Frustrated with years of hit-or-miss efforts, retailers and the government are still searching for ways to address food deserts.
These areas, which can be in either remote rural regions or dense inner cities, don’t offer low-income residents big supermarkets where they can get fresh, healthy food. The stumbling block preventing supermarket chains from moving into these areas is profit — their margins are already razor-thin, and stores in food deserts subsist on a patchwork of government subsidies and food-stamp payments from low-income customers.
Now some big supermarket players are opening test stores that use charitable contributions and tax incentives for funding — an attempt to sidestep the problem of turning a profit. Other companies are experimenting with online food-delivery services that bring groceries to households that aren’t served by supermarkets.
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