New Grocery Stores Planned for Chicago Food Deserts

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For people who live in food deserts, neighborhoods with no easy access to affordable, fresh food, eating healthy can be a challenge. Many Latino families in Chicago live in these areas where a quick trip to the grocery store isn’t possible. However, with some help from state funds, one grocer in Illinois is expanding into these underserved neighborhoods, bringing health and new jobs along with it.

Mariano’s Fresh Markets will build five new grocery stores in Chicago food desert neighborhoods with the help of $5 million in Build Illinois bond proceeds committed by Gov. Pat Quinn, the company announced in early July.

It’s the first time that Build Illinois bonds will be used to boost healthy food choices in low-income areas, said David Roeder, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Officials say the new stores are hoping to hire local residents to work at the stores.

Mariano’s supermarkets emphasize food stations and fresh, prepared and ready-to-prepare foods — an approach that retail experts say work well in underserved neighborhoods, according to a Chicago Sun-Times article.