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TeenageDarren t1_iqz9dpz wrote

DC is a food desert.

NYC has mom and pop restaurants and small boutique grocery stores. Hell there’s $1 pizza/enchilada/taco/etc every other block.

You can’t find that in DC. The number of fast food restaurants are dwindling and outside the sole Wal-Mart in DC (I don’t count the one all the way in Ft. Totten) there’s no source for cheap groceries either.

Everything here is a $25 deconstructed burger or a Whole Foods with a $7 bottle of almond milk.

I don’t know how anyone making below $50k in this city even survive if they live in the District.

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invalidmail2000 t1_iqziyn3 wrote

You know that for people who live near fort Totten it's not 'all the way' away. You can't just discount part of the city because it isn't near you.

Also there are 3 Walmarts in the city

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ayobigman t1_ir0hcdb wrote

The prevailing opinion among many DC residents that anything outside of their immediate NW neighborhood is “far” is so annoying. I’ve had people tell me that Takoma or Brookland is too far for them 😑

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celj1234 t1_ir0vcud wrote

Bc there is no reason for them to go there when everything they need is in their neighborhood

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ayobigman t1_ir12ry6 wrote

I get that but there's much more to DC and the DC metro area then the gentrified core.

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TeenageDarren t1_ir0ce5b wrote

I always confuse the H St location with Georgia Ave, oh well.

I’m judging accessibility of groceries from the center of the city and relative cost of transportation. Fort Totten may be close to you but for a majority of the city it’s as close to them as it’s close to Navy Yard or Anacostia.

Fort Totten’s Walmart is basically in Maryland. It’s like less then a quarter of a mile from the state line. That’s why it’s the very last stop in DC on the Yellow Line.

From Downtown DC, that’s a half hour drive if there’s no traffic. Which is never.

Metro from Downtown isn’t any better at 25-35 mins depending delays and wait time.

God knows how long the bus would take.

Good luck convincing George Washington students or folks in SW/SE to hike all the way up there.

That’s like telling people in Manhattan to go shop for food in Queens or Hoboken, NJ.

I’m blessed to live one block from a Whole Foods and I’m even more blessed to be able to afford it but people who are poor (and usually of color) have to pay 💰 in Metro/gas/Uber/time off just to get some damn affordable food.

BUT this is all besides the point. Wal-Mart should not be the sole source of affordable food for lower income families in the nation’s capital besides the odd McDonald’s or the odd 7-11.

Why are there 5 Whole Foods in the city spread out throughout the city and easily accessible for most residents and only 3 Wal-Marts where 1 is a hop skip away from the state line?

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Gumburcules t1_ir0lp96 wrote

> Why are there 5 Whole Foods in the city spread out throughout the city and easily accessible for most residents and only 3 Wal-Marts

Are you somehow under the impression that Walmart and Whole Foods are literally the only places to get groceries?

Safeway, Giant, Harris Teeter, Aldi, Lidl, Trader Joe's, Wegman's, all exist, along with one-offs like Bestworld. There are over 70 full-service grocery stores in DC, don't act like it's Walmart, Whole Foods, or nothing.

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TeenageDarren t1_ir0mdb9 wrote

You think Giant and Harris Teeter is affordable food? Trader Joe’s?!

Okay, that’s alot of white privilege showing…

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Gumburcules t1_ir0ouun wrote

You think there's no affordable food to be found at those regular-ass grocery stores? You didn't see Aldi or Lidl in my list (or more likely completely ignored them because it didn't line up with your moronic narrative)

Okay, that's a lot of idiocy showing...

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TeenageDarren t1_ir0r55g wrote

Those aren’t affordable either, honey bun.

Yes I agree. There IS a lot of idiocy and ignorance showing here on top of the usual white privilege you got going on there.

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Gumburcules t1_ir0u1d9 wrote

> Those aren’t affordable either, honey bun.

I would love to see your exhaustive research that shows you've compared all of those stores and Walmart is the ONLY affordable one.

Don't forget to include the specific products in your market basket, the median incomes of the areas the stores are located in, and your methodology for deducing the threshold for affordability.

I can't wait to see what you come back with and I DEFINITELY don't expect it to be the equivalent of a crumpled sheet of construction paper with WHITE PRIVILEGE scrawled in crayon.

