Bay Area stores seeing less business due to shoppers not having SNAP benefits
By Katie Nielsen
The lapse in SNAP benefits is affecting Bay Area stores where recipients would do their shopping. One store owner said he was not only worried for the well-being of his shoppers but for his business as well.
Lucky Breimah knows just about everyone in this North Richmond neighborhood. His store, Rancho Market, has been a fixture, a small grocery store and deli in an area that’s otherwise a food desert, referring to a neighborhood without many other grocery stores nearby.
“I know everybody here. Twenty years, I watched them growing up,” said Breimah.
That’s why it was so hard when he wasn’t seeing the families and seniors who came in using their CalFresh benefits.
“I was really worried about them, and the first three days it was really troubling, like how are they going to survive?” he said.
He said he offered them as much help as he could.
“I do give away what I can, but I can’t give much. You can’t help so many people, you know?” said Breimah.
He estimates 25-30% percent of his sales are on CalFresh cards, and without the benefits continuing, he couldn’t afford to stay in business through the end of the month.
“They don’t have too many stores. A lot of them have faded out, so this is essential to this area here. It’s very important to keep this store here,” said Katrena Ledbetter who grew up in the area.
She said a lot of the people who live in the area are limited on transportation, often walking to the store to get what they need.
“We have just seen a lot of chaos and anxiety as people struggle to figure out whether they’re going to be able to put food on the table,” said Caitlyn Sly, the executive director of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.
She said at one of their distribution events on Sunday, 100 extra families showed up compared to the previous events.
“We will usually see 10 or 20 new people depending on the site, but that many new folks coming to us really tells us that without benefits, people aren’t able to afford groceries,” said Sly.
The severe impacts of the cuts mean recovery will take some time.
“It’s a big chain, chain reaction. Sometimes people think it’s so little, but that little thing has so much chain reaction. It affects me. It affects my family,” said Breimah.
Contra Costa County supervisors approved an emergency debit card program for CalFresh recipients if benefits were not restored for November. It looks like they don’t need that this month, but it could come in handy in December if the government shutdown continues.
