The Government Spends Millions to Open Grocery Stores in Food Deserts. The Real Test Is Their Survival.
The community of Cairo, Illinois, once a food desert, welcomed its new market last year with balloons and cheers. But the store is struggling — exposing problems with the programs set up to help.
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1600 people? That'll support a couple of dollar generals, it won't support a big supermarket.
It isn't a food desert, it's just rural. Money well fucking spent.
Maybe we shouldn't be worrying about making a profit from preventing starvation.
So how much food do you want to waste so you can see a nice shiny super market in the middle of nowhere?
Enough so that people don't starve? What a strange question. I'd rather waste food than have children go hungry.
Cool, there's two dollar generals there already that sell groceries.
What a supermarket would do is be a vanity project.
Cool, dollar general only sells dry goods and not enough of a variety to cover basic food groups. There are no vegetables, proteins, or dairy products unless you include hot pockets.
Rural American should be able to access more than frozen meals and junk food so stop being a prick. None should suffer from malnutrition and elevated crime rate.
Ever been to a dollar general that sells groceries? The ones near me frequently sell out of 25-30% of the groceries they offer, and then don't get restocked for a couple of weeks. And we have traditional grocery stores nearby and a Walmart 10 miles away. I wouldn't trust DG Market to reliably provide groceries for a community if no other options were available.
1600 people will support a grocery store just fine if the population was stable. The problem is that the town has been losing population since the 1920s. It lost 40% of its population since 2010. No company is going to want to open anything up there considering there will likely be less than 1000 people in less than a decade.
Cairo is a ghost town. That is where my dad was born when my grandfather was building the bridges. I have always wanted to visit but haven’t made it yet
It's a pleasant enough little town, but low laying. I used to truck and went there a few times. But you get the feeling there's an imminent flood coming. Just due to geography I wouldn't want to own anything that isn't a railroad bridge there.
Well my grandpa built those bridges. Part of my interest in seeing the area.
