Healthy Food Purchases among Healthy Neighborhood Store customers in low income urban neighborhoods

Increasing healthy food options in neighborhood stores are used to promote healthy food consumption in low-income urban neighborhoods.  From 2010 to 2013, CDC funded the Healthy Neighborhood Store (HNS) initiative in Douglas County Nebraska to increase healthy food choices in ten stores of which nine were in low income neighborhoods. The initiative included financial support for store enhancement materials, HNS signage, and healthy food promotion and demonstration assistance.  We conducted intercept surveys with 569 HNS patrons in Fall 2013 to study their HNS shopping behaviors and healthy food purchases.  About 40.1% of customers reported their family received WIC/SNAP benefits and 27.8% knew the store was a HNS. They on average went to HNS 3.6 times a week and spent about $14.5 during last visit.  Half of HNS customers (50.4%) bought at least one type of the six healthy food categories examined.  Specifically, about 26.9% purchased fresh fruits, 24.9% purchased fresh vegetables, 26.9% purchased whole grains, 18.3% purchased canned/frozen fruits and vegetables, 15.5% purchased low-fat milk, and 18.4% purchased lean proteins.  These findings suggest that HNS patrons visit the stores frequently although spending on average was relatively small.  Over half of HNS customers purchased healthy food during their last visit to the store.  Healthy Neighborhood Store interventions can potentially have large impact on healthy food purchases of the low income populations.  A follow-up survey could help determine the changes of HNS patrons’ shopping behaviors and inform innovative policies to improve healthy food purchases for populations living in low-income urban settings.