I was lucky enough to trust my impulsive nature, on the day I wanted to know more about the closing of a local grocery store. Local news media had made a lot about an ALDI store, thirty years active in Westside Chicago and far from Loop prosperity, suddenly going belly up. There was consternation expressed by residents. There was outrage heard from activist groups. And most recently, the city of Chicago has proposed buying the vacated store.
Since the neighborhood's median household income is roughly at the poverty level for a US family of three, and that just one grocery store remains to serve 17,000 residents, this seemed a serious concern. I am a speech- language pathologist who advocates for my consumers ' healthy eating; if there were a problem with consumers getting diets beneficial to their health, I would want to know what healthy solutions are out there.
Following is a podcast from the series "Curious City", produced at WBEZ radio in Chicago - wbez.org . It illustrates the issues. Thanks to reporters Linda Lutton and Asia Singleton.
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93YmV6LXJzcy5zdHJlYW1ndXlzMS5jb20vY3VyaW91cy1jaXR5L2N1cmlvdXMtY2l0eS54bWw/episode/MTA5MjU1YzAtOGZiOS0xMWVjLWJmMjItOTNlZjMwNDczZWEw?ep=14
Readers of this blog, who want to know more and be stimulated about food desert issues, should look at the 2022 book RETAIL INEQUALITY (University of California Press). The author, Kenneth Kolb, is Chair of Sociology at Furman University.
