We All Have to Eat

The closing of Eastside Marketplace on the East Side will leave Providence residents with 63 grocery store options. As the neighborhood’s Councilman, John Goncalves, noted “The presence of a local grocery store is critical for maintaining the health and well-being of our community. Not only does it provide convenient access to fresh produce and essential household items, but it supports our local economy.”  The grocery business is fiercely competitive. Nationally, though grocery sales continue to grow, year-over-year growth has dropped from 8% in 2022 to 1.1% in 2023.  Here’s the situation in Providence:

 

0 grocery stores can sell alcohol in RI (along with Alaska, Delaware and Maryland)

4 million dollars estimated annual revenue of Trader Joe’s at 425 S. Main Street

40,000 square feet- size of Good Fortune, Providence’s largest Asian supermarket

11.2 percent of disposable income spent by consumers on food in 2023

15 of Providence’s grocery stores are chain stores

40 employees at Reyes Food Market on Cranston Street

41 minutes spent by the average person in the grocery store per shopping trip

1   number of food cooperatives in Providence (Urban Greens)

51 liquor stores in Providence in 2023

64 grocery stores in Providence in 2023

110 convenience stores in Providence in 2023

133 retail groceries listed in the 1973 Providence Directory

12 Latino bodegas in Providence

168 people employed at Eastside Marketplace in 2014

195.3 million dollars paid in 2014 by United Natural Foods to acquire Tony’s Fine Foods at 313 Iron Horse Way

880 retail grocers listed in the 1823 Providence Directory

4,000 steps taken by a food shopper who spent one hour at a grocery store on a Saturday afternoon, walking more than 1.9 miles

2014 year that a subsidiary of Ahold USA, which operates Stop & Shop stores, purchased Eastside Marketplace from local businessman Scott B. Laurans, who had owned the store since 1981; sale price not disclosed.

 

https://mailchi.mp/johnforward1.com/ward-1-updates-please-read-13365183?e=69a275f9f4}

https://www.askri.org/

https://www.grocerydive.com/news/grocery-sales-retail-census-bureau-june-2023/688326/#:~:text=Grocery%20sales%20have%20rapidly%20lost,8%25%20during%20much%20of%202022.

https://rilatinoarts.org/LatinoMarkets-BodegasRI.html

 

Nini Stoddard is a proud Providence resident. After living abroad as the child of a US diplomat, she returned to the United States to attend college. She lived in Connecticut and enjoyed working as a librarian, as a director of a regional non-profit, and as a prospect researcher. Nini moved to Providence in 2006 to work at Brown University as a senior prospect researcher. Now retired, she loves local history and volunteering.