Food ‘deserts’ like Duluth’s Lincoln Park leave shoppers in a bind
February 14, 2012 at 6:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
For many people, a trip to the grocery store is a routine errand, but for Salaam Witherspoon, it’s an ordeal.
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Food ‘deserts’ like Duluth’s Lincoln Park leave shoppers in a bind
60 Comments
Well you can all thank the BIG giants like Wal-mart and Super one, that put all the little Grocers out of business. There USED to be a grocery store down on Grand Ave. and 28th that closed years ago, and another small ma and pa grocer down on Superior St. and 23rd Ave W. but the chances of EVER getting small ma and pa grocers back in this town are ZILCH thanks to the Giants such as Wal-mart and Miners. It’s sad really, when you think about what we’ve all allowed to happen to this once beautiful town.
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And due to supply/demand, people on government assistance have to pay 3-4 times as much for the same food that they could get at Cub/Wal-Mart/Target. Go to the market on 4th St. and compare prices.
Now as for the person in the story? Salaam Witherspoon comes from an enormously large family. You mean to tell me that her mother, who makes a VERY comfortable living working at UMD Financial Aid, or her brother, who was just featured here having won the Celebrity Dance crap can’t help?
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Julie: I can’t believe that your truthful statement got hidden already. SuperOne has a monopoly in the area, with Cub being an also-ran like Target and Walmart but not much competition. It would seem the Miner family must have coordinated a thumbs-down campaign to get hidden your truthful statement about their monopoly. We could see trouble like this brewing when Miners bought out all the competition and then started jacking up their prices. They know they have us by the short-curleys and they don’t want people like you shining a big spotlight on that fact.
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She got the thumbs-down because the comment isn’t based in logic.
Do you think ANY large store started as a MegaGiantGargantuMart? No. Wal-Mart started as a one-horse operation. Target? Same thing. Miner’s too. Have they squeezed a lot of competition out (Festival, Rainbow)? Yup. But you have the Wal-Marts, Targets, etc acting as a check/balance.
It’s no different than the people whining about Walgreens killing Falks. Walgreens started as a one-store operation too, just like Falks did. But through whatever means, occurrences or happenstance, Falks didn’t experience the growth like Walgreens. It happens.
And again, as for one of the people in the story, if she can’t afford kids she shouldn’t have them, and she has a LARGE family in this town who could easily pick her up and take her to the store. But oh no, we should do something about it. Plus, she’s a student at LSC? She gets free bus rides. Instead of going monthly, go once a week.
Signed,
Guy who took the bus to Super One for groceries weekly.
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Ulysses, I’m surprised that you support Julie’s comment. Monopolies are a part of free-enterprise, ya know? Shouldn’t big companies like Walmart have the “freedom” to monopolize entire industries, and drive local businesses out?
Duluth Spock has the more typical Area Voices response: “That’s the way it happened, so that’s the way it aught to be.” And I obviously disagree with that sentiment. Sure every big-business started out little. But how many little businesses get big? My guess is less than 1%. The whole rags-to-riches idea is bunk. When a corporation builds thousands upon thousands of stores, with the goal of undermining the local economy, I think that corporation has outlived its usefulness. Corporations were originally chartered to promote the public good, not destroy it.
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It’s corporate growth that’s giving you a voice on here.
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Merv: Again you and I are on the same side of an issue. I abhor monopolies because the consumer is the real loser when a monopoly takes over as has SuperOne done. I really don’t care about the higher-ups in big corporation or what $ they make, I care about the average person. Almost without exception a monopoly will severely hurt the average person in the long run.
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Merv, monopolies are impossible in a free market system. They only become possible with the collaboration of governments. The worst victims of big government tampering in the economy is little businesses.
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David, you are right that the US government plays a huge role in the market. And I agree, that monopolies can be an outcome of this relationship. However, your cause and effect are backwards. You say that if the markets were just left alone, there would be no monopolies and we’d all be better off. The problem is, big-businesses give vast sums of money to government lobbyists and campaign contributions, instigating government involvement. The government doesn’t decide on its own to subsidize certain things just for kicks and giggles. The reason governments give out money to prop up businesses is because businesses (i.e. the market) ask for it.
