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School-level Demographics Predict Prices of Foods in Nearby Convenience Stores
Conference poster   Peer reviewed

School-level Demographics Predict Prices of Foods in Nearby Convenience Stores

Sydney Miller, Yijun Guo, Emma V. Sanchez-Vaznaugh and Brisa N. Sanchez
Annals of behavioral medicine, v 60(Supplement_1), pp S354-S354
01 Apr 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaag012#page=S354
url
https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaag012#page=S354View
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Abstract

Built environment Nutrition
Unhealthy food environments near schools remain a major barrier to improving child health. Studies have found that unhealthy food outlets like convenience stores are prevalent near schools, especially those predominantly attended by minoritized and low-income children. Although food pricing at these stores may play a key role, the relationship between school demographic composition and nearby store pricing has been underexplored. We examine if prices of unhealthy and healthy snacks and beverages differ between convenience stores based on ethnic and socio-economic composition of nearby schools. We obtained item- and store-level data from Nielsen’s Retail Scanner database for chain convenience store sales during academic years 2018–2019 and 2022–2023, including sales volume and prices. We linked it to school-level ethnic composition and free or reduced price [FRPM] eligibility of students in public schools located within one mile of each store. The analytic dataset had 1,765 stores and 177 top-selling items grouped into six categories (healthy/unhealthy beverages, sweet snacks, and healthy/unhealthy salty snacks). To examine associations between store-level item prices with surrounding school demographics, we fit scaled marginal models with multiple continuous outcomes, treating stores as subjects and item prices as outcomes. Models estimated standardized associations averaging across items (average effect size), and item-specific associations, adjusted for urbanicity. A 10% increase in White student enrollment in nearby schools was associated with lower prices for sweet snacks (effect size: b = –0.069, 95% CI: –0.091, –0.046), unhealthy salty snacks (b = –0.041, 95% CI: –0.063, –0.019), healthy salty snacks (b = –0.023, 95% CI: –0.044, –0.002), and healthy beverages (b = –0.093, 95% CI: –0.122, –0.064). Higher poverty concentration was linked to higher prices: a 10% increase in FRPM eligibility among students in nearby schools was associated with higher prices for sweet snacks (b = 0.029, 95% CI: 0.012, 0.046) and healthy beverages (b = 0.045, 95% CI: 0.023, 0.067). This study contributes to the literature by adding evidence of price differences across stores within children’s school environments. Prices of both healthy and unhealthy foods and drinks were lower when stores were located near schools with higher proportions of children who were White or from high income households. Implications will be discussed.

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