Rhode Island Passes Law to Combat Food Deserts and Anti-Competitive Grocery Practices

This US city only has one supermarket for 45,000 people. New legislation seeks to fix that

Big grocery can use anti-competitive clauses to block other stores from entering a market. Rhode Island is the second state to ban that practice Jeannine Johansen remembers the halcyon days of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, when so many of its steep streets were punctuated by grocery stores: Almacs, A&P, Piggly Wiggly and Star Market. In the blizzard of 1978, “everybody went to Fernandes [Produce] because Stop & Shop was too far, and all the roads were closed, so we had to walk”, said the native W...

By Lela Nargi