The Overhead Wire Daily | More Deals, Less Community

We posted a super interesting read in The Atlantic about the consolidation of grocery stores and how that has led to accelerating food access issues since the 1980s. Stacey Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self Reliance writes those changes coincided with the rise of food deserts around the country. The culprit seems to be the lack of enforcement, starting in the Reagan administration, of the Robinson Patman Act which was passed in 1936 and benefited ever larger retailers.

The act basically said suppliers had to give all retailers the same price without preferential treatment which meant that smaller grocers could compete with larger ones.

This also ties in my opinion to the deregulation of trucking with the 1980 Federal Motor Carrier Act. We posted an item way back in 2020 on how this also helped big box and national retail stores proliferate through lower shipping costs but also meant less pay for truck drivers over the long term.

Many regulations and a lack of enforcement led to these outcomes, but their specific impacts on urban design and many other social changes are felt today. The rise of mass retail was good for consumers from a price perspective, but it also loosened neighborhood fabric and adapted to a growing sprawl.

Now less local residents are starting businesses in smaller towns to keep the economy going and with the lack of competition the major chains now “count on people to schlep across town to their other locations.” Less getting to know your local grocer or seeing your neighbors around the store, more driving, more time in cars.