Be it Shoprite, Tops, or a local shop, New Yorkers across the state are seeing some of their favorite grocers clear their shelves and lock their doors.
Seeing your favorite market shut down can be, at best, inconvient.
At worst, it can be a devastating blow for families who live where there are no other places to buy affordable and healthy food.
Four of the five areas with the highest number of food deserts in New York are located upstate. According to a study by Tufts University, the Rochester and Buffalo metro areas, Onondaga County and Broome County all lack access to healthy food.
But an organization in Binghamton is hoping that going mobile could be a model for change for other areas of upstate.
The lights have been turned off and the sign removed from the last remaining grocery store in one of Binghamton’s poorest neighborhoods. It’s an unfortunate but familiar sign in many upstate communities.
Grocery store closures create food deserts, which makes eating healthy harder and harder for families.
“When you lose a grocery store within an area, there’s health outcomes that come from that to which lack of produce, lack of fresh meat and other dairy have a significant impact on people,” said Joe Sellepack, executive director of the Broome County Council of Churches.
A creative solution hopes to meet people where they are. The converted school bus filled with groceries is making its way around the city, parking in areas that need it most.
No grocery store? No problem, as the group brings the grocery store to you.
“We’re hoping that through the grocery store, we can not only expand the the selection that people have, but also save them some money and help and help them in the long run have less food insecurity,” said Sellepack.
A Weis Market closure follows a bit of a trend across the state. At the end of last year, ShopRite closed down five of its upstate grocery stores in the Albany area.
And just a few years back, Tops shuttered 10 of its “underperforming stores” across a number of counties.
The hope is by going mobile, families won’t have to worry about transportation.
“The whole idea is that we want to help reduce food insecurity in our area, and these are our vehicles for doing that,” said Sellepack.
The Greater Good Grocery bus in Binghamton is looking into allowing residents to utilize EBT cards to make it easier for more families to get the groceries they need.
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