Customer purchases in small, non-traditional, urban food retailers Caitlin Caspi, ScD Assistant Professor Department of Family Medicine and Community Health Program in Health Disparities Research University of Minnesota Melissa N. Laska, PhD, RD (Study PI) Jennifer E. Pelletier, MPH Kathleen Lenk, MPH Timothy L. Barnes, PhD Lisa Harnack, PhD, RD Darin Erickson, PhD Division of Epidemiology and Community Health University of Minnesota
Trends in food retail 1. Persistent systematic disparities in healthy food availability a 2. An increasing proportion of food retail takes place outside of supermarkets b a Larson, Story, Nelson (Laska), AJPM 2009; USDA ERS, 2015 b Stern, Robinson, Ng, Gordon-Larson, Popkin, Health Affairs, 2015
Common, non-traditional, urban food retailers Corner stores Gas-marts Dollar stores Pharmacies
Number of convenience stores Trends in gas-marts 160,000 155,000 150,000 145,000 140,000 135,000 130,000 125,000 120,000 115,000 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Source: Neilson, 2015 convenience stores have continued to evolve from gas stations that happen to sell food to food retailers that happen to sell gas. --The Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing (NACS )
Aims In these food stores, to examine: Customer characteristics Shopping patterns Nutritional quality of purchases
Store sample (n = 106) Baseline data from STaple foods Ordinance Evaluation Study (STORE) Evaluates the impact of a Minneapolis ordinance that sets minimum stocking requirements for healthy food in grocery stores Focused on small- to mid-sized stores with grocery licenses in Minneapolis, compared with those in St. Paul, where no such policy exists Stores in Minneapolis affected by the Staple Food Ordinance Comparable stores in St. Paul (control site) PI: M. Laska. NIH R01; CDC U48; Johns Hopkins Global Center for Childhood Obesity
Store sample Minneapolis St. Paul
Store sample Minneapolis St. Paul
Store sample Corner store (37%) Gas-mart (35%) Pharmacy (19%) Dollar store (8%) Minneapolis St. Paul
Customer Intercept Interviews (n = 668) Teams of 2 data collectors standing outside stores Survey duration: 5 minutes Participants receive $10 gift card Eligibility: At least 18 years old English-speaker Purchased a food or beverage in the store Data collected Food/beverage purchases Frequency and reasons for shopping at the store Customer demographics and other characteristics
Analysis Descriptive statistics Customer characteristics Shopping patterns Nutrient analysis using Nutritional Data Systems for Research (NDSR) Food/beverage category Micro and macronutrients Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2010) Tested for differences between store types
Participant characteristics (n = 668) Mean age 40 56% male Race/ethnicity 47% white non-hispanic 36% black non-hispanic 4% Hispanic 13% Other
Participant shopping behavior Frequency of shopping at store Less than once a week 27% At least once a day 29% Primary reason for shopping at store 1-6 times a week 44% Good prices 6% Other 18% Close to work/ destination 29% Close to home 47%
Characteristics of participant purchases All stores Corner store Gas-mart Dollar store Pharmacy Median (25-75%) Median (25-75%) P Number of items purchased 2.0 (1.0-3.0) 2.0 (1.0-3.0) 2.0 (1.0-3.0) 2.0 (1.0-4.0) 2.0 (1.0-3.0).09 Total amount spent ($) 2.68 (1.49-5.18) 2.49 (1.00-6.25) 2.54 (1.50-4.58) 2.89 (1.40-5.00) 3.48 (1.69-5.99).09 Energy (kcal) 534 (253-1282) 528 (246-1434) 508 (253-883) 1266 (421-2993) 551 (264-1893).04 Added Sugars (% of calories) 39 (11-81) 36 (3.0-81) 37 (13-81) 53 (24-89) 41 (20-73).12
Most common purchases All stores Corner store Gas mart Dollar store Pharmacy p Sugar-sweetened beverage Percent Percent 46 47 46 58 36.03 Grains 18 22 18 25 11.03 Savory snacks 17 22 14 19 15.10 Candy 15 9 10 28 28 <.01 Sweet baked goods 13 7 18 15 12 <.01 Vegetables 6 8 3 10 6.08 Fruit 2 1 3 0 2.25 <5% of customers purchased other staple foods like cheese/yogurt, poultry/fish, nuts/nut butter
HEI 100 Healthy Eating Index (HEI) Scores of Small Food Store Purchases 75 50 HEI score of grocery purchases (56) a HEI score of fast food menus (38-56) b 25 36 37 35 33 40 0 All stores Corner store Gas mart Dollar store Pharmacy a Volpe & Okrent, USDA, 2012 b Hearst et al., Am J Prev Med, 2013
FV Availability Varies by Store Type Corner store Gas-mart Dollar store Pharmacy Availability (% of stores with item in stock) Fresh Fruit 79 97 0 14 Vegetable 83 7 0 14 Frozen Fruit 15 0 25 0 Vegetable 63 7 38 10 Canned Fruit 54 79 100 80 Vegetable 98 97 100 100
Improving customer purchases Store features Marketing Product placement Prices and promotions Balance of healthy and unhealthy items Customer engagement Voicing demand Building awareness
Summary Shoppers visit non-traditional food stores frequently and for convenience Overall nutritional quality of purchases is low Purchases are energy dense Interventions should address store features and engage customers
Supported by: Johns Hopkins Global Obesity Prevention Center (NICHD U54HD070725) NIDDK (R01DK104348), CDC (U48-DP005022) STORE Study team: Investigators: Melissa Laska, Lisa Harnack, Darin Erickson Other collaborators: Kristen Klingler, Nora Gordon, Anthony Johnson Study staff: Jennifer Pelletier, Pamela Carr-Manthe, Stacey Moe Large team of data collectors and advisory committee