New north Tulsa grocery store will help shrink area's food desert

By Paighten Harkins Tulsa World

North Tulsans will soon have a new grocery store. But when it opens in the spring, it’s unlikely to solve the area’s food shortage problem because the desert is so large.

Experts said the center of the food desert — a term used describe an area without access to affordable, healthy food options within an easily traveled distance — measures about 6 miles across.

“So even if you popped (a grocery store) right in the middle of that, you’d still have a good 3-mile radius all the way around,” said Katie Plohocky, co-founder of the Healthy Community Store Initiative, which has been reaching food deserts in the Tulsa area with a mobile grocery store.

For years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has deemed much of the northern part of Tulsa, including downtown and most neighborhoods north of Interstate 244, as a food desert. That is also home to much of the city’s low-income population.

The opening of the Supermercado Morelos at the intersection of Pine Street and Harvard Avenue will give some in the area more options.

Plohocky estimates the grocery store will reduce the food desert by about a one-mile area around the store. Residents without access to a car will be walking or riding public transportation, which takes money and sometimes hours to reach a destination.

Before 23-year-old Shannon Davis and her husband got a car, they struggled getting to a grocery store from their home at a federally subsidized apartment complex in the 2100 block of North Hartford Avenue.

The couple, who have children ages 1 and 4, would take a bus to the Wal-Mart near Memorial Drive and Admiral Boulevard, which took one hour each way. By car, it’s a 15-minute drive to travel the 8 miles.

Maneuvering the grocery bags with a stroller on a bus was also time consuming and difficult. Now, with a car, the couple struggles to pay for the gas to get to markets.

“It would just be nice if they did put something out here that’s affordable and closer. I spend a lot of gas money to go out of our way to save money,” Davis said.

A steady decline

North Tulsa hasn’t always been devoid of grocery stores. At its most vibrant, the community was filled with smaller community stores.

There were none of the bigger markets of Wal-Mart, Reasor’s and Sprouts or corporate specialty stores like Trader Joe’s and Costco found thriving today in other sections of the city.

In 1966, north Tulsa had 49 grocery stores: five chain stores and 44 small grocery stories and convenience stores that sold fresh food, according to a Tulsa World analysis of historical documents.

Twenty-five years later, in 1991, that number had dropped to 22 with nine large or chain stores and 13 smaller grocery stores or convenience stores.

Now, those numbers are even smaller.

Former City Councilor Jack Henderson, a longtime representative of north Tulsa, said there’s a perception that most stores left the area because they weren’t successful. He disputes that.

North Tulsa lost several Safeway stores when the company chose to shutter all its Oklahoma locations, Henderson said. The same happened with Food Lion and Albertsons.

“They all made money,” Henderson said. “They all were well utilized, and because somebody made a decision to move them out of the state, we suffered.”

Once those stores left, businesses didn’t want to come back into the area, he said.

A series of small stores might help solve north Tulsa’s food problems, but Henderson said it will work only with the community’s cooperation.

“They can bring all the grocery stores and all the things they want. If people don’t support it in that community, it’s not going to work,” Henderson said.

Food follows development

Bringing development into north Tulsa will bring better food options.

In April, voters approved the Vision Tulsa package which included the establishment of the George Kaiser Family Foundation-funded Peoria-Mohawk business park.

Henderson said the park could bring more than 1,000 jobs to north Tulsa. He said the proposed development will flip the script — bringing industry and businesses to the area that could raise incomes for residents to heights he hasn’t seen in more than a decade.

“That’s going to totally change what people see, their perspective, of what north Tulsa’s all about,” Henderson said.

Grocery stores are a natural continuation of that development, Henderson said. It will take time, though.

“We are doing all of this — we’re preparing to change the face of north Tulsa,” he said. “It didn’t get in that shape overnight, and you’re not going to clean it up overnight.”

Although experts believe big-box stores may not necessarily be the answer for the area, residents still want those stores — if only because everyone else has them.

Having only discount stores locate to the area has been disappointing for residents, Plohocky said. Many north Tulsa residents can afford to shop in larger stores, and, for the most part they already do.

