It’s a fluff piece. They briefly describe some of the circumstances but don’t explore any reasons behind them.
The one conjecture they do make, “some supermarket leaders may perceive low-income urban areas — particularly those inhabited by people of color— as higher-risk due to concerns about crime, vandalism or social instability” is contradicted later in the article. They cite 2 cases where supermarkets opened stores in these neighborhoods and operated them (one of them for 5 years). They would have had no need to guess. They had the balance sheets, income statements and cashflow statements so they would have known the answers down to all these questions down to the penny.
That said, the answer is fairly obvious. Companies want money. Companies close stores when those stores aren’t making them enough money. As the article states, these companies regularly open stores in poor neighborhoods, they just close them quickly. That strongly suggests that they think they might be able to make money and when they try the are unable to figure out how.
It’s a fluff piece. They briefly describe some of the circumstances but don’t explore any reasons behind them.
The one conjecture they do make, “some supermarket leaders may perceive low-income urban areas — particularly those inhabited by people of color— as higher-risk due to concerns about crime, vandalism or social instability” is contradicted later in the article. They cite 2 cases where supermarkets opened stores in these neighborhoods and operated them (one of them for 5 years). They would have had no need to guess. They had the balance sheets, income statements and cashflow statements so they would have known the answers down to all these questions down to the penny.
That said, the answer is fairly obvious. Companies want money. Companies close stores when those stores aren’t making them enough money. As the article states, these companies regularly open stores in poor neighborhoods, they just close them quickly. That strongly suggests that they think they might be able to make money and when they try the are unable to figure out how.
Sounds about right, not many stores can stay in business without turning a profit. This article pretty much says the same thing.
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/equity/chicago-grocery-store-deserts-south-west-sides