Las Tienditas Saludables in the Daily Journal

Shopping for a makeover

July 21, 2012, 05:00 AM By Sally Schilling Daily Journal Correspondent

Sally Shilling/Daily Journal Luis Ortiz shows off a produce display in La Guadalupana market in North Fair Oaks in Redwood City.  As a kid, Luis Ortiz was bombarded with bright alcohol and tobacco ads posted around his North Fair Oaks neighborhood. “My mom would ask me to go to the corner store for tomatoes but our store only had alcohol and tobacco,” said Ortiz. Ortiz, now a youth advocate for the Youth Leadership Institute, had to walk 30 minutes to get produce for his mother. The Youth Leadership Institute surveyed 100 low-income residents in North Fair Oaks. They found that most want produce, but wish that more was available. The lack of healthy options in neighborhood corner stores inspired community activists to transform them. On Friday, the Youth Leadership Institute celebrated their reinventing of Michoacan Market on Middlefield Road, the third store to receive a “healthy makeover.” The main goals of the store makeovers are to promote produce and lessen the sales of alcohol and tobacco. Read the full article here: Shopping For A Makeover