In many urban and rural areas of Minnesota, residents have little access to grocery stores and must rely on small corner stores to purchase their groceries. In many corner stores, fresh produce tends to be scarce and expensive. The Local Foods Program at IATP is working with the MN Department of Health, distributors and corner store owners to increase access to fresh produce at corner stores across the state.

Our healthy corner store initiative is:

• partnering with the distributors that serve hundreds of stores across the state to enable small stores to purchase high quality, fresh, fairly priced produce
• working with our produce partner to make top-selling produce items available in quantities tailored to the unique needs of small stores, and to provide merchandising and produce handling support.
• developing point-of-sale promotional materials to highlight the availability of fruits and vegetables at WIC-approved stores in partnership with the MN Dept. of Health

Tips for good produce handling in your store Careful produce handling will help you maximize your sales by offering the freshest, most attractive produce to your customers. Here you will find a variety of tips for handling and merchandising your produce effectively. June, 2010 | PDF

Audio interview: Jim Wishner from AM 950 interviews JoAnne Berkenkamp Local Foods Program Director JoAnne Berkenkamp discusses the recent WIC changes and other recent efforts to get healthy food into corner stores in Minnesota. August 8, 2009 | MP3

Healthy Food for All This IATP report explores how cornerstores around the US are providing healthier food options. August, 2009 | PDF

How to Bring Healthier Food to Corner Stores August 4, 2009 | Press release | PDF

New Healthy WIC Foods Available in Minnesota August 1 IATP partners with MN Dept of Health on expanding availability of fresh fruits and vegetables. July 29, 2009 | Press release | PDF

Healthy Food Access in Minneapolis: Initial Conversations with Residents: Many Minneapolis residents lack easy access to healthy food.
January 2009 | Carla Kaiser | PDF