According to this report from ABC News, Whole Foods is building a store in a food desert in the impoverished Chicago neighborbhood of Englewood. Which is fine, as far as it goes — the city has found a developer to put a vacant plot of land to productive use.
But is it worthy of celebration? Maybe the TIF subsidies will enable Whole Foods to offer its products at a lower price. Maybe it’ll draw from whatever middle-class areas exist in the surrounding area, and help boost the neighborhood economically.
Here’s the kicker, though: two blocks away is an Aldi. The Whole Foods, which will open in 2016, will be located at 63rd and Halstead. The Aldi is at 620 W 63rd St, at the corner of Wallace. Look on a map.
Which means that either this area isn’t actually in a “food desert” or that the city has defined food desert so broadly as to exclude Aldi, the little grocery store that could. (Because the store’s size is smaller than a typical supermarket? Because it doesn’t offer enough varieties of arugula? You tell me.)
Related: the food desert issue is a transit issue, and more on shopping carts.
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