Retail marks one of the last and most important parts of the food supply chain, getting manufactured and processed food products directly to consumers. There are an estimated 3,960 food retailers operating in the Louisville area. Yet, as with all other prior components of the food supply chain, food retail is not distributed equally throughout the city. This is especially true when considering what type of food is being sold by retailers to different communities in different parts of the city: fast, processed, and (generally) unhealthy food or “slow” food that tends to be healthier, fresher, and locally sourced. Research in other cities, such as in Indianapolis and New Orleans, has implied a bifurcated retail landscape (particularly regarding the overprevalence of fast food establishments in poorer, minority neighborhoods) as one manifestation of urban food system inequality.
Based on the presence of bifurcated retail landscapes in other cities, we would expect fast food establishments to be more present in poorer, majority-minority parts of the city.
Does this spatial pattern of inequality in fast food store placement hold up?
As the map shows, there tends to be a concentration of fast food establishments in the middle of the city. The census tracts with the densest presence of fast food are Census Tracts 119.06 (which has a 55% Black/Hispanic population) and 109.1 (which has a 26% Black/Hispanic population). Notably there aren't a significant number of fast food establishments in the westernmost parts of the city, which have by far the poorest census tracts. This seems to belie the aforementioned pattern in other cities of an overprevalence of fast food establishments in the poorest parts of the city. Nonetheless, a correlation does exist between fast food establishments and census tracts that are majority-minority and (slightly) poorer than average. Such a configuration of fast food retailers in Louisville has public health implications in terms of unequally distributing the burden of health ailments (diabetes, cardiological conditions) often caused by the overconsumption of fast food. And it contrasts with the healthy consumptive options offered by “slower” food retailers like grocery stores and farmers’ markets.
West Broadway, one of Louisville's poorest neighborhoods, with an evident overpresence of fast food stores. Image from: The New York Times
"Slow Food" Retailers: Farmers Markets
The "slow food" movement began in 1989 as an alternative to the growing globalization and presumed “unhealthiness” of the food system as exemplified by fast food. The movement advocates for farmers markets, community supported agriculture, community gardens, and other “localizations” of the food system so as to decrease the distance between consumers and producers and also offer healthier produce to those who need it. The main manifestation of “slow food” on the retail side is undeniably farmers markets, which have proliferated in Louisville in the past few decades.
Is it true that in Louisville farmers' markers are unequally dispersed throughout the city?
According to the map, the farmers' markets that exist in Louisville seem to be relatively dispersed throughout the city, with Census Tracts 59.02, 14, and 127.01 having at least one farmers market in the vicinity of a highly low-income and majority-minority population. While this in no way indicates that the underprivileged urbanites in these communities are accessing or purchasing from farmers markets at the same rate as affluent residents of Louisville (the arguably high costs of farmers markets often preclude them from doing so), the significant presence of farmers markets in various parts of Louisville may be attributable to a SNAP-related program that allows food insecure Louisvillians to procure from farmers markets at discounted rates.
Flyer from Gray Street Farmers Market, a farmers market that accommodates SNAP enrollees. Image from: University of Louisville
"Slower Food" Retailers: Grocery Stores
Another indicator of a bifurcated retail landscape is grocery stores, which have often been contrasted with fast food establishments as offering healthier and locally sourced ingredients to their consumers. The dearth of grocery stores in marginalized urban neighborhoods has been documented in other cities such as Cleveland.
Is the general inequality in access to grocery stores also the case in Louisville?
Similar to the case of farmers’ markets, grocery stores as a form of (quasi-)”slow food” retail doesn’t seem to show any particular spatial patterning with regard to indicators of race or class. Grocery stores are present in both the western and eastern ends of the city, with certain grocery store-containing census tracts such as Census Tract 110.6, Census Tract 119.06, Census Tract 51, and Census Tract 65 having high minority populations and somewhat high poverty rates.
Picture of Green Mart, a grocery/convenience store in a poor neighborhood of Louisville. While there are many like this, they are still quite underresourced and likely lacking in healthy produce compared to other groceries. Image from: Louisville Public Media.
Still, a number of the poorest Louisville census tracts in the westernmost part of the city don’t have a single grocery store in them, indicating some level of inequality in access to these stores. (Even though many census tracts in Louisville’s east also do not technically possess a grocery store in their vicinity, their residents seem to have relatively higher vehicle ownership rates and mobility that definitely enable them to reach grocery stores efficiently.) But, even assuming that residents of Louisville’s poorest and majority-minority census tracts are successfully accessing grocery stores, there’s no guarantee that these stores are selling affordably healthy produce. Indeed, many grocery stores (particularly in Louisville), while they are certainly “slower” culinarily than fast food, sell many unhealthy, processed, and non-locally-sourced foodstuffs that belie their stereotypical characterization as the opposite of fast food. For that reason, we can’t rule out that grocery stores’ spatial patterning in Louisville may be indicative of some food system inequalities affecting the most marginalized communities in the city.
Retail Redistribution
An often neglected component of the retail side of any local food system is the redistribution system by which post-retail food is collected and given to those in need through institutions like food banks and food pantries. Although they are not typically considered a manifestation of the “slow food” retail sector in the same way as farmers markets and grocery stores, food banks and pantries are integral to ensuring that the food-insecure receive at least some measure of healthy produce for free and are not made to solely rely on proximate fast food establishments.
How are these food banks spatialized in Louisville?
Based on the fact that food banks are overwhelmingly concentrated in census tracts with high poverty rates and high minority populations, they can be assumed to be feeding the Louisvillians most in need. So, food redistribution can be considered one aspect of the retail side of Louisville’s food system that is trying to mitigate inequality in some way.
