In Las Vegas today, where the talk of the town usually circles around tourism, sports, entertainment and real estate trends, you wouldn’t expect buzz to be generated by grocery stores. But that’s been the case this spring and early summer.

Wildly popular Asian market H Mart made its debut in Las Vegas in April on Decatur Boulevard and Sahara Avenue. On the same day, multinational discount supermarket chain Aldi opened two stores in Henderson and North Las Vegas, then opened a third in May on southwest Rainbow Boulevard. Also in May, Whole Foods relocated its always-packed market just outside the boundaries of Summerlin (on Charleston Boulevard) into Downtown Summerlin proper (at Sahara and Town Center Drive).

Mostly because it’s been one of the country’s fastest growing metros for the better part of the last 40 years, the Las Vegas Valley has consistently attracted regional and national grocery chains, providing residents with plenty of options at different price points. But this recent surge has barely chipped away at a prominent issue surrounding this industry in Southern Nevada.

A food desert is generally defined as an area where residents have limited access to affordable and nutritious food options. A truer definition depends on the community. Three Square, the nonprofit food bank serving the residents of Lincoln, Nye, Esmeralda and Clark counties, recognizes 16 food deserts in Clark County—10 in the City of Las Vegas—and focuses on people who live a mile or more away from a fresh food provider.

“Our definition of a food desert is expanded to include families who don’t own a personal vehicle and are at least half a mile away from a fresh food provider,” says Lisa Segler, chief operations and strategy officer at Three Square. “And to be a provider, you have to offer something like produce or dairy items, not just shelf-stable items.”

Many food deserts are urban, low-income areas that do not provide incentive for grocers to open a new market in the neighborhood. This has long been an issue in Downtown Las Vegas, a high-traffic area where new residential developments are progressing quickly and plenty of businesses are attracting local consumers.

In her State of the City address on April 30, Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley mentioned plans for a grocery store at Symphony Park as part of the 32-story Cello Tower and Origin development, a shopping, retail and dining district expected to bring more than 400 residential units Downtown.

That luxury development recently broke ground and sounds a lot like Downtown Summerlin, which could attract a national grocer like Whole Foods or something similar. But it’s years away and might not ultimately serve all the area’s residents.

Whether it’s income demographics or a lack of residential density, the numbers usually don’t add up in areas considered to be food deserts.

“As long as I’ve been on the council, I’ve been asking [the Department of] Economic Development what will it take, how can we get them, and going to different places to scout them and pitch our city and our Downtown,” says Ward 3 City Councilwoman Olivia Diaz. “We are super excited about what’s happened in the Arts District and more residential being added [Downtown] and all