Availability of healthy snack items in corner stores in Hartford, CT

Access to healthy, affordable food is not equally shared by all. Low-income, minority neighborhoods have disproportionately less healthy food and abundant access to non-nutritious snacks which contribute to health disparities such as obesity and diabetes. Children shop often for snacks at corner stores, and these added calories can contribute to childhood obesity. We measured the availability and promotion of snack items in 52 corner stores in Hartford, CT. Our research goal was to evaluate the food environment and identify healthy items to target for promotion and interventions. We measured differences among stores based on store demographics using chi-square tests and Spearman correlations. We conducted four rounds of store inventories from January 2009 to January 2010 in 52 corner stores in Hartford, CT. The inventory instrument showed high inter-rater reliability (84% - 99%). Average store size was 646 square feet. The vast majority of stores (71%) sold at least two unhealthy snack items at the point of purchase (POP) near the register, compared to 40% of stores that sold at least two healthy snack items (p<.01). At POP, all stores carried candy, 48% carried ice cream and 31% sold soda. There was a significant association between store size and selling fruit at the POP (p=.05). Many stores carry healthy items that could be promoted at the POP, such as apples (60%), bananas (64%), raisins (56%), pretzels (44%), grapes (39%), three types of 100% juice (85%) and reduced fat chips (42%). Additional interventions and policies are needed to increase the availability and promotion of healthy snack items, and potentially decrease the sale of unhealthy items at the point of purchase. These findings identify specific healthy snack items that already exist in corner stores that could be moved closer to the register. Our research contributes to the growing literature of reliable measures of neighborhood food environments for targeting programs and interventions.