{"id":13234,"date":"2021-02-22T13:53:23","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T18:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/countertools.wpengine.com\/?p=13234"},"modified":"2021-02-22T13:53:23","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T18:53:23","slug":"building-healthy-communities-through-the-retail-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/countertools.org\/blog\/building-healthy-communities-through-the-retail-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Healthy Communities Through the Retail Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The retail environment provides many of the products that result in unhealthy behaviors such as tobacco use, poor nutrition, and excessive alcohol use. How can we create a retail environment where the healthy choice is the easy choice? Some important strategies involve addressing the availability, promotion and price of tobacco products, foods and beverages and alcohol in stores.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As we reflect on 2020, a year of few non-essential trips outside the home, one of the places we continued to visit was the local grocery or convenience store. Whether we realize it or not, what is available at our local store plays a significant role in the behaviors we choose. Especially in the most disadvantaged communities, access to fresh produce is often limited, while there are plenty of sources for tobacco, alcohol and fast food. In the United States, tobacco use, poor nutrition and excessive alcohol use are among the\u00a0leading causes of preventable deadly illness<\/a>, including heart disease, cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases. The retail environment provides many of the products that result in these health behaviors. Each type of product generally falls under the purview of different public health practitioners (e.g., tobacco control, nutrition, alcohol misuse prevention), but the retail environment is an area these practitioners can, and should, work together to make safer.<\/p>\n

The Retail Environment<\/h4>\n

The retail environment includes both the community environment (e.g., number, type and location of stores) and the consumer environment (e.g., what products are sold, how they are advertised and prices).<\/p>\n

What can we do to create a retail environment where the healthy choice is the easy choice? Some\u00a0important strategies<\/a>\u00a0involve addressing the\u00a0availability<\/strong>,\u00a0promotion<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0price<\/strong>\u00a0of tobacco products, foods and beverages and alcohol in stores. To do this, public health practitioners and policy makers should:<\/p>\n