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Paschalls_Law t1_ir1g7ex wrote

Don't waste your time arguing with this person lol. You'll have a more productive time arguing with a wall. At least that way you won't lose any brain cells.

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invalidmail2000 t1_ir0vbdn wrote

You realize DC is pretty small right? Huge portions of the city are incredibly close to another state.

Also why do you keep mentioning whole foods? There are maybe what 8 Giants, probably the same amount of Safeways, 4/5 Harris teeters, lidl, wegmans, 5? Traders Joe's? Etc

It's pretty clear you don't leave your neighborhood often

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ayobigman t1_ir0h4ns wrote

I’m confused as to why you think the fort totten Walmart is far for low income DC families. Do you think DC’s low income families live on Navy Yard and Downtown?

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TeenageDarren t1_ir0k5hd wrote

I didn’t say it was far for low-income families. I said it was far for most of DC residents.

Again, missing the point. Wal-Mart shouldn’t be the only source of affordable groceries.

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ayobigman t1_ir0lcrg wrote

That also wouldn't be true. Not everyone lives in Shaw or Columbia Heights or Downtown.

I'll agree that DC lacks enough groceries stores but what do you consider affordable? Giant, Safeway, Aldi, Lidl exist.

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TeenageDarren t1_ir0lxja wrote

I find it ironic that because Wal-Mart is close to YOU it must be equally accessible to everyone else. It’s not. It’s literally in the upper most corner of the city and 3 miles from the center of the city. It would be quicker for someone at the center of DC to go to Arlington depending on the time of day.

I have a Whole Foods around the corner from me. If it was the only grocery store in DC that somehow sold affordable food, I wouldn’t be narcissistic enough to assume it’s fair distance to everyone else.

And Giant and Safeway are NOT cheap groceries.

You obviously have never been poor and it shows.

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ayobigman t1_ir0ob1b wrote

You have a weird projection and extremely subpar reading comprehension skills so I'm going to stop replying to you. And in case you don't know, most DC residents don't live in the center of the city.

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TeenageDarren t1_ir0rgbx wrote

But according to you most of DC lives in Brightwood at the very corner of DC 5 blocks away from Maryland?

Okay, gurl. 🤨

Do you know how to read a map? Most cartographers judge accessibility by the center of the center and by ease of transportation. That’s why the Metro Center is near the CENTER of the city and not Fort Totten.

The only projection is from you. You somehow offended over my comment about Fort Totten and your insecurity with living in that area prompted you to make a irrelevant comment.

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invalidmail2000 t1_ir0vus4 wrote

Even if I agreed with your assessment that because it's in a corner of the city it's inaccessible (which I don't) the h street location is in the geographic center of the city.

Though by your own logic because it's in the center of the DC it's actually hard for most people to reach.

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iaalaughlin t1_iqziizv wrote

Out of curiosity, what do you think is driving that lack in DC?

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DCtoMe t1_ir0d8nc wrote

Density. Bodegas survive in NYC because 1K people live above or on the same block as them.

In DC there are so few areas with that density that all the retail there goes to national chains that can afford huge rents and want a flagship DC store.

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the_bagel_warmonger t1_ir0ey3e wrote

Density, but also just time. NYC has been a huge city for centuries, and a lot of those cheap mom and pop shops have been there for ages. A good number of them even own their stores free and clear, which helps keep the monthly costs low.

DC has not been a bustling city for nearly as long. We didn't even break the top 10 cities/metro areas (by population) until like the 1950's. So we've had less time to establish a good working class food culture.

Also, the food culture that was established was mostly destroyed during the MLK riots in the 1960s. H st and U st used to be bustling African American commercial hubs that could have been the basis for great mom and pop shops if the strips hadn't been burned down and then neglected.

Then, like 20 years later you have the crack epidemic, "murder capital of the US" and all of the other issues that lead to 90s-00s suburban flight. Then in the 10s and 20s you have gentrification and now COVID.

There's unfortunately a lot of events that have kneecapped DC's food scene before it was really able to get started.

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TeenageDarren t1_ir0algy wrote

Gentrification and lack of incentive for small business owners to open up anything that doesn’t attract high income customers.

I also strongly suspect that NIMBYISM is also at play when it comes to approving liquor licenses or commercial real estate. People here are smart enough to realize that 7-11, McDonald’s or any cheap food attracts the ‘wrong’ type of people to their neighborhood.

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