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Living in Woodside without any grocery stores sucks! As a person who is fat, sick and nearly dead, I need healthy foods to eat. At least we have the pharmachoice that sells a small variety of healthy foods at really reasonable prices! Thanks pharmachoice – much love! —macaroni and cookie dough
This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2015.
11 Comments
Rumour has it there’s a filling station in your neighborhood where the cheese croissants are to die for.
I have always wondered what the people of Halifax East did for amenities. Sad to be limited to a drug mart.
There a Sobeys just up on Mt Hope, no?
Ahhh, good old Woodside, the rectum of HRM.
Rectums are useful, Mr. Harper. Woodside is not.
There is a Sobeys on Baker but useless to many people in Woodside especially North Woodside because there is no direct bus service and the transfering from the 60 or 63 does not workout well. Esp. if carting groceries, easier to schlep to Penhorn and that is no fun either. The old store was a fairly easy walk or a cheap cab ride for many people before they closed out there.
The moral to this story is: Live in Halifax
If one has to start paying 7 bucks for a cuke it is time to start checking out the dildos at Venus Envy.
Michael Murphy said: (1) “$7 cucumbers at Pete’s”, (2) ” triple their rent, or more, to live in Halifax”, (3) “the city cuts deals with grocery stores”
Fact check:
(1) I just bought a lovely english cucumber for $1.99 at Pete’s.
(2) as of 2013 the average rent for a 1 bedroom in Halifax was $819, in Dartmouth it was $660 – doesn’t look like triple to me.
(3) is there evidence of this collusion? If so, you should take it to the media – maybe a free weekly that likes to report on municipal politics.
I realize you mean well but I’m not sure if this type of hyperbole helps one’s credibility.
^^^ P.S.
I grew up in a low income family in a “food dessert” so I have empathy for folks like the OB. Our area became a “food desert” once the small local grocery stores were displaced by the large chains that set up further away from our home. The problem was that the small local groceries were relatively expensive compared to the major chains. The lower prices and better variety at the larger stores made it worthwhile to drive to or even to phone in and have orders delivered from the big chains. The small grocery stores became uneconomic and closed.
Believe it or not stores like the Superstore and Sobey’s operate on a very low profit margin and can only offer the prices they do because of massive volumes of sales. In order to keep volume high and prices low they have to locate in areas that have high population density, and/or can provide large amounts of parking to increase sales volume. It’s pure economics. There are no sinister plots.
In my experience, the real problem for folks like the OB who live is neighbourhoods that become food deserts is transportation. The people with cars can drive to get their food. It’s the people without cars that are in a fix. If I were in the OB’s situation I would look into a
moving nearer to a grocery store in Dartmouth or, if that isn’t possible, finding someone to share the cost of a taxi to and from the grocery store. Even once a month to stock up on healthy foods that can be frozen – like frozen vegetables, lean meats, dairy and whole wheat bread – would improve the OB’s situation.
Good luck, OB!
your texts are too long son of a buck but i like the effort tho