Jasmine Robbs recently drove across Buffalo during her lunch break just to shop at her favorite store – Buffalo’s Golden Corner on the East Side – because it sells fresh fruit, vegetables and other healthy options.

At the store’s entrance, two coolers stock spinach, lemons, avocado, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, yogurt, eggs, dairy products, almond milk and stacks of to-go boxes packed with brilliant raspberries, grapes, pineapple and strawberries.

Credit: Jason Koski/Cornell University

“Every time I spend my food stamps, I am able to cash out on fresh fruits and vegetables, which is imperative,” said Robbs, who says she doesn’t shop anywhere else. “That is my go-to.”

Buffalo’s Golden Corner is one of 16 stores participating in Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Erie County’s Healthy Community Store Initiative (HCSI). Since 2018, the program has encouraged the owners of local stores to stock healthy options in Buffalo’s food deserts, while educating customers on the benefits of eating healthful foods, checking one’s blood pressure and more.

“It’s a multilevel approach to a healthy community,” said Sheila Bass, HCSI program manager who had previously managed CCE nutrition programs for 16 years. “There are a lot of boxes that we are checking: providing fresh produce at local corner stores, healthier options, an educational component and making sure people have those tools and resources to practice those healthier behaviors at home.”

Bass and Moet Grooms, a CCE educator, recently set up a table at Buffalo’s Golden Corner to celebrate Heart Health Month. They greeted Robbs and other customers, encouraged them to enter raffles for a crock pot and a mini cooker, offered free slow-cooker cookbooks and gave out $25 Visa gift cards to the first 20 people who checked their blood pressure at the store’s health station, part of an innovative national pilot program. The CCE team also leads cooking demos, promotions and nutrition education throughout the year at participating stores as well as community centers and schools.

“We’re not only supplying them with the kitchen gadgets to make healthy recipes, but also giving them the information so that they eat healthier, as well as giving them a place to access the food. So you’re coming in one place and you’re getting a whole package,” Grooms said.

The need for this work is significant, Bass said. Buffalo’s East Side accounts for 73% of the clinic patients of the Erie County Department of Health. In a 2021-22 survey of 252 East Side households conducted by the University at Buffalo, more than 40% of East Side residents surveyed reported food insecurity.

Of those, nearly 60% had incomes lower than $25,000, and 48% did not own or have access to a vehicle. Perhaps most important, 21% of the food-insecure residents said they rely on corner stores as shopping destinations.

“In these neighborhoods, there aren’t a lot of resources that connect them with how to better manage their health,” Grooms said. “So we come in with big, friendly smiles and talk with them, making sure we connect with them.”

A commitment to community

While Grooms and Bass talked with customers, store owner Rocky Mohamed pivoted from making hot sandwiches and subs to cashing out customers. He had set up a basket of Red Delicious apples near the cash register.

Credit: Jason Koski/Cornell University

“We have the snacks and all the junk food, but to see that option there, people are like, ‘Hey, listen, that’s a nice, vivid bright apple,’” he said. “The pricing is there too. We’re not gouging. Instead of a bag of chips, it’s a healthier option.”

His family has owned and run the store for 27 years, and he grew up in the neighborhood. He was raised on fruits and vegetables, avoided ultraprocessed foods and now feeds his own family the same way. So when CCE approached him to become a Healthy Community Store nine years ago, he didn’t hesitate.

“It is a food desert out there,” he said. The area’s other corner stores don’t sell fruits, vegetables and healthier snacks and groceries. And the closest grocery store is 1.5 miles away, he said.

The Golden Corner is one of two Healthy Community Stores that sells neither alcohol nor tobacco. Mohamed has seen neighborhood kids grow up and have children of their own, so it is important to him to offer healthier choices to his community. “It’s needed in this area,” he said.

Bass encouraged store owners to offer five categories of healthier options: beverages like juice and water as an alternative to soda or beer; healthy snacks; whole grains; packaged produce; and fresh fruits and vegetables.

For Heart Health Month, Bass encouraged store owners to offer red produce, like red peppers, red potatoes and strawberries. In the fall, she collaborated with other CCE Erie programs promoting local fall fruits, and worked with store owners to offer a buy-one, get-one-free promotion of grapes. Bass regularly checks in with store owners and to ask how the initiative is going and how she can help.

“They’re supporting their community, and it’s just amazing how passionate they are about the project,” Bass said.

Blood pressure education

The CCE team runs the initiative with the support of 30 partners, from government agencies to nonprofits including three major funders: the American College of Cardiology, the Buffalo Bills Foundation and John R. Oishei.

Credit: Jason Koski/Cornell University

Partners also include local 4-H clubs, the nonprofit Say Yes Buffalo, other youth programs and healthy food community advocates – trained volunteers who promote healthy food choices at participating stores.

Bass and her team also collaborated with the American College of Cardiology to pilot the Caring Hearts initiative, a national program that installed free health stations where people can check their blood pressure and get information about what high blood pressure means and how to prevent it.

The program now targets specific ZIP codes in cities with persistent gaps in health outcomes and life expectancy resulting, in part, from higher rates of cardiovascular risk factors – particularly high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.

Buffalo’s Golden Corner is one of four Health Community Stores that have installed the health stations; a community center is also participating.

Credit: Jason Koski/Cornell University

At the Heart Health Month event, Bass helped Racquel Wells, who lives down the street from the Golden Corner, use the station and interpret her blood pressure reading. She was the first customer to check her blood pressure – for only the second time in her life.

Wells came in not only for the $25 gift card but also to learn how to eat in a more healthful way. “Sometimes I snack on junk food while I’m at work,” Wells said. “I think the healthier you eat, the longer you live. If you eat the right foods for your body, it helps you to function properly.”