Corner Store in Memphis is Stocking and Marketing Healthier Foods

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In low-income areas lacking full-service grocery stores that sell healthy foods, the neighborhood corner store can be a powerful tool.

Latino neighborhood tend to have more corner stores and about one-third the number of supermarkets as non-Latino neighborhoods.

In Memphis, Tennessee, one corner store owner is working to make his store a place to buy healthy, affordable foods.

Thanks to a grant from the Centers for Disease Control, the YMCA of Memphis and the Mid-South is helping Yousef Alabsi bring fresh fruits and vegetables to his corner store, El Amigo Supermarket.

Bananas, apples and even some frozen vegetables were brought in for the neighborhood. Alabsi said that this customers want these new options and the problem now is keeping the bins full.

According to a local news story,  the YMCA helped Alabsi with inventory including how and what to stock. They also helped him advertise the healthy food with eye-catching signs and logos.

El Amigo was the first market to partner with the YMCA in ending food deserts. They said if the program proves to be successful here, the plan is to expand to other markets across the city.

Read more about El Amigo Supermarket and watch the news story here.

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142

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Expected rise in Latino cancer cases in coming years

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