Environmental justice movement targets liquor stores in Bayview

By Rachelle Gines
Gwendolyn Smith burst into the Supersave Grocery store in Bayview Hunters Point, greeting people with hellos and smiles as she walked.
“Hey Ruben,” Smith, 39, said to an employee at the front of the store, “Where’s the security at?” she joked.
She paused in the produce aisle and took some time to point to the fresh fruits and vegetables that had not been there in 2003, when the shelves had been primarily loaded with bottles of liquor.
“Look at these strawberries, plantains and bananas,” Smith said with pride. “This wasn’t here before.”
Smith works for the nonprofit Literacy for Environmental Justice, and the Supersave Grocery store is part of its Good Neighbor program, which aims to convert liquor stores into grocery stores. Since the program’s inception in 2002, six liquor stores in Bayview Hunters Point have been converted into stores that sell fresh produce, meats, dairy and breads.
“It’s a big misconception that poor people don’t eat and that poor people don’t care what they eat,” Smith said.
Smith says that Bayview, whose 35,000 residents have only one full-service grocery store compared to 30 liquor stores, can only benefit from the program.
“We needed something more than the booze and high-calorie junk that liquor stores primarily sell,” said Smith.
The Good Neighbor program is an example of environmental justice, which makes sure that everyone regardless of race or socioeconmic background has an equal change at a healthy and safe life.
'The difference between environmentalism and environmental justice is people,” said Smith. “Environmental justice focuses on people instead of the earth and that all people have an equal right to any and everything.'
Sam Aloudi, 43, owner of Supersave Market said he always offered basic fruits and vegetables when he took over the store in 1998, but has offered a wider variety of produce since his store was the first to become part of the Good Neighbor program in 2003.
“Our produce sales have increased by about 300 to 400 percent,” Aloudi said. “And the program has helped changed the perception of our store to the community.”
By that, Aloudi means that Smith advised him to stop placing posters promoting beer and alcohol up on store walls.
“We don’t want thugs and hoodlums hanging out where moms and kids shop for food,” Smith said explaining that promoting a more community friendly atmosphere is another aspect of the program.
Instead Aloudi placed pictures of murals, the Bay Bridge, and Martin Luther King against the backdrop of an American flag painted by local students up on the walls over his beverage coolers.
“It is a nice change, isn’t it?” Aloudi said as he looked up at the hand-made pictures with a smile. “From day one when I bought the store, I had the vision to run it as a grocery store and not a liquor store, and the program has really helped me out.”
The program gives stores like Aloudi’s incentives like local advertising, business training, in-store energy rebates and the ability to post the Good Neighbor program seal on the outside of buildings.
“It’s good,” Aloudi said of the program. “The store is here to try to serve the community. I’m here to serve the community.”
Sabrina Robinson took her package from the employee at Supersave’s meat counter as she said she used to have to go to San Bruno to buy her produce.
“I’m glad these things are here now, because we need more fruits and vegetables that are healthier than chips and candies,” Robinson, 42 said.
As a resident of Bayview, Robinson said that they still need more grocery stores and said that stores need to carry more strawberries and watermelons.
“We need these healthy foods here,” she said. “That’s just done some bullshit that we folks don’t care about those kinds of foods.”