Balancing Mission and Margins: What Makes Healthy Community Food Stores Successful

Abstract

Mission-driven, independently-owned community food stores have been identified as a potential solution to improve access to healthy foods, yet to date there is limited information on what factors contribute to these stores’ success and failure. Using a multiple case study approach, this study examined what makes a healthy community food store successful and identified strategies for success in seven community stores in urban areas across the United States. We used Stake’s multiple case study analysis approach to identify the following key aims that contributed to community store success across all cases: (1) making healthy food available, (2) offering healthy foods at affordable prices, and (3) reaching community members with limited economic resources. However, stores differed in terms of their intention, action, and achievement of these aims. Key strategies identified that enabled success included: (1) having a store champion, (2) using nontraditional business strategies, (3) obtaining innovative external funding, (4) using a dynamic sourcing model, (5) implementing healthy food marketing, and (6) engaging the community. Stores did not need to implement all strategies to be successful, however certain strategies, such as having a store champion, emerged as critical for all stores. Retailers, researchers, philanthropy, and policymakers can utilize this definition of success and the identified strategies to improve healthy food access in their communities.

A Commentary on the Healthy Community Stores Case Study Project: Implications for Retailers, Policy, and Future Research

“…Overall, a store’s commitment to community engagement was one of the most important factors in a business model [ 17 , 18 ]. This was even more important when socio-cultural differences were present among the store owners/managers and the community residents [ 19 ].…”

“…Non-traditional business models may also allow for more flexibility to stick to a healthy food-focused mission and offer healthy foods at an affordable price [ 17 ]. For example, some stores were able to create nutrition guidelines for provisioning healthy food, and received funding from non-traditional funding sources, such as foundations, fundraising, city grants, and individual donors.…”

“…Some stores in the project also employed a needs-based program or loyalty programs as part of their business approach. While the loyalty program incentivized repeat customers, the needs-based program made healthy food more accessible to groups with limited resources [ 17 ]. Specifically, the needs-based program helps to level the playing field by having those who identify as ‘needs-based’ pay a lower price at the check-out every time.…”

“…Store champions were present in all seven stores, and were typically a higher-level staff member with great passion and commitment to the store as well as to its healthy food mission [ 17 ]. The importance of a store champion, or local community business owners/staff, on influencing community health values and being agents of health promotion has been demonstrated in the context of supermarkets.…”

“…Additional details about the selection process of the seven stores, their distinct characteristics and contexts, and the study protocol have been previously published as part of this special issue [ 14 ]. Briefly, the seven stores were located in cities across the US mid-west and northeast who served low-to-middle income neighborhoods who were also predominantly immigrant or African American communities [ 14 ] The results of the cross-case analyses, including specific community engagement approaches and strategies used by stores to meet their healthy food accessibility missions, as well as barriers and facilitators, have already been described in other studies within this special issue [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. The focus of this commentary is to draw on the insights from across the HCSCSP studies augmented with relevant literature from multiple fields (e.g., nutrition, food retail, business, and economics) to provide future practice, research, and policy implications that could promote the expansion of mission-driven work around healthy food accessibility across low-income communities.…”