56 maconmagazine.com | February/March 2026
STORY BY MARGARET PETH | PHOTOS BY JESSICA WHITLEY
Food access and the complicated relationship
between communities and grocery stores
G R O C E R Y W O E S
I
t's a common question around
Macon — but getting a grocery
store into Macon's urban core is
more complicated than it might
seem. In fact, getting grocery
companies to open stores in specific
locations is a challenge in many
communities, and the results can have
huge impacts on community health and
well-being. Most grocery stores are
private enterprises. City governments
don't have a lot of leverage when it
comes to requiring grocery stores to
locate in specific places.
While cities can court grocery
stores by identifying key sites and
offering incentives, when it comes to
conventional grocery store models, it's
ultimately up to private companies to
decide where they want to locate their
stores. Grocers are typically interested
in sites and locations that meet
requirements like minimum acreage,
available parking spaces, access to
major roadways, concentration of
residences, and traffic counts. Even
when these conditions are optimal,
grocery stores may choose not to open
locations depending on competition,
market conditions, and a host of other
factors outside of the direct control of
city officials.
But reliable access to grocery
