The
Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, fueled by a $500,000 grant from the
Kresge Foundation, will begin efforts to
help develop
supermarkets in underserved neighborhoods of Detroit. The launching point for the effort, called the Detroit Fresh Food Access Initiative, is a study that found that of the billion dollars a year that Detroiters spend on groceries, over
$200 million of that is spent outside the city.The study projects that Detroit could
support between 600,000 and one million additional square feet of retail grocery
store space -- the equivalent of more than a dozen
supermarkets at the national average size of 47,500 square feet.
The
area most underserved area in terms of grocery offerings turns out to
be Northwest Detroit, something that the Initiative's co-chair and vice
president of DEGC, Olga Savic Stella, calls "ironic -- it's one of the
most stable, middle class parts of Detroit." As for existing stores,
she says that the goal is to "lift up" those that are already offering
quality product and to assist those that are not in elevating their
goods and service.
The Initiative report
recommends that a specific grocery store business attraction and
retention program be created; workforce training for grocery store
employees and store owners be established; community outreach and
marketing programs be created; and legislative changes in regulation at
the state level be encouraged.
The Kresge grant will be used to launch the first of these recommendations.
Dan Carmody of the Eastern Market Corporation and the owners of Gigante Prince Valley
Super Mercado, Indian Village Market,
Metro Foodland and Save-A-Lot all sit on the Initiative's board.
Source: Olga Savic Stella, DEGC
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
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