East Palo Alto was known as a “food desert” for over 20 years, but that ended when the Mi Pueblo supermarket chain opened a store at the Ravenswood Shopping Center last year. Owners of smaller markets within the city were immediately concerned about competition. They still are.
The city now has around seven small markets, the larger Mi Pueblo store, and a weekend farmers’ market. Peninsula Press toured the stores to find out whether East Palo Alto truly was a food desert, how the old stores are holding up, and what each market has to offer.
Good video and mini article Josh. As a long time resident of East Palo Alto, it would be nice if the junk stores in East Palo Alto vanished, especially Pal Market on the corner of University Ave and Bay. That place is gross and not shopper friendly. I would like to point out how many small store owners actually live in East Palo Alto, Zero! This I would use as my basis for my argument on that small store owners can careless about the community they serve given none of them live here. What about the tax revenue, forgettabout it, it’s marginal to what bigger stores generate. Let’s not forget to mention, it’s possible lots of that money is then used on police patrolling their store locales since lost of scum loiter there. Three main locations, Bay and University’s Pal Market; Clarke and Bay’s East Side Market and finally East Bayshore’s and Plugas Liquor Store. Please continue to cover news in East Palo Alto, much appreciated. Jaime