Stock Healthy, Shop Healthy is a PSE and social marketing intervention designed to increase consumer demand for healthy foods in communities and to increase amount of healthy foods sold by urban corner stores and rural small food retailers. Stock Healthy, Shop Healthy is a comprehensive, multi-component, community-based initiative that allows communities to improve access to healthy, affordable foods by working with small food retailers. Through toolkits, resources, and webinars, Stock Healthy, Shop Healthy will guide any community through a unique approach to increasing access to healthy foods that involves engaging small food retailers and community members, and thus addresses supply and demand at the same time.
Intervention Target Behavior: Healthy Eating, Food Insecurity/Food Assistance
SNAP-Ed Strategies: Social Marketing, PSE Change
Stock Healthy, Shop Healthy targets consumers who make food purchases, including mothers and teens; community organizations and retailers serving that audience. Some components of the program are implemented at the store while other outreach and education opportunities are available to all. The program is adaptable in any community, both rural and urban. Local governments, public health agencies, county extension offices and other partners can implement the project by identifying a local food store.
Settings: Community-wide, Retail
Age/Population Group: High School, Parents/Caregivers, Adults, Older Adults
Race: All
Ethnicity: All
Stock Healthy, Shop Healthy includes toolkits, resources, and webinars. These intervention components educate consumers, community members, and retailers to create demand for healthy foods and to provide environmental supports for healthy food choices.
Implementation materials for communities include the Community Toolkit, surveys, and assessment tools. Retailers receive the Retailer Toolkit, point-of-decision prompts, recipes, posters, and signs. A Program Evaluation Toolkit is also available.
MU Extension's healthy retail program model was highlighted as a national best practice in a research brief published by the National League of Cities Sustainable Cities Institute entitled "Bringing Nutritious, Affordable Food to Underserved Communities: A Snapshot of Healthy Corner Store Initiatives in the United States"
The healthy retail program was also identified as a best practice in ChangeLab Solutions' report "Incentives for Change: Rewarding Healthy Improvements to Small Food Stores"
A peer-reviewed article was published by eXtension's Community of Practice on Community, Local and Regional Food Systems entitled "Hungry for Change: Partnering with Small Food Retailers to Increase Healthy Food Access"
Evidence Base: Research-tested
Based on the SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework, the following outcome indicators can be used to evaluate intervention progress and success.
| Readiness and Capacity - Short Term (ST) | Changes - Medium Term (MT) | Effectiveness and Maintenance - Long Term (LT) | Population Results (R) | |
| Individual | ST1, ST2, ST4 | MT1, MT2 | ||
| Environmental Settings | ST5, ST7 | MT5 | LT5, LT7, LT8, LT10 | |
| Sectors of Influence | MT12 | LT12, LT18 |
Stock Healthy, Shop Healthy includes a program evaluation toolkit to guide individuals to evaluate the program at various stages. The Stock Healthy, Shop Healthy Program Evaluation Toolkit includes forms for store owner interviews, store assessment, customer survey, and community survey. All tools were created by the project and have been field tested and are currently used in ten communities (21 stores) across the state of Missouri: https://extension.missouri.edu/media/wysiwyg/Extensiondata/Pub/pdf/commdm/shsh/SHSH_Toolkit_ProgEval-dm266.pdf
Website: The Stock Healthy Shop Healthy website (https://extension.missouri.edu/programs/stock-healthy-shop-healthy) includes a program overview, toolkits for both retailers and communities, an evaluation toolkit, webinars, and various materials to support increased access to affordable healthy foods.
Contact Person:
Jollyn Tyryfter (Assistant Extension Professor)
University of Missouri Extension
Email:jtyryfter@missouri.edu
Phone: (573) 882-2399
*Updated as of August 25, 2023