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Yes that is how it works. That’s why I called it a collaboration. And I agree it is bad for the country when this happens. But we have no control (under the Constitution) over what businesses do. We only have some theoretical control over what our politicians do. Better I would argue to take that power away from the politicians.
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I disagree with the idea that we have no control over what businesses do. You won’t find any Walmarts in cities like Portland, because the people stood in protest. The constitution has nothing to do with business, or capitalism.
Where I agree with you is that we should take power away from politicians. However, how do we do that when big-businesses are financing said political power?
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Times have changed, not many are willing to give up their cars and for a retailer to stay in business, they must compete. Let’s not overlook the tremendous social contributions the Miner Family have and continue to make to our area. Big does not equal bad any more than poor equals underpriviledged.
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I used to live smack dab in the middle of the “food desert”, but I was fortunate enough to have a car to drive to either Plaza Super One or the West Duluth Super One. I could not imagine taking a cab or a bus with all my groceries, and my child. So I wholeheartedly agree that Lincoln Park needs some kind of grocery store. Not a big one, but just enough so people don’t have to buy $5 gallons of milk at the gas station and have the option of some fresh produce. They deserve it just as much as someone in Kenwood or Lakeside.
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So develop a business plan, get investors, and go open one. Good luck.
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It’s business. Traffic patterns, demographics, population density, etc determine the best places for business large and small. A small grocery store in Lincoln Park (or Gary for that matter) would be out of business in no time because cost of goods would be too expensive and there isn’t the market to absorb higher cost to the customer. It’s sad but a reality.
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Is it not easy enough for people to get free money and now they are going to complain about having to find their own way to go and spend it on food?! I have to pay cash out of my pocket for my groceries, my gas, my truck, my insurance, and some how I survive. Not to mention the free tuition you get when you decide to have a child and are living a low income life style. You should have to work for all the things you want in life just like I did. You want more money, a car, groceries? Then get a job and earn them!
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I must have missed the line in the story that said anything about her being on any kind of “free money”. Although I did see where she was quoted as saying something about “HER money”.
Sad, how some see the words ‘low income’ and assume there’s some kind of assistance involved, isn’t it?
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Well bac if you don’t know anything about how assistnce works these days let me fill you in. Single mother=free tuition along with all kinds of free food assistance as well as the cheapest rent you have ever seen which is also reduced by a government program that you guessed it is free. So, until anyone that chooses to have children is eligible for all of these free handouts single or not, our system of assistance in this state and country is clearly not fair. Also in this article it says no where that it is her money. It says she is a single parent and attends LSC, no mention of a job she holds. I am willing to bet big she has no employment and receives all the “benefits” I mentioned above. So go ahead and think low income means hard working person struggling to get by, 9 times out of ten that is not the case. There is so much free money to be had, where is the motivation to get off and assistance program?
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Hmm…where is her motivation. Let’s see. Oh, right. She’s attending college! A single mother with a low income, probably living off student loans that she will be paying off for the next 25 years or so. So she can have a better life for herself and her child. Just trying walking a mile – or even a block- in her shoes and maybe you wouldn’t be so judgmental and lose that chip on your shoulder.
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Yeah. Those poor folks sure are living high on the hog!
Do you happen to know what the maximum benefit is for a single parent with one minor dependent? Do you know what is required of recipients in order to continue to receive benefits?
A lot of folks live paycheck to paycheck and are one medical emergency or car breakdown away from needing help. We all would do well to count our blessings rather than scorning those less fortunate.
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Are there people who game the system? Sure. But unless you know the personal situation of the woman in this story, maybe you should step off your soapbox. And as for “how assistance works these days”, is it appropriate for me to assume this knowledge is derived from personal experience? I’ve seen some sound, positive ideas to solve the problem at hand (you remember that, don’t you? the “food desert”?) and I’d propose another — the student government at LSC could look into sponsorship of the buying club mentioned, or work with their own food service to give students a chance to buy from their suppliers, or at least be of service by promoting existing food pantries like Ruby’s Pantry (? not sure of the name), which serve areas like Morgan Park, also a location with few grocery stores. It’s not free, but for a small fee, something like $15, a household can get produce and meat and a few extras. Transportation and distribution seem to be the most critical issues, but they’re not insurmountable. Many of us have been hungry in our lives, even as we worked two jobs or more. It wouldn’t surprise me to know that Ol’ Headoutofsand has been in the same spot. Wishing it on someone else, though, is a vile way of thinking. You don’t know her specifics, so that’s what your post amounts to. Be kind. It costs you nothing.
