Dale Bryant
San Jose Mercury News
Ah, the good old corner grocery store. Famous for candy, cookies, sodas, beer and cheap wine. At least that’s how everyone has thought of the corner grocery store, many of which populate neighborhoods where low and lower-middle income residents live.
Now, however, that’s beginning to change in Santa Clara County, thanks to The Health Trust and Google’s Bay Area Impact Challenge, which in June selected the nonprofit agency to receive $500,000 for its campaign to develop new distribution channels for affordable produce and quick, healthy snacks in the county.
The campaign, called Good. To Go., kicked off Sept. 17 at Emit Mini Mart, 1492 Almaden Blvd. in downtown San Jose.
The program provides store owners with equipment, upgrades, training, marketing materials, monetary incentives and business development assistance in exchange for offering and highlighting produce and healthy snacks options.
One incentive to encourage shoppers to visit Good. ToGo. markets is the availability of coupons on Facebook at facebook.com/gd2go. In addition to the campaign to upgrade corner grocery stores with produce and other healthy alternatives, the Good. ToGo. campaign is also bringing farmers markets and produce vendors to underserved neighborhoods.