(PO04-38-22) Corner Store Owner Perspectives on a Prototype Smartphone Application for Increasing Healthy Food Availability in Low-Income Neighborhoods

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Presenting Author(s)

Kelley Koeppen, MSPH
– Graduate Student, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Co-Author(s)

NM

Nina M. Martin, PhD
– Assistant Scientist, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Jennifer Stephenson, BS
– Graduate Student, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Emma C. Lewis, MS
– Doctoral Candidate, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
LP

Lisa K. Poirier, MHS
– Research Associate, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Alessandra Uriarte, BS
– Graduate Student, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Wilton, Connecticut, United States
JG

Joel Gittelsohn, PhD, MS
– Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Disclosure(s):

Kelley Koeppen, MSPH: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Jennifer Stephenson, BS: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Emma C. Lewis, MS: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Alessandra Uriarte, BS: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Objectives: In Baltimore, Maryland, there are over 600 independently owned small corner stores that often serve as a main source of food for low-income residents. Gaps in the local food system have caused the cost of healthy foods—like fresh produce—and their transportation to skyrocket, making it challenging for corner store owners to stock fresh foods. Currently, there is no supply-side mechanism to improve the availability of fresh foods at corner stores. To fill this need, the Baltimore Urban food Distribution (BUD) application (app) aims to improve the food distribution network among wholesalers, local farmers, and corner store owners. The aims of this study were to: 1) build trust with corner store owners via regular store visits and engagement and 2) gather feedback on the prototype to inform app development.

Methods: More than 50 formal and informal in-depth interviews (IDIs) and in store conversations were held from March 2021 to November 2021 to gather feedback on the BUD app prototype. A small sub-set of corner store owners received a longer demonstration of the BUD app prototype and various app features. This included creating an account, placing an order and in-app messaging to facilitate collective purchasing and delivery with nearby stores. Stores were visited weekly to build rapport with the store owners and conduct informal follow-up interviews. After each round of interviews, the BUD app was iteratively updated.

Results: The BUD app was intuitive for users, visually appealing, and positively supported the inclusion of multiple languages. Most corner store owners requested several additional features, including product images and an expansion of products beyond fresh produce, e.g., bottled water and snack food. Multiple store visits helped build trust and long-term relationships with owners, two of which are participating in a pilot-test of the full app.

Conclusions: Digital tools that are responsive to the needs of corner stores while also increasing healthy food availability in low-income neighborhoods are urgently needed. Building trust and long-term relationships—as was done in this study—was imperative to building a user-friendly and useful app. The results of this study will be used in the scale-up and pilot testing of a fully functional app in 2022.

Funding Sources: NHLBI, NIH, award number R34HL145368.