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I've followed your comments in this thread. You'd benefit from educating yourself on the subject of food deserts it is not an unknown or new subject. There are

I've followed your comments in this thread. You'd benefit from educating yourself on the subject of food deserts it is not an unknown or new subject. There are hundreds of studies that explain how and why food deserts exist and why poor people make the decision that they do.

maria2 4y ago
Feel free to share any resources you find particularly illuminating.
- autoexec 4y ago
  you may want to look here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4810442/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CSupermarket%20redlining%E2%80%9D%20is%20a%20term,to%20suburbs%20(Eisenhauer%202001) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4810442/#:~:tex.... From the stores perspective, I can imagine that there are a few reasons why it can make sense for them to move out of impoverished areas even while demand exists there. Wealthy customers who can easily travel to stores in impoverished areas are turned off by poor conditions and higher crime rates and will shop elsewhere. They may also feel less comfortable shopping in areas where the majority of the other customers are of a different race or culture. The stores and staff may themselves experience increases in theft, vandalism, and violence in low income areas. Stores can't sell as many overpriced items in low income areas where the majority of their clientele are struggling to afford necessities. It really doesn't matter that a store can make a healthy profit by serving customers who live in a low income area. If that same store feels that they could make even greater profits by being in an area with wealthier customers, then that is exactly what we must expect they will do.
  - maria2 4y ago
    One of the main indicators of in the study you linked was sales volume, i.e. demand. > It really doesn't matter that a store can make a healthy profit by serving customers who live in a low income area. If that same store feels that they could make even greater profits by being in an area with wealthier customers This only holds true if a chain can open a fixed amount of stores. In reality, they can open as many stores as they want provided that the stores operate profitably.
    - etchalon 4y ago
      Never mind that the paper specifically calls attention to profitability, you seem to believe businesses have access to unlimited capital, provided they can show a profit?
    - autoexec 4y ago
      > One of the main indicators of in the study you linked was sales volume, i.e. demand. Sales is a poor measure of demand, because there are a lot of other factors that impact sales, but stores in low income areas certainly face demand problems in some ways. Demand for expensive products that might sell well in other areas will be much lower in neighborhoods where few people can ever afford them. A store in a low income area is also insulated since fewer people from outside of the immediate area will come to shop there and many will deliberately avoid shopping there. That's certain to impact sales. > In reality, they can open as many stores as they want provided that the stores operate profitably. As long as they can continuously open stores, it would still make them the most money to limit themselves to the most profitable areas right? As long as they have the option to open a new store in a wealthy neighborhood where they can make the most sales and highest profits, why should they open one in an impoverished neighborhood? I live in a pretty nice area and there are five grocery stores within 10 minutes of my house (two owned by the same company), and that's not not counting stores like target/walmart that also sell groceries and are less than 10 minutes away!

maria2 4y ago

Feel free to share any resources you find particularly illuminating.

autoexec 4y ago
you may want to look here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4810442/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CSupermarket%20redlining%E2%80%9D%20is%20a%20term,to%20suburbs%20(Eisenhauer%202001) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4810442/#:~:tex.... From the stores perspective, I can imagine that there are a few reasons why it can make sense for them to move out of impoverished areas even while demand exists there. Wealthy customers who can easily travel to stores in impoverished areas are turned off by poor conditions and higher crime rates and will shop elsewhere. They may also feel less comfortable shopping in areas where the majority of the other customers are of a different race or culture. The stores and staff may themselves experience increases in theft, vandalism, and violence in low income areas. Stores can't sell as many overpriced items in low income areas where the majority of their clientele are struggling to afford necessities. It really doesn't matter that a store can make a healthy profit by serving customers who live in a low income area. If that same store feels that they could make even greater profits by being in an area with wealthier customers, then that is exactly what we must expect they will do.
- maria2 4y ago
  One of the main indicators of in the study you linked was sales volume, i.e. demand. > It really doesn't matter that a store can make a healthy profit by serving customers who live in a low income area. If that same store feels that they could make even greater profits by being in an area with wealthier customers This only holds true if a chain can open a fixed amount of stores. In reality, they can open as many stores as they want provided that the stores operate profitably.
  - etchalon 4y ago
    Never mind that the paper specifically calls attention to profitability, you seem to believe businesses have access to unlimited capital, provided they can show a profit?
  - autoexec 4y ago
    > One of the main indicators of in the study you linked was sales volume, i.e. demand. Sales is a poor measure of demand, because there are a lot of other factors that impact sales, but stores in low income areas certainly face demand problems in some ways. Demand for expensive products that might sell well in other areas will be much lower in neighborhoods where few people can ever afford them. A store in a low income area is also insulated since fewer people from outside of the immediate area will come to shop there and many will deliberately avoid shopping there. That's certain to impact sales. > In reality, they can open as many stores as they want provided that the stores operate profitably. As long as they can continuously open stores, it would still make them the most money to limit themselves to the most profitable areas right? As long as they have the option to open a new store in a wealthy neighborhood where they can make the most sales and highest profits, why should they open one in an impoverished neighborhood? I live in a pretty nice area and there are five grocery stores within 10 minutes of my house (two owned by the same company), and that's not not counting stores like target/walmart that also sell groceries and are less than 10 minutes away!