Families Market is a family-owned convenience store in City Heights and a recent addition to our Live Well Community Market Program. Since joining the program earlier this year, owners Steve and Art have worked closely with members of our Urban Food Equity Team to ensure access to fresh foods within the majority Latinx community they serve. With about a third of all adults in City Heights’ 92105 zip code being at risk of or currently experiencing obesity (UCLA AskCHIS NE, California Health Interview Survey, 2018), corner stores like Families Market represent an essential point of intervention.
Community Food Specialist Nghi Dang and intern Rodrigo Alvarez helped the owners learn and manage the logistics of stocking, handling, displaying, rotating, storing, and selling fresh produce. This included increasing the variety of fruits and vegetables sold and redesigning the produce section to make it more eye-catching to customers and to address overstocking and spoilage. We provided Families Market price cards and advertising signage to promote fresh produce, and baskets and refrigerator bins for improved stocking and display. Check out the before and after photos above. A few display resources and training support went a long way to transform this small produce section into a higher-quality, more enticing display area.
Owner, Art, reported an increase of sales of fresh foods by approximately 30% over the past few months. Both the owners and our team are dedicated to building on this success, with plans of adding a no-cost bicycle rack outside and a healthy snack zone near the checkout register.
We also provided Families with materials and educational resources to better equip them during the COVID-19 pandemic. This included a refresher on county-approved health and safety protocols and staple resources to continue best practices, such as masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, precautionary signage for customers, and social distancing floor stickers.
We thank Steve and Art for working with us to provide this service to their community and welcoming the interventions so openly.