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I can’t take it anymore. I have to drive 25 miles one-way to a grocery store. That’s 50 miles of driving, just so I can buy groceries. Woe is me. Somebody feel bad for me please.
If you don’t like your situation, change it. Simple as that. Please, for the love of all that’s holy, stop your senseless whining and complaining. I’m sick of hearing about the plight of those that have to go 3 miles for groceries. It’s pathetic.
Sincerely,
J. E. Bartlet and Friends
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Yes, to carry a few bags of canned goods and a child. That sounds to me like you would have this girl running around with forearms like Popeye!
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Sorry I meant to post that under William Miller post.
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Sounds to me like she IS trying to change her life. She’s going to school and caring for her child. Changing your life doesn’t happen overnight. You go through a lot of steps. In the meantime, you and your child also have to eat. She’s doing what she has to do. Having been young and poor at one time, I give her credit for that.
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If a $13 cab ride back home saves you from paying up to 50% more for food then buy enough each trip to offset the cab ride(1.5X > X+13 : the more you go over $26 per trip in food at super-one the better ) . As far as produce spoiling , they have this wonderful invention called canned goods (safer , rarely recalled,canned in USA , extremely long shelf life and they end up being more nutritious than fresh that has gone bad )
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This is a perfect opportunity to form a buying club. A buying cooperative does not need a storefront. Like minded individuals can solve their grocery problems and save money.
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Good thinking. If you have a problem try thinking creatively. Get a bunch of your neighbors together and car pool to a store.
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Not to be heartless, but if one is smart enough to go to conceive, parent, and go to college, I would assume that one is smart enough to find a way to the grocery store. Another idea, shop at Save-A-Lot in West Duluth, one can get a lot more for the money!!
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Dearest Paula,
You’ve made one grave error in your statement by suggesting it takes smarts to “conceive.” The most stupid people in the world seem to be conceiving at a rate that outpaces the rest of the popluation!
All my best.
Jed
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Jed, I agree! I am so tired of the “Poor mes” in the world!
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A quote from an elderly person I knew: “Pull yourself up by your boot straps, and march on.”
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Paula, it sounds to me like that’s what she’s trying to do. She’s going to school and she’s got a child. You don’t pull yourself up overnight. She’s apparently trying to improve her life. It takes time.
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Here you go nose. I do know the girl in the story, attended school many years together. Although I have no first hand experience collecting assistance from anyone but my own ambition to have the things I want in life. You are correct though, that I do have quite an extensive knowledge of assistance programs including Ruby’s Pantry which is great program and is all over the city not just places with no grocery stores. It does however require someone to look into these programs on their own accord. That is the only thing seperating people in life, those that use all their resources to get what they need or those who talk about it. Why is it LSC or anyone else’s problem? Never wished vile circumstances on anyone either just stating the obvious. There is no such thing as a food desert anywhere in the Duluth area, and if there is I live in one as well. The only difference is people just do what they have to and don’t complain about it and need people to hold their hand.
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I used to have a “ma&pa” store on 59th ave w thereason they went under is: work 12 hr a day 7 days a week , with more time before and after work stocking and paperwork. Pricing I would use coupons and get stuuff from Super one bring it back and mark it the same as SuperOne. Used to go to Sam’s club beacause it was cheaper then buying from the local wholesalers. We would work all week and figured that sunday was profit around $600 divide that by 84plus hours. Remember that when you take a break/use the bathroom/eat you take your time-with a single person store as soon as you are away is when someone will show up. Also had a few people that thought it was funny to show up just before closing towards the end I would close 5-10 minnutes early
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Was wondering how Ms Whitherspoon gets back and forth to LSC?
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Josiah is on the right path – but from a business standpoint it is pretty simple. If there was money to be made by opening and operating a store in the neighborhood, there would be one there.
Anyone who doesn’t understand that either: a) has never had a job in the private sector where they were responsible for making sure a business is successful, b) thinks the statement goes “life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and guaranteed living space within comfortable walking distance of a grocery store”, or c) all of the above.
