Is it just a matter of zoning laws? Because in strictly economic terms, it seems to me like it would be very advantageous to open a grocery store in a neighborhood that is devoid of them.
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Well, note that when we talk about “food deserts”, we don’t mean a literal absence of food. There’s undoubtedly a local convenience store that has a stock of candy bars and snack chips, maybe even frozen TV dinners. We’re talking about a lack of access to *fresh* food.
The main problem is lack of demand. Produce is perishable, so a store can’t stock up on it and then gradually gin up enthusiasm; it’ll end up throwing out most of the produce before people learn to like it. (If somebody has never seen fresh produce before in their life, and was never taught any recipes that call for it, they’re not likely to find it very appealing. Broccoli tastes bad the first time you taste it, potatoes are ugly-looking, pineapples are hard to open if you’ve never had reason to buy a cutting board and cleaver and so your only tool is a pair of scissors, etc.)
There’s also an economy-of-scale issue. A large store that caters to drivers from two miles around can rely on the Law of Large Numbers to estimate about how much produce it will sell in a given week. But a corner store that caters to carless people from two blocks around can’t. (Imagine that you’re a small neighborhood grocer and I’m the only person in the neighborhood who likes corn on the cob. However, I don’t buy it *regularly*; instead, at random times about once per summer, I want twenty cobs for a barbecue party. Are you going to order twenty cobs of corn from your supplier every few days, in hopes that that’ll be the day of my party, or are you going to tell me “sorry, we don’t carry fresh corn”?)
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