Neighborhoods
Poor Neighborhood
Food Lion: 2401 Colley Ave
Norfolk, VA 23517
Hours: 6:00am-10:00pm
Affluent Neighborhood
Harris Teeter: 5060 Ferrell
Parkway, Indian Lakes Crossing
Virginia Beach, VA 23464
Hours: 24 hours a day
Affluent Neighborhood
Indian Lakes is a neighborhood that sits between Lynnhaven Parkway and Indian River Road. Adjacent and even connecting to Indian Lakes is the Kempsville area and another area known as Ferrell Parkway. This area is very affluent and is a thriving community. A few business advertisements were noted also closer to the Indian Lake Crossing Shopping Center. The housing options in this community include apartments, townhomes, and houses. All housing options are within minutes of local venues and businesses. A vast amount of advertisement was noted along the sidewalks and even for sale and for rent signs in the yards of many homes, however, the community is far from vacant. I noticed on one of the poles there was a sign posted by an owner looking for their lost dog. The Indian Lake Apartments nearby had a now leasing sign up. Across from the apartments was a Church named "The House Church" that had the different services and times listed. Near the shopping center, the local pizza takeout business known as Little Caesars had an employee advertising with a sign for a special they were currently running which was a Lunch Combo. Around Indian Lakes and Ferrell Parkway are a variety of establishments. A major grocery store named Harris Teeter appeared to be very large. There was an advertisement of it having a Starbucks coffee shop inside. When passing Harris Teeter, it was noted that they are open 24 hours and the pharmacy is opened 9 AM to 9 PM. In the same shopping center as the Harris Teeter, there is a Game Stop and a Nail Salon. Also, there is a Sushi restaurant that appeared to be very busy with a lot of foot traffic of people in and out. There was also the Little Caesars that was seen previously being advertised and then a tanning salon called Sundays was in the same shopping center. All the businesses appeared to be open and there were no vacant storefronts. In proximity to the shopping center, there is a very busy gas station known as WaWa. Even though there is a 7 Eleven not far away in distance, the WaWa had thru traffic that was nonstop. The WaWa that day had gas at about 3 cents cheaper than 7 Eleven. If one was to drive up the parkway and turn left on Indian River than there is an abundance of even more businesses. On Indian River road there are different fast food chains such as Chick-Fila-A, McDonald's and a Cook Out all minutes away from each other. There is a Pet supply store that stands out and has easy access to get to at the corner front end of a shopping center. Along that same shopping center is a movie theater. Healthcare is in abundance in this area. On one strip of driving up Indian River road and not even turning on Kempsville, I noted a couple of Dentist offices and family practices. Some of the Dentist practices are only a couple minutes from each other. There was the Tidewater Dental Group, Dentistry First and, Reitano Dentistry. Like the various Dentist practices, I was able to pick out a few Doctor practices. In the mix, there were specialties such as Orthodontist and Sports medicine. Sentara has a quite a few practices around that area like a sleep study center as well as a family practice going the opposite way. Even though there is not a hospital that sits within five minutes from the location named above there are two different urgent care facilities that residents have easy access to. I saw a Patient First and another urgent care center about six minutes away called Now Care. Each of them had filled parking lots and advertisements of their hours such as late nights and weekends along with holidays. This community and even the surrounding communities have so much that a resident does not have to leave the area for a good or service if they did not want to. Even for the working-class residents, they have numerous quick routes to the major interstates and roadways such as I264, I64 and Lynnhaven Parkway along with Ferrell Parkway. This community is very affluent and that goes to show why the area is thriving in and around it.
