In a Manhattan Minute

Examining the Impact of a Potential Walmart in Harlem on Existing Fresh Food Retailers: Today I’m releasing a new report, entitled Food for Thought: A Case Study of Walmart’s Impact on Harlem’s Healthy Food Retail, that models the potential impact of a Walmart at the proposed West 125th Street and Lenox Avenue site on existing fresh food retailers.

Survey data collected for this report shows that 304 licensed food retailers operate within a 1-mile radius of West 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, including 24 supermarkets, 17 green grocers, and 157 bodegas selling fresh produce.

A Walmart opening at West 125th Street and Lenox Avenue could lead to 30 to 41 fresh food retailers going out of business within one year and 48 to 66 fresh food stores closing within two years. Even with the fresh food retail space a Walmart might bring, Harlem would see a loss of 56,000 to 82,000 square feet of food-based retail.

City programs that are succeeding in bringing gains in fresh food availability to Harlem would also be negatively affected. Prime examples include the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) program, which aims to bring grocery stores to underserved neighborhoods, and the Healthy Bodega Initiative (HBI), designed to increase the amount of healthy food sold at bodegas. In just four years, HBI has caused the percentage of bodegas in Central and East Harlem that offer fresh fruit to nearly double.

Walmart would be a bane, not a boon, to the health food economy of Harlem – or any other New York City neighborhood. While the City has little leverage when it comes to private companies operating on as-of-right sites, the report outlines programs and systems that can be created to mitigate potential damage. Should Walmart enter the New York City market, public officials will need to take measures to protect small scale fresh food retailers and the residents who rely on these stores to help maintain their health.

Click here to read the full Food for Thought report