A bill seeking to entice grocery stores to locate in underserved urban and rural areas might see new life in the state budget.
The Food Retail Establishment Subsidization for Healthy (FRESH) Communities Act would provide $10 million in loans or grants to help retain, expand or build new grocery stores where there are few to none today.
Sponsors, like Sen. April Baskin, D-Buffalo, said the 2022 Tops shooting highlighted the lack of grocery options in communities like East Buffalo. When the store closed for a time after the shooting, food distribution sites had to be set up to sustain residents.
“The FRESH Communities Act will help ensure that no community is ever left with few options like that again or an opportunity to be targeted simply because they're making a decision to go grocery shopping for their family,” Baskin said.
But it is not only urban areas that would benefit, according to Assemblymember Al Stirpe, D-Onondaga County.
He said he originally sponsored the bill while trying to help constituents in the Madison County community of Bridgeport attract a grocery store after one closed.
“(The) grocery business is a low- margin business for the most part, so they need a little help in order to come and decide to either … establish a place or grow what they have already,” Stripe said.
But will it be enough? Rochester tried a similar approach recently, committing $5 million in federal pandemic relief dollars. But in meetings with major grocery chains there, city officials were told that was not enough money to draw in stores and fill the void. So they pivoted to corner stores or bodegas, aiming to boost offerings of fresh fruit and vegetables, but were ultimately unable to attract additional grocers.
A similar version of the state legislation passed both the Assembly and the Senate in 2024, but Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed the measure. While Hochul argues the effort duplicates others funded by the state, supporters say most of those efforts are intended to help consumers buy food, not help increase the number of places that supply food.
“I think the message that I would send to the governor is that it's really important to take a full food systems approach,” said Jessica Gilbert Overland, director of the Good Food Buffalo Coalition. “It's critical that we support our communities with SNAP benefits and with the financial ability to purchase food. But it's also critical ... that we provide the access to the food.”
Baskin said the funding for the program is included in the Senate’s budget proposal. Legislative leaders and the governors are working to reach a budget agreement. If it is not included, lawmakers could try and pass the legislation outside the budget.
“Doing it in the budget, obviously, is the fastest and easiest way,” Stirpe said. “But, you know, we're willing to do whatever it takes.”
