The Food Trust is working to revitalize neighborhoods, starting with the supermarket:
Urban revitalization does not at first glance relate to the growing national interest in fresh fruits and vegetables. But the Pennsylvania-based Food Trust views the supermarket as the perfect starting point for improving the commercial viability of a neighborhood.
And it’s not just the big stores:
The baseline results from one of the research studies that we’re doing right now shows that kids get more than 600 calories every time they go to the corner store. … There’s a lot of interest across the country on what we can do with corner stores, especially those located near schools.
There seems to be shifts in place to make way for such a move. Sitting in airports this week, it was clear: airports seem to be the new shopping mall. Historians of department stores noted in 2003, “What has replaced the department store is the mall itself, which now plays the role of amusement place and social center.” If malls are shifting to transportation centers, is there a new place for supermarkets?