Her particular income, age, parenthood, race, etc doesn’t matter. Until the government starts opening grocery stores (and even I would argue that would have been a better option than buying the Theatre or again bailing out the Aquarium) in grocery-poor neighborhoods, people might have to think just a tiny bit about the consequences of location, location, location when they choose to sign their rent/mortgage agreement.
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Ah, Tobias, it is good to hear from you. It’s been too long.
Elaborating on your valid point of location, location, location – I can’t help but notice the standard of care that is set for a dwelling or a business, and the accompanying quality of product/service they deliver, is too often closely tied to…wait for it………..location, location, location.
Many small markets, quality corner diners, specialty bakeries, and businesses of the like have gone out of business in some of these “food deserts.” Does it sadden me. Yes, it does. Do I believe the failures of those businesses is correlated to the demographic of the community? I do when you consider that the greatest generation built the Lincoln Park community. They have retired, moved on, and it’s not their families that have stayed to carry things on. I’d argue that the greatest generation has been replaced by the “I’m entitled to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and my handout” crowd.
Maybe I’m biases because my father’s father raised his family in Lincoln Park and had a home and a garden that he worked hard for and could be proud of. I just wish more of that community was willing to bring back that sense of pride that used to be.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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grew up on 20th ave west went to St Clements church and school remember when there were stores on every corner BUT also remember my dad laying the car up during the winter months and we had 1 car for my dad and mother to get to work with when I got my licensce if I wanted to drive I had to get up drive my dad to work then my mother and I HAD better be there when they were through with work. Now I have 4 cars and a motorcycle for 2 drivers, don’t think I am rich the cars are a 1970,1985, 1996 and I just bought a 2006 the motorcycle is a 1997 all of which are paid for.
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There’s a niche – And several empty spaces in Lincoln Park. Anyone up for the challenge?
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It’s not LSC’s problem — which doesn’t preclude the student body from working together to help each other. It’s not your problem; you don’t seem willing to lend a hand in any case. It’s a community problem, and it will take a unified effort of the community to resolve it. Strange, with your expansive knowledge of assistance programs, that you chose to overlook the focus of the story and offered not a single idea to help. Just as it’s wrong-headed to think that others should pay your way, it’s wrong-headed to think that we are better for ignoring what holds our communities back. For the one person you disapprove of who was chosen by the DNT to represent a segment of our population, there are probably ten working hard without complaint to improve their situation. The “I got mine” crowd is every bit as repugnant as the “poor me” faction — neither a very good ambassador for their point of view.
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“If you have a problem it’s YOUR problem,” seems to be a pretty succinct summary of the local republicant viewpoint. For a bunch of people who (probably) would claim to be patriotic they don’t appear to care about any domestic issues unless they think it would benefit their checkbooks.
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Furthermore, their reliance on the old saw “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” is emblematic of their lack of basic comprehension, as the phrase originally was used to illustrate an impossible task.
Still, it should come as no surprise that the republicants embrace old jokes and think that they mean something they don’t — just look at their idolization of Reagan (“the coach for the welfare state team,” according to Gingrich in the ’80s).
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How ignorant can you be. Yes, if YOU have a problem, it is YOUR problem. I also live in a food desert (the middle of the woods). It’s also a gasoline desert. But I made a choice to live where I live, so if I can’t easily access groceries and gasoline, I need to figure into my lifestyle how I can meet those needs. I certainly don’t expect pity or societal change because of where I choose to live.
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This is exactly what I’m talking about when I criticize the republicants.
Considering compassion to be a product of ignorance speaks of spiritual bankruptcy and a rejection of the social contract, and considering the argument “seeing as I don’t need help no one else does” to be of merit certainly casts doubt on your own intellectual rigor.
I presume that you like to think that the United States of America is nothing more than a commercial bund, so consider this: if impoverished people who live in “food deserts” have access to decent food on par with their access to fast and junk food, it follows that their medical bills (paid by taxpayers) would be lower, due to lower rates of diabetes and heart disease and so forth.
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MD: You make a fatal assumption that, given the choice, people living in impoverished areas would choose to eat healthier foods.
