(Click on the image for Rachel Chason's Washington Post report)
Prince George’s County and the city of Seat Pleasant are using tax incentives and loans to recruit a nonprofit grocer they hope will eliminate a food desert in the small municipality along the D.C. border.The planned opening of Good Food Markets in Seat Pleasant this fall will serve as a “test case” for how Prince George’s can attract affordable, healthful stores to inside-the-Beltway communities that have seen Safeways and other supermarkets shutter in recent years.
If Good Food, which launched its first and only store three years ago in Northeast Washington, is successful, county officials say they will try to use similar economic incentives to lure other grocers to remaining underserved areas.
“I’m going to be looking for the next opportunity to do this quickly,” said Larry Hentz, a business development specialist with the Prince George’s Economic Development Corp.