San Antonio Healthy Corner Stores
With support from local, state, and federal government and private philanthropy, cities, towns, and rural communities across the U.S. have joined the Healthy Corner Store movement. Many communities experiencing poverty don’t have access to large supermarkets and depend primarily upon small independent stores for their groceries. That’s where Healthy Corner Stores come in. By providing access to fresh produce and other healthy foods neighborhood by neighborhood, they are one solution to addressing food access in communities where its members live one mile or more from a grocery store due to a history of structural racism and systems maintaining inequities.
San Antonio’s Healthy Corner overview
Courtesy of Healthy Corner Store program, City of San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas is just one of many cities, towns, and rural areas that have embraced Healthy Corner Stores. Launching its Viva SA Healthy Corner Stores program in 2019, San Antonio localized its program to complement the majority Mexican American community it serves. Here is how it works: small independent stores are recruited as members, and are provided with incentives, including provision of commercial refrigeration units where fresh produce can be displayed. The program also subsidizes the wholesale purchase of two years of produce. Partner stores display San Antonio-specific banners and signage branded with a colorful Mexican “papel picados” design.
To date, Viva SA has provided more than 320,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables in its 45 member stores. The program is enthusiastically supported by the City of San Antonio and its communities.
