grocery store – Building a better South

VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown says this store is a step back in time, with its old Coca-Cola sign and gas pumps right at the front door. “There’s also a restaurant next door, though I’m not sure if it’s open. The store was quite busy, though. It was late in the afternoon so the light was a bit harsh.”

Gough (pronounced “GOFF”), located about 10 miles west of Waynesboro in eastern central Georgia, is in Burke County, which had about 23,125 people in 2012. The population is evenly split in the numbers of white and black residents (49 percent each). Its population peak was in 1920 when it had almost 31,000 people; its low point was in 1970 when it had 18,255 people.

The county, located between Augusta and Statesboro, has a median household income of $32,188. Some 28.6 percent of people live in poverty, according to a five-year Census estimate.

The only grocery store in Fairfax, S.C., an IGA known as “Gatlin’s,” reportedly closed about a year ago. That followed an earlier closure of a Galaxy food mart profiled here in June 2013.

Today, the only grocery store that serves rural Allendale County is another IGA in Allendale, which means people from Fairfax have to drive to Allendale or Hampton just to buy groceries. [We’re told by Allendale-area residents that the Fairfax store may open again soon.]

“Food deserts” are often found in poor urban and rural communities because it’s hard to find grocery stores with lots of healthy options. People who live in food deserts may only have one store that stock more packaged and canned food than they do fresh foods. In turn, having fewer options tends to support unhealthy eating habits that lead to higher incidents of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity and more.

Map: “How to find a food desert near you,” NPR

With just over 40 percent of Allendale County’s 10,000 people living at or below the poverty level, the median household income is about $23,000 a year — half of South Carolina’s average and well below the nation’s $50,000 average.

More about Allendale County from QuickFacts from the U.S. Census.

Tag: grocery store

Bob & Bob Grocery, Gough, Ga.

Another closed grocery store, Fairfax, S.C.