Development of a community needs assessment for a healthy corner store initiative: A formative evaluation

Local corner stores became a mecca for low-nutrient, calorically dense foods. However, in recent years, increasing attention to local food environments has created a healthy corner store movement, which aims to promote healthier food options and increase customer purchases of these healthier options.  In order to implement sustainable interventions, it is important to assess a corner store’s food environment but also customer and employee attitudes as well as beliefs about possible healthy changes.  The purpose of this formative evaluation is to provide insight regarding a comprehensive corner store assessment, which will provide opportunities for utilization of similar methods when evaluating the food environments of corner stores in the future. Results from the evaluation found that assessing the corner store’s food environment was not sufficient to provide enough evidence of feasibility and acceptability of healthy changes within the store.  Although a large amount of data was collected for the assessment, one limitation found was the inability to obtain purchasing or inventory records from the store. The use of formative data collection, such as customer purchasing patterns, observing shelf space within the store, and use of geographical information systems (mapping, was imperative for the assessment team to fully understand the corner store food environment.  Furthermore, community engagement, establishment of rapport, and developing partnerships with key stakeholders were crucial components of a successful assessment. In conclusion, this evaluation provides recommendations to carry out assessments of the food environments of corner stores using similar methods in the future.