Vermont Retailers Push Healthier Options

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. -- At least two retailers in southern Vermont are joining the Healthy Retailers program, sponsored by the Brattleboro Area Prevention Coalition in collaboration with the Vermont Department of Health.

According to the Brattleboro Reformer, the 7-Eleven in West Brattleboro and Avenue Grocery are the first two local retail outlets to implement the program. Healthy Retailers is designed to help owners and managers of independently owned grocery stores, convenience stores and gas stations create retail environments that encourage healthier food and beverage choices, and discourage tobacco and alcohol use among youth.

Specifically, 7-Eleven of West Brattleboro has replaced the alcohol ads on its store windows with Live Healthy posters. Vegetables, new varieties of fruit, and ground beef and pork products from local farms are now available for purchase at store, the news outlet reported.

"I am mindful now of the choices I offer my customers and they've begun to tell me they've noticed a difference," owner Louis Vitale told the newspaper. "I have customers who now visit my store specifically for these new healthier products."

For its part, Avenue Grocery is taking down all tobacco ads and removing alcohol ads near products targeted to youth, the report added. In addition, the stores owners, Jean Maclean and Judy Wisell, have added to the store's healthy food options, and are also turning to their customers for suggestions and feedback on additional healthy offerings, the report added.