Soaring real estate values are prompting property owners throughout New York City to shutter grocery stores and sell to developers. In the process, another of the essential services that make New York livable is pushed further away, replaced by glittering condos and more banks.

Today there are one-third fewer supermarkets in New York’s five boroughs than there were six years ago. The impact of losing a neighborhood grocery is powerful, not only eliminating a spot where residents come together but also affecting a community’s health.

Some poor neighborhoods in central Brooklyn or the Bronx that have lacked a good supermarket for decades have the lowest rates in the city of consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables and the highest rates of diabetes and obesity — a trend that has been found in inner cities across the country.

A study found that every $1 spent on supermarket construction and operation generates $1.50 in additional economic activity, but investors have been slow to realize that grocery stores can anchor neighborhood development.

Read (Washington Post)