Tag: food desert

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Another closed grocery store, Fairfax, S.C.

The only grocery store in Fairfax, S.C., an IGA known as “Gatlin’s,” reportedly closed about a year ago.  That followed an earlier closure of a Galaxy food mart profiled here in June 2013.

Closed, Fairfax S.C.
Closed, Fairfax S.C.

Today, the only grocery store that serves rural Allendale County is another IGA in Allendale, which means people from Fairfax have to drive to Allendale or Hampton just to buy groceries. [We’re told by Allendale-area residents that the Fairfax store may open again soon.]

“Food deserts” are often found in poor urban and rural communities because  it’s hard to find grocery stores with lots of healthy options.  People who live in food deserts may only have one store that stock more packaged and canned food than they do fresh foods.  In turn, having fewer options tends to support unhealthy eating habits that lead to higher incidents of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity and more.

With just over 40 percent of Allendale County’s 10,000 people living at or below the poverty level, the median household income is about $23,000 a year — half of South Carolina’s average and well below the nation’s $50,000 average.

Photo by Andy Brack, Center for a Better South, Oct. 1, 2014.  All rights reserved.

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Convenience store, Estill, S.C.

Convenience store, Estill, S.C.
Convenience store, Estill, S.C.

People across the South often have to shop in convenience stores, such as this one in Estill, S.C., because their rural town doesn’t have a grocery store.  Estill, a town of about 2,000 located in rural Hampton County, is lucky to have an IGA store in addition to the Mid-Mart. Towns like Greeleyville, S.C., no longer have a grocery store.

Hampton County, located in the southern part of South Carolina, was home to 21,090 people in 2010, about 4,000 fewer than a century earlier.  More. Some 22.6 percent of Hampton County residents live below the poverty line.  Hampton’s annual Watermelon Festival is the state’s longest, continually-running festival.

Photo by Andy Brack, Sept. 22, 2013.  All rights reserved.

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Closed grocery store, Allendale, S.C.

Galaxy Food Center, Allendale, S.C.

Galaxy Food Center, Allendale, S.C.

“Food deserts” are often found in poor urban and rural communities because  it’s hard to find grocery stores with lots of healthy options.  People who live in food deserts may only have one store that stock more packaged and canned food than they do fresh foods.  In turn, having fewer options tends to support unhealthy eating habits that lead to higher incidents of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity and more.

Pictured above is the Galaxy Food Center in Allendale, S.C.  It was one of the poor, rural communities two grocery stores, until it closed.  Now empty, it’s a reminder of just how Allendale, county seat of South Carolina’s poorest county, is cut off from lots of amenities and services found in larger communities like Charleston, Savannah, Augusta and Columbia.

With just over 40 percent of Allendale County’s 10,000 people living at or below the poverty level, the median household income is about $23,000 a year — half of South Carolina’s average and well below the nation’s $50,000 average.

Photo by Andy Brack, Center for a Better South, May 2013.  All rights reserved.