A corner store in Southeast Washington D.C. recently unveiled a full-scale produce department. The expansion at Stanton Supermarket, supported by D.C. Central Kitchen’s Healthy Corners program, aims to provide community members with greater access to fresh foods.
DC Central Kitchen (DCCK), a nonprofit combating hunger and poverty, operates Healthy Corners to deliver fresh and affordable produce to corner stores in D.C.’s low access communities. When the organization decided to help stores expand their offerings, they felt that Stanton Supermarket was best fit for the project.
“Their consistent participation, their vision for creating increased access to produce in their community…and their proximity to residential areas, schools, and public transportation,” made Stanton a top candidate, Yael Reichler, the Director of Healthy Corners, tells Food Tank.
The new department is “an investment in our community’s health,” store owner Yonas Haile tells Food Tank. Haile says the expansion responds to a need for more “visible and convenient” healthy food options in the neighborhood.
Stanton Supermarket is situated within a neighborhood of Washington D.C.’s Ward 8 community, an area home to more than 85,000 residents. For this population—81 percent of whom are Black—there is only one full-service grocery store, according to DC Hunger Solutions’ 2024 Report. Comparatively, on the opposite side of the District is Ward 3, a predominantly White neighborhood with a smaller population size but almost double the income average, and 15 full service grocery stores.
LaMonika Jones, Director of DC Hunger Solutions—an initiative of FRAC—cautions against calling Ward 8 a food desert. “A food desert is a naturally occurring part of our ecosystem,” Jones notes, preferring the term food apartheid, which contextualizes the lack of fresh food in low-income neighborhoods as deliberate, discriminatory policy decisions. “We want to speak to the reason and the cause of the ongoing disinvestment.”
Jones believes that addressing food apartheid is foundational to the Healthy Corners program. Stanton Supermarket is the first of the 56 participating corner stores in the program to expand its infrastructure at this scale. They have grown from one open-air fridge to an additional five full-sized refrigerators, two freezers, and robust shelving – all dedicated to produce. Roughly 30 percent is sourced from local farms.
Jones says the Stanton Supermarket model supports a “community nutrition approach,” enabling customers to meet all their food needs in one place instead of shopping for different types of products, using different benefits, at multiple locations.
Stanton Supermarket accepts both the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). They also offer a SNAP Match program—funded by the USDA and run by Healthy Corners—that allows SNAP shoppers to earn US$5 coupons toward more produce when they buy just one piece. Reichler hopes the expanded produce offerings will help eaters better maximize the SNAP Match program, at a time when it is most needed.
Following the end of pandemic-era emergency allotments and a temporary local benefit in 2024, the minimum monthly SNAP allotment for D.C. households has dropped to US$24. And new research from the Urban Institute projects that cuts to SNAP in the reconciliation bill could cost families about 40 meals per month, on average.
A policy brief from the National WIC Association also warns that the Bill may create higher barriers for women with SNAP and Medicaid to maintain eligibility for WIC benefits.
“With food access and benefit challenges increasing, the Stanton Supermarket produce department provides a consistent and reliable place for the community to purchase quality fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables,” Reichler tells Food Tank.
Choice is also important, Jones says, stating that clients consistently ask for a variety of fresh produce, greater access, and high quality.
And Reichler says Stanton is responding to these demands—that’s why it’s a success. One neighbor “felt like we had provided a dignified display, and she proceeded to call her family member to give her a virtual tour of the new offerings,” Reichler recalls, noting that customers frequently report that stores’ investment in their community informs their choice of where to shop.
“Listen to your customers…expanding produce isn’t just good business,” Haile tells Food Tank, “It builds trust and strengthens community relationships.”
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Photo courtesy of D.C. Central Kitchen
