from the first-ever UK study of a major retail provision on diet in a 'food desert'—a 'before/after' study of food consumption patterns in the highly deprived, previously poor food retail access area of Seacroft, Leeds, experiencing a sudden and significant change in its food retail access as a result of the opening of a large superstore by the UK's leading food retailer. We suggest that this study has the potential to provide some of the missing links between poor food retail access, compromised diets/undernutrition, poor health and compound social exclusion that characterised statements on the topic of 'food deserts' in the health inequalities and social exclusion debates of the late 1990s, and that its findings may have significant implications for policy debate.

Retail-led regeneration and store-switching behaviour

“…The context of this study is however even different to that previous work in that the intervention was specifically intended to result in storeswitching behaviour amongst consumers in the deprived area, and indeed amongst those who could most benefit from a more 'healthy' diet. The only similar research appears to be the Seacroft study introduced above , but it did not relate storeswitching behaviour to previous work (they did suggest a rate of 45% of shoppers switching to the new Tesco store but more detailed and specific retention/switching rates are not presented) (Wrigley, 2002b). This explicit welfare approach and the limited previous work on store-switching behaviour invites a number of research questions:…”

“…This involved an uncontrolled before-and-after 'intervention' (the intervention being a new Tesco superstore) study of changes in food consumption patterns in a highly deprived area. Wrigley et al (2002bWrigley et al ( , 2003 concluded that there were significant improvements post-intervention in terms of food retail access, accompanied by improved diet amongst some groups of…”

“…Purchase of these products can be considered from the data collected. For example, Wrigley et al, (2002bWrigley et al, ( , 2003 investigated the way that shoppers switched their store for the purchase of fruit and vegetables. The Seacroft study suggested that whilst shoppers switched away from limited line discounters for their fruit and vegetable purchasing those who patronised smaller shops for fruit and vegetable purchasing were less likely to switch.…”

“…Secondly, a study in Leeds (Wrigley et al, 2002b(Wrigley et al, , 2003 analysed the effects of major new food retail provision on diet in a 'food desert'. This involved an uncontrolled before-and-after 'intervention' (the intervention being a new Tesco superstore) study of changes in food consumption patterns in a highly deprived area.…”

The economic and social role of small stores: a review of UK evidence

“…In such localities, consumers are highly dependent on convenience stores as they often provide the only remaining access to grocery stores, with the consequence that consumers in these areas tend to pay higher prices and have a more restricted diet (Whelan et al 2002). At the other extreme, a handful of major studies have explored the effect of provision interventions from the opening of major multiple-owned superstores in food deserts in Leeds (Wrigley et al 2002a;Wrigley et al 2003;Wrigley et al 2002b) and Glasgow (Cummins et al 2008), attempting to assess the effects on diet. These findings provide contrary evidence that such large-scale initiatives have a positive effect on the dietary patterns of local households.…”