Corner Store in Durham Encourages Healthy Eating

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It doesn’t have to be a challenge for corner stores to offer healthy items. In fact, many corner stores already sell healthy snacks like fruits, baked chips, and nuts, but they are hard to find and out of view of customers. A corner store in Durham, SC, where over 13% of residents are Latino, has partnered with the Durham County Department of Public Health to make their healthier options more attractive to customers.

Express Mart, a corner store in North Durham, hopes to increase access to healthy foods in a neighborhood with few healthy options.

When costumers walk into the store, they will find bright labels making the “good for you” items easy to find and a basket of fresh fruit at the register to encourage healthy eating. The team took it a step further by replacing alcohol advertisements with banners promoting healthy living and covered a window with a decal promoting healthy behaviors.

Funding for the project was provided through a Community Transformation Grant awarded to the public health department. They have enlisted members of Durham Together for Resilient Youth (TRY) to create a documentary about corner store conversion, hoping to inspire other store owners to make healthy changes.

Read more about the corner store conversion.