Community Issues
A grocery store's 24-hour lighting "does a lot for the sense of safety and community in the neighborhood," because supermarkets can be a safe haven. Citizens feel a “dramatic change in atmosphere,” after new supermarkets are built.
In addition, new supermarkets can be used as location of community programs—health exams, nutritional education, eye exams, voter registration, birthdays for children, selling event tickets, having Driver’s License renewal facilities, and providing phones for discount international calls. Besides contributing to a community’s overall well-being, such services make a grocery store more appealing to urban consumers: developing the services that urban citizens desire is a crucial way to make new supermarket development work.
By engaging with local organizations, supermarkets can create a link with a community that will contribute to security, reduction in shrinkage, and provide for better selection and effectiveness of employees. Organizations (such as churches) can help in hiring decisions, and security guards can come from the community. These make security more effective, bring jobs to communities, and make customers brand-loyal. Grocery should also confer with local religious officials about religious diets.
Stores should also keep in mind the shopping habits of urban consumers, who often rely on monies distributed to them at the beginning of each month. Stores may want to “staff to accommodate strong demand in the first two weeks of the month, slack purchases in the last week, and heavier traffic that purchases less per customer in general,” according to the shopping habits of urban consumers.
Grocery stores should consider developing diversity departments within supermarket administration to identify minority-owned suppliers and potential employees.
Read more about this topic: Supermarket Shortage
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