Symposium explores the role of convenience stores in building healthier food systems

Earlier this month, researchers, policymakers, retailers and public health professionals convened upon the Centre for Food Policy, School of Health & Medical Sciences at City St George’s, University of London for its annual symposium, this year exploring how convenience stores can contribute to healthier, more sustainable and profitable food systems.

Welcome & background

Opening the event, Professor Christina Vogel, Director of the Centre for Food Policy, highlighted the importance of a sector that is often overlooked in national food policy discussions despite its significant social and economic impact.

She spoke of how across the UK, almost 50,000 convenience stores provide essential food access to local communities, supporting more than 405,000 jobs and contributing £45.2 billion annually to the British economy. For many low-income families, older adults and young people, convenience stores serve as a regular source of food and social interaction. She said:

In many ways convenience stores have always been and still are at the heart of communities. They are often the only option for populations in deprived areas at risk of poor diet to be able to access food and groceries.  We also know that they offer opportunity for social interaction and connection, with many users visiting their store three to five to seven days a week, with some of that related to the social benefits.

Why do we not treat convenience stores in the same way we treat pharmacies—as essential community assets that provide something fundamental to people's wellbeing?

The second keynote was delivered by Ed Woodall, Chief Executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, who provided commercial insights into the realities the sector faces.

He discussed the challenges retailers face in balancing consumer demand, profitability, and health objectives, while emphasising the importance of practical, evidence-based solutions that support both businesses and communities.

Morning panel discussion

The morning concluded with a panel discussion chaired by Professor Christina Vogel. Panellists included Kath Dalmeny, Dr Megan Winkler, Associate Professor at Emory University, Ed Woodall, Dan Clarke, Health and Sustainable Diets Manager at IGD, and retailer Kay Patel of Global Food and Wine, Best-one.

Afternoon panel discussion

Later in the afternoon, Dr Sarah Muir, Centre for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, University of Southampton chaired a panel on ‘Building a convenience store sector that benefits everyone’,bringing together perspectives from retail, public health and consumer research.

Speakers included Julia Kirby-Smith, Executive Director of Better Food Traders; Stephanie Rice, Founder and CEO of Rice Marketing and Good Food Retail Network; Raj Sukhdev, owner of RJS Convenience; Ayesha Chowdhury, researcher at University of Southampton and Claire Hislop, Organisational Lead at Public Health Scotland.

Raj Sukhdev described how his business was able to adapt to consumer needs by diversifying its products in response to customer requests. He also mentioned the importance of food-education from a young age, encouraging healthy eating habits in the younger generation for a greater long-term effect.

Ayesha Chowdhury, who worked with Dr Muir to collect data about young people’s experiences of using convenience stores, provided a consumer’s perspective to the panel. She recalled finding it “really difficult” to find a healthy product on a budget, noting that unhealthy products were cheaper, more heavily promoted and as a result, most prominent within stores.

Without realising it, you'd probably leave the convenience store with something unhealthy because it's quite hard to avoid.

Relationships between retailers, wholesalers and producers were identified as a key to building a convenience store sector that benefits everyone, with Stephanie Rice arguing that wholesalers must work to promote healthier options to drive the demand from customers.

She added:

It's about practical unblocking of each part of the supply chain and showing how that works as a partnership to ultimately end up with a more affordable, available product in the most difficult of shops.

Julia Kirby-Smith focused on the role that more local supply chains can play in supporting retailers, strengthening local economies and increasing access to sustainable food.

Claire Hislop discussed Scotland’s Healthy Living Programme as an example of partnership working that can strengthen convenience stores while promoting healthier food choices. She stressed the importance of collaboration amongst the government, retailers, suppliers and communities combining public health goals with business realities. She shared:

If retailers, buyers, wholesalers, government and public health all work together, we can create stores that are good for business, good for communities and good for health.

Closing remarks

After summarising the days' learnings and a thank you to all, Professor Vogel, introduced Dominic Watters, PhD candidate at the University of Southampton and founder of Food is Care CIC. He provided the concluding remarks to the symposium.

Speaking about communities like that of his local council estate, Watters said.

What some communities walk into that convenience store with is the weight of the fact that their windows don’t close, that they might not have enough money to both buy fresh food and top up their electric or their gas. What I felt when I learnt about the UN and FAO ideas about food security was that they don't quite encompass what communities like mine go through. So as a challenge to that I developed a visual redefinition of food insecurity that tries to make what is often invisible or forgotten about visible.

He later concluded:

What's great about what City St George’s is doing is in its understanding of people experiencing food insecurity. That they’re not just receivers of policy, but that they should be voices that inform how it moves forward and develops

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By Ellie Norman, Press Communications Assistant, and Neo Valverde Sebunya, Press Communications Assistant