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WIC Corner Store Initiative Success Story

WIC Corner Store Initiative Success Story

In 2022, Frank the owner of the market,  signed up to participate in The Healthy Corner Store Initiative.

The Healthy Corner Store Initiative works with small, independently owned grocery stores in order to help them increase the amounts of fresh produce and other healthy items they have available for sale. Founded in 1992, The Food Trust works with neighborhoods, institutions, retailers, farmers, and policymakers across the country to ensure delicious, nutritious food for all. Backed by three decades of research and evaluation, our holistic, community-centered approach to nutrition security weaves together three core programming elements — access, affordability, and education — as well as a focus on advocating for public policy solutions.

As part of the Healthy Corner Store Initiative, the E & N market was paired with trained fellows from Wayne State University School of Medicine students to implement Price, Product, Placement and Promotion (4PS) to increase the sale of healthy food. Fellows provided the store with marketing materials such as recipe cards, shelf tag cards and the Healthy Store Toolkit and instructed the store owner on how to utilize materials.

The store has seen huge improvements in fresh produce stock and the community pushed to keep the program implementation in place throughout the entire year. As a result, the fellows, who usually take off during the winter months, have continued to successfully carry out the implementation of the Initiative relocating the weekly events from E & N market. Community members expressed appreciation for the changes, noting that since we have added marketing materials and local produce to the store the store appears cleaner and it a better place to shop.

Due to the increased community support and local partnerships, the store is fully stocked with produce that the customers in the community need and desire. This success story featured during SDOH month, highlights the importance of collaboration to support community driven solutions.