In some neighborhoods, corner stores often stock more alcohol than food amid a minefield of violence just outside their doors. For many poor residents, the shops are among the few options for buying groceries using the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food benefit. Convenience stores make up about 45 percent of all authorized retailers accepting SNAP benefits, the modern name for food stamps. In East St. Louis, Il., a city of 27,000 across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis, there are three dozen authorized SNAP shops, mostly corner stores, within 89 blocks. Fewer and fewer residents see the shops as a safe place to buy food, reports Kaiser Health News.
Drug dealers allegedly working in cahoots with corner store owners have become East St. Louis’ worst-kept secret. “So much goes on in these corner stores now, you just have to be careful,” said Nona Owens, 68. “You never know when somebody else has made somebody mad. … And they want to come and shoot.” Many residents of East St. Louis and other low-income communities are fed up with the violence around their neighborhood stores, even as officials in Washington turn a blind eye to the storefront gun battles. While the Obama administration modestly upped the range of items SNAP retailers were required to stock to help end what are known as food deserts, the Trump administration wants to weaken those requirements so canned spray cheese, pimiento-stuffed olives, maraschino cherries and beef jerky can count as staple foods. Local residents are trying to clean up the corner stores in their neighborhoods so they have safe options. Rocky Miller, one store owner, said after residents complained about crime at local stores, “I don’t care what store you’re at, that’s one thing we can’t prevent.” The so-called bulletproof windows the owners stand behind? They have bullet holes in them.