1st Nonprofit Supermarket to Open in Struggling Pa. Town

A first-of-its-kind nonprofit supermarket that will offer benefits for poorer shoppers is set to open Saturday in Chester, Pa., a federally designated “food desert,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

The $7-million Fare & Square store will be operated by Philabundance, a Philadelphia charity that more typically distributes donated items to food pantries in the region. It will charge 8 percent to 10 percent less than small urban grocers, and shoppers with incomes at or below twice the federal poverty level will accrue credit with each visit to apply to future purchases.

Chester, a city of 33,000 with unemployment and poverty rates far above the national average, has not had a supermarket since 2001 and was declared by the government to be a food desert, a low-income area where residents lack easy access to healthy food.