Beyond Supermarkets: Food Outlet Location Selection in Four U.S. Cities Over Time

Abstract

Introduction Understanding what influences where food outlets locate is important for mitigating disparities in access to healthy food outlets. However, few studies have examined how neighborhood characteristics influence the neighborhood food environment over time, and whether these relationships differ by neighborhood-level income. Methods Neighborhood-level data from four U.S. cities (Birmingham, AL; Chicago, IL; Minneapolis, MN; Oakland, CA) from 1986, 1993, 1996, 2001, 2006, and 2011 were used with two-step econometric models to estimate longitudinal associations between neighborhood-level characteristics (z-scores) and the log-transformed count/km2 (density) of food outlets within real-estate-derived neighborhoods. We examined associations with lagged neighborhood-level sociodemographics and lagged density of food outlets, with interaction terms for neighborhood-level income. Data were analyzed in 2016. Results Neighborhood-level income at earlier years was negatively associated with the current density of convenience stores (β= −0.27; 95% CI: −0.16, −0.38; p<0.001). The percentage of neighborhood white population was negatively associated with fast food restaurant density in low income neighborhoods (10th percentile of income: β= −0.17; 95% CI: −0.34, −0.002; p=0.05), and the density of smaller grocery stores across all income levels (β= −0.27; 95% CI: −0.45, −0.09; p=0.003). There was a lack of policy-relevant associations between the pre-existing food environment and the current density of food outlet types, including supermarkets. Conclusions Socioeconomically-disadvantaged populations and minority populations may attract ‘unhealthy’ food outlets over time. To support equal access to healthy food outlets, the availability of ‘less healthy’ food outlets types may be relatively more important than the potential lack of supermarkets or full-service restaurants.

Relationships between Vacant Homes and Food Swamps: A Longitudinal Study of an Urban Food Environment

“…Our results also indicate that increasing vacancies are associated with increasing food swamps among both low-SES neighborhoods (with African American and non-African American neighborhoods represented) and among African American neighborhoods (in which mainly low-SES neighborhoods were represented; all but one CSA with 93% or more African American residents were also low-SES in this context). These findings build upon and are consistent with prior examinations of food outlets in the U.S. and Canada, reporting that socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods tend to be associated with greater relative access to unhealthier food outlets, such as fast food restaurants or convenience stores, compared to more advantaged neighborhoods [ 51 , 52 ]. Although some recent strategies aiming to increase healthy food availability in impoverished areas have relocated a farmers’ market to the city center, converted a vacant lot to an urban farm, and implemented the acceptance of federal food assistance vouchers for use at farmers’ markets [ 53 , 54 , 55 ], these examples are unique cases.…”

“…Furthermore, while unhealthy food outlets such as fast food restaurants target both African American and White communities, the power of social capital, political influence, and financial resources have been shown to successfully stymie McDonald’s, for example, and its attempt to open in one of New York City’s predominantly White neighborhoods [ 41 ]. This difference in food availability among White neighborhoods was also paralleled in another study, describing that the proportion of a neighborhood’s population that is White was negatively associated with the density of fast food restaurants in low-income neighborhoods over time [ 51 ]. Based on these former findings, another possible explanation for the counterintuitive results in non-African American neighborhoods is that such areas may have additional resources to buffer some negative exposures and perhaps use social capital, community organizing, or advocacy to influence whether certain food outlets move into a neighborhood.…”

Google-truthing to assess hot spots of food retail change: A repeat cross-sectional Street View of food environments in the Bronx, New York

“…Analyses of changes to food environments over time have been less common, but a growing body of research using repeat cross-sectional or longitudinal methods has examined temporal trends in the prevalence of "healthy" or "unhealthy" food retailers, and changes in retail distribution by socioeconomic status or race and ethnicity of surrounding communities (Berger et al, 2019;Filomena et al, 2013;James et al, 2017;Kolak et al, 2018;Larsen and Gilliland, 2008;Luan et al, 2015;Maguire et al, 2015;Mundorf et al, 2015;Ohri-Vachaspati et al, 2019;Richardson et al, 2014;Rummo et al, 2017) .…”

“…Attempts to measure associations between socioeconomic status and changes to food environments over time have been similarly inconsistent. Several studies have noted increasing numbers of fast food outlets and convenience stores in low-income neighborhoods (Berger et al, 2019;Maguire et al, 2015;Richardson et al, 2014;Rummo et al, 2017). Others have documented the more rapid growth of fast food in wealthier neighborhoods (James et al, 2017) and decreasing numbers of convenience stores in low and medium-income communities (Ohri--Vachaspati et al, 2019).…”

Staple Food Item Availability among Small Retailers in Providence, RI

“…Low-income and predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhoods have fewer supermarkets, and blacks, on average, travel a greater distance to reach their nearest supermarket [9]. Areas with limited food access, often termed “food deserts”, commonly exist in low-income neighborhoods with predominantly black and Hispanic populations [9,12,13,14]. Residents in these underserved neighborhoods may benefit from increased selections of foods in the limited number of small retailers readily accessible to them.…”