“It’s those little things that’s sometimes hard to articulate, but that underlying current is there,” she said.

What grocers want

When considering locations for grocery stores, corporations often survey traffic flow, the area’s average income, development and population density.

For Reasor’s to view a store to be viable, the company strives for about $35 to $38 per transaction, Chief Operating Officer Brent Edstrom said. From its surveys of midtown stores most frequented by north Tulsa residents, Reasor’s has found the average transactions are a bit less, indicating a store farther north might result in a lower per-transaction average, he said.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Anne Hatfield described the corporation’s method of surveying locations as a response to the growing need for fresh, affordable food and merchandise. Though north Tulsa has such a need, she would not say if the company would build farther north than its superstore near Memorial Drive and Admiral Place.

However, with proposed economic development in the area, it isn’t a stretch to say a store might one day be possible, she said.

“It’s just common sense that as areas are always changing, we’re always evaluating to see whether we should build a store and if it makes sense, or how best to serve our customers,” she said.

Warehouse Market has four locations around the north Tulsa area. Officials said they are concerned adding a store may take away revenue from its existing locations. The company once considered a store near Pine Street and Utica Avenue but halted plans once it was found to significantly take away profits from other Warehouse Market locations.

“We’ve done our homework. We’ve done our analysis, and it’s just not there,” said Vaylord Cox, whose family owns the grocery store chain.

Even with the planned development, Cox isn’t sure that will raise the standard of living for those living in north Tulsa or increase the population of the area, which is important for foot traffic to justify another store. He said an industrial park doesn’t always mean workers are willing to move closer to their jobs.

Save-A-Lot’s model seems to fit the area demographics. The discount grocery store chain recently opened a store in west Tulsa, which also has food desert areas.

The company seeks existing buildings for stores and tries to move back into communities that have been seemingly forsaken, spokesman Chon Tomlin said. Also, these areas are often in food deserts and low-income neighborhoods.

“One of the things I always try to remind people is that companies get to move, but people don’t,” Tomlin said.

To support the hard-discount model, the Save-A-Lot stores are smaller and cut costs before food makes it into the store. For instance, they don’t have on-site bakeries, and product selection is smaller.

As Edstrom sees it, the most important thing a grocer can do for a community is ensure it’s starting a financially viable business.

Although he understands the grocer’s moral dilemma between profitability and a community’s needs, he said it is worse to open a store that resolves the food desert problem only to shut down later because it could not stay financially afloat.

“You’ve created frustration, confusion and even more hardship on those people,” he said. “So the difficulty is that you want to be absolutely certain that you’re financially viable for the long term.”

Another solution

A big-box store isn’t the only option — nor is it the best — to deal with north Tulsa’s food desert, said Plohocky and Scott Smith, her partner in the food initiative.

The two run R&G Family Grocers, a mobile store that travels to federally subsidized apartment complexes and senior or disabled centers. It reaches people who might otherwise not be able to go to a brick-and-mortar store.

The store is a program within their nonprofit, Healthy Community Stores Initiative, and is a first step in an overall plan.

With sales steadily increasing since it opened in 2014, it seems to be working. Plans include bringing healthier and expanded food options into the numerous convenience stores in the area.

Also, they want to start a community grocery store that doubles as a training program for those who want to open their own stores. This program would help with business plans, experience running a store and capital to eventually open a store.

The couple started the program Double Up Food Bucks. For people using their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food assistance at the mobile store, they get an additional $1 for every $1 spent to use on local fruits and vegetables.

People on food assistance tend to stock up on processed and nonperishable items that will last the entire month, Smith said. This program allows them to buy produce throughout the month.

This type of food program may help health outcomes in north Tulsa. In 2015, a study found an 11-year difference in the average life expectancy in certain north and south Tulsa ZIP codes.

Brady Heights resident Ashley Philippsen said her main concern living in the area without grocery stores is public health. She said better access to fresh food could shrink the health gap in Tulsa.

“For it to be a food desert on such a grand scale, that there’s not one (viable) grocery store, should cause our community to take a hard look at what we’re saying is acceptable,” she said.