In city where many struggle to access fresh food, Columbia plans new grocery program
As Columbia struggles to attract more grocery options, Mayor Daniel Rickenmann is hoping a new program will help bridge the gap between fresh food and the residents who are most in need and live farthest from stores.
City Council on Tuesday approved a $10,000 pilot program to connect certain residents with free grocery delivery.
Grocery delivery would be covered for Columbia residents who live at least 3 miles from a grocery store and whose household income qualifies them for Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security Disability.
“This is applying a modern approach through technology and available services to addressing our food desert issue in Columbia,” Rickenmann wrote in a memo about the initiative to city council.
Residents would still need to pay for the groceries, but the delivery would be covered by the new city program. The program would be administered by the Parks and Recreation Foundation. The South Carolina Retail Association would also help administer.
The city would partner with existing food delivery platforms like Instacart and Walmart delivery for the actual deliveries.
The initial program would tap $10,000 of federal pandemic aid. The city is hoping grant dollars or a donation will pay for the program in the future, Rickenmann said Tuesday.
“We know this is not enough. This is only to see what the response is,” Rickenmann said of the funding.
Rickenmann has said the city needs to take a creative approach to the city’s food desert problems, which are severe enough in parts of the city to affect residents’ health. For example, Columbia’s 29203 zip code has among the highest rates of diabetes-related amputations in the country, an investigation by The State previously found. Part of the problem in that community is poor access to fresh food, the report also noted.
At the same time, the city has struggled to keep grocers, Rickenmann previously told The State.
In 2019, a Walmart Neighborhood Market on Broad River Road announced it was closing due to low performance. Two years later, a Walmart Supercenter on Bush River Road closed, again because of low sales. North Main, Farrow Road and South Beltline Boulevard, too, have all lost grocery stores in the past because there wasn’t enough activity to sustain them, Rickenmann added.
Rickenmann has said part of the city’s problem is a lack of density. He says downtown Columbia has roughly 3,200 full-time residents but would need 10,000-12,000 to attract another grocer, for example.
