supermarkets

How a federal policy change in the 1980s created the modern food desert.

Monopolies across the grocery supply chain squeeze consumers and small-business owners alike. Big Data will only entrench those dynamics further.

The emergence of the supermarket was used as a key piece of anti-communist propaganda early in the twentieth century against the alternative of grocery co-ops.

Instead of highlighting the glories of capitalism, supermarkets expose the inequalities it creates.

The scanning of a package of gum in an Ohio grocery store in 1974 marked the beginning of an era.

Walmart did not invent or import the idea. In fact, it was among the last of the discount department stores to experiment with the concept.

Connecting the dots between discriminatory housing policies in the 1930s and urban food insecurity today.

Why are avocados everywhere?

How fifty years of barcode magic came to be.

From the tomato to the hamburger bun, the invention has transformed not just what we eat but taste itself.

Cardboard boxes hold a world of meaning that spans from Amazon to the Container Corporation of America.

If history had taken another path, bar codes would look dramatically different today.

The Robinson-Patman Act was supposed to prevent price discrimination — but consumers wanted cheap goods.

Bodegas serve as lifelines and community centers, yet have faced heinous violence. Here is the story of the New York City bodega.

Consumer demand and government policy decimated rural America.