Harris Teeter
In Harris Teeter, I examined the prices of Peter Pan creamy peanut butter, Harris Teeter, store brand whole milk, Harris Teeter store brand loaf of white bread, golden delicious apples, fresh carrots, frozen carrots, and canned carrots. The cost of Peter Pan creamy peanut butter 18 once was $2.69 but on sale for 3 for $5.00. The price of Harris Teeter brand gallon size of whole milk was $3.39. The cost of golden delicious apples at Harris Teeter were $2.99 per pound. Fresh carrots at Harris Teeter, were .99 cents each pound. A pack of 16oz of frozen carrots was $1.49 each pound but were on sale for .99cents. Finally, the cost of a 14.5 oz of canned carrots was $1.59. The weekly sales ad at Harris Teeter consists of green seedless grapes, tomatoes, and blackberries for $.99 cent.
Poor Neighborhood
In the neighborhood where this Food Lion is located, there are many different structures positive and negative. The Food Lion in this area sits off a street named Colley Ave. This area is a low poverty area surrounded by many housing options, entertainment options, and much more. There are also have two major universities Norfolk State University (NSU) and Old Dominion University (ODU) on both sides of the community with ODU being the closest. When riding through this area you might see for rent signs for homes that are being renovated, community advertisement for ODU, restaurant signs, billboards, transit signs and radio ads. In the shopping center next to the Food Lion has a clothing store called Citi Trends, Family Dollar, ABC Store and Beauty Supply. These stores all do well because of the low-income housing close by they can walk to buy goods that are needed as well as the college students from ODU that are loyal customers being that it is the only grocery store in close proximity. Sentara Hospital is located a few blocks away from Food Lion as well as Norfolk Public Health Department is also positioned across from Sentara. Giving the poor people in the community the chance to receive income based services. There is also a Bon Secours urgent care facility nearby the store as well.
Food Lion
In Food Lion I analyzed the prices of Peter Pan creamy peanut butter, Food Lion store brand whole milk, Food Lion store brand loaf of white bread, golden delicious apples, fresh carrots, frozen carrots, and canned carrots. The cost of Peter Pan creamy peanut butter 18 once was $2.49. The price of Food Lion brand gallon size of whole milk was $2.99. The cost of golden delicious apples at Food Lion was $1.29. Fresh carrots at Food Lion were $.69 cents each pound. A pack of 16oz of frozen carrots was $1.19 each pound. Finally, the cost of a 14.5oz of canned carrots was $1.09. The weekly sale paper consisted of meats or snack food being on sale. They did have peppers, celery, and broccoli on sale as well.
Observations
Harris Teeter greets their customers and welcomes them with a smile. The parking lot is not that as full as your average grocery store, however, there are plenty of customers in the store. When you walk in the front of the store there were flowers. Aisles are wide enough to pass by other customers without being any disturbance. They display great customer service skills and a much larger store. In the area where Food Lion is located, it is heavily polluted. There are many homeless people around and a lot of people do not have cars in the area so they walk to the small shopping center to make groceries and walk home with their groceries. The employees still display great customer service although they are not in the best neighborhood. I myself shop here often because I stay in a college apartment building a few blocks away.
Comparison
In the poor area, there are fewer resources but Food Lion had better prices and Harris Teeter prices were much higher. The peanut butter in Harris Teeter was $.20cent higher than Food Lion. Their milk was $.40cent higher than Food Lion's store brand and the apples were $1.72 higher than Food Lions's. The fresh carrots at Harris Teeter's were $.30 cent higher than Food Lion's which were .69 cent. The difference between the price of the frozen carrots was .30 cents as well, with Harris Teeter having the highest cost. The canned carrots at Harris Teeter were $1.59 while at Food Lion they were $1.09 which made a $.50 cent difference. In conclusion, although Food Lion is not in the best neighborhood they still have cheaper prices even if I only would've saved $3.12. I think that this is because Food Lion can afford to make their products less being that they don’t have to worry about the upkeep of large stores and they may be more aware of the locations they place their stores. Harries Teeter does not have any stores in poor area because they wouldn’t be able to sustain and rather not but their business in a location where they believe it will fail. This may be smart business wise but it isn’t fair for those who could use the resources despite their economic class. In conclusion health wise each area has great resources such as urgent cares and hospitals but the poor area still lacks.