Yo, Gird Your Retailing Chops for Health!

Yogurt and yoga are popping up in the nation’s strip malls, according to a USA Today feature. Kimco Realty, which owns and operates North America’s largest portfolio of neighborhood shopping centers, says they've seen a fivefold increase over five years in the number of tenants featuring frozen yogurt. At the same time, the number of retailers in their centers selling ice cream, with its higher fat content, has decreased markedly.
     GNC, which sells nutritional supplements, has opened more stores. Gyms, yoga studios, and restaurants selling organic entrées also are showing a healthy presence. Mobile stores carrying fresh produce are pulling into food deserts—low-income communities with limitations on access to a large grocery store—to sell good health. Pharmacies are providing preventive health services.
     Whatever you retail, strategize to meet consumers’ interest in health. It can add to your revenues, it’s good for your community, and it’s compatible with the relationship between smaller retailer businesses and healthier residents.
     When researchers at Louisiana State University and Baylor University analyzed data from 3,060 counties in the contiguous United States, they found that a thriving community of merchants serves both as a cause and an indicator of investment in the neighborhood:

• More interest in disease and injury prevention. There’s a greater push for recreational facilities, health education, workplace safety, anti-smoking legislation, and buying at local farmers’ markets. 
• Sustained support for health care access. There were more bond issues for health infrastructure, such as community hospitals, and drives to recruit physicians and other health care professionals. 
• Lower rates of death, obesity, and diabetes. 

     The underlying factor is “collective efficacy.” The sorts of trust and cooperation seen among locally-based retailers generate a sense of ability to accomplish great things. There’s also a component of competition. The merchants in the community want to prevail over the merchants in other communities, and local business leaders compete for influence and recognition among themselves. This competitive attitude energizes greater accomplishment.
     Successful small businesses are owned and operated by people with an entrepreneurial spirit. The psychology of the entrepreneur cultivates self-development. You’re responsible for yourself,” says the entrepreneur. “If it is to be, it is up to me.” “Take care of yourself, your family, your customers, and your customers’ families.”
     Because collective efficacy is a state of mind, the benefits include mental health as well as physical health.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

Click below for more: 
Quench a Thirst for Health in Food Deserts 
Mobilize Collective Efficacy for Health