And your “social contract” is pure BS. If you want a nation of teamwork and collective enterprise, a capitalistic republic is the wrong place to be living. You might check out Venezuela for a more suitable political and economic system.
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So with all the comments, good or bad, just what is the purpose of this story..? Just where do the people living downtown go to the grocery store? Where do the people living in Proctor go?
Maybe next week we can have a story about no car dealers in the heart of Duluth any longer.
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Bob,
The story is one of those human interest stories that apparently caught a lot of attention, mine included. It’s a story of a neighborhood in Duluth that does not include immediate access to a grocery store as my neighborhood does. It’s a story of a young mother who goes to school and probably works, who doesn’t have a car, and who has trouble buying fresh fruits and vegetables. When she comes home exhausted from the day, as many of us do, she buys frozen food from a gas station and has that for dinner.
In all this rhetoric about government assistance, her “bad” choices, how she should not have had a child or how she should “pull herself up by her bootstraps,” whatever that means, not one person on this forum offered to drive her to the grocery store.
So I’m offering. I’d be happy to drive Salaam and her son to and from the grocery store once or twice a month, just as a kindness from one person to another.
Funny nobody else thought of that.
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There are plenty of apartments in West Duluth that are closer to Super One which are also in better neighborhoods than the West End and the bus fare is still the same to LSC from both areas! How about going more often? Its less of a load with a weeks worth the food than a month and the fresh stuff won’t spoil so fast!
Start shopping more smart and saving more and it should pay for the cab fare easy, I saved $50.00 last week by using coupons and looking for sale and generic items which is a few $13.00 cab rides!
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Talk doesn’t cook rice.
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Anyone else notice how almost all of the posters on this thread seem to have absolutely NO idea of what it is like not to have a vehicle?
For instance, the one who posted something about joining a carpool. Now, how can you carpool if you don’t own a car? Where’s the ‘pool’ in that?
And all this wonderful advice about ‘shopping wisely by using coupons’. The only coupons printed are for name-brands, and you still end up paying more, as opposed to generic store brands.
I’d say, “walk a mile in her shoes” would do a lot of these smug posters a world of good. Wake them up to the facts of life.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Also bac, the coupons aren’t always for very nutritious food. Very rarely for fresh food. A lot of them are for highly processed food. If one wants to eat a healthy diet, coupons may not be too helpful in doing so.
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WinnerWinner — I’d have replied to your screed directly, but wasn’t given the option.
Concerning the assumption that impoverished people, given the choice, would not choose to eat healthier foods: to assume otherwise is to assume that impoverished people are ignorant or weak or something along those lines. Were I to assume, say, that all Jewish people were ignorant or weak, that’d be called anti-semitism. Apply those assumptions to poor people and that’s what is called classism. While some poor people may eat poorly by choice, it seems rather unlikely that it’s true of the lot of them. And what of that demographic’s children, elderly, disabled, and so forth?
Also, when you say that the social contract is BS, it sounds as though we’d all be living in violent anarchy if the citizenry weren’t afraid of the police or God or something. Here I thought that you assume the poor are a bunch of useless louts, but apparently you assume it of everyone. Or everyone who you don’t think is swell, anyhow. To think that our country has gotten anywhere without good will and a common cause is a vision both bleak and poorly informed.
So tell me, WinnerWinner, do you like to fantasize that you’ve gotten to wherever you are by carving it out of the wilderness yourself? If you think you could, why not relocate to Somalia? My understanding is that they have a literal free market over there, and if you (like so many republicants) assume that black people are a bunch of nothings I’m sure you’ll be able to exploit them to your advantage.
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I live in New Hope, a suburb in the west metro of the twin cities and I don’t have a grocery store much closer either. When I lived in Duluth (moved 19 years ago, born and raised there), Loiselle liquor delivered in the hillside area and had 3 delivery runs during the week and 4 on weekends where you could place an order over the phone and have it delivered on the next run. Now… where I am getting at with this: If enough people wanted it, the neighborhood could band together and approach management of Super One or maybe Sav a Lot with the idea of a delivery service (kinda like Coburns down here). The key is convincing the management that it can make money. Place order over the phone (or online). Just an idea, not sure if it would work up there or not.
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Works in Alexandria, Al.
If it works here, it should sure work in Duluth.
Unless they’re even farther behind the times than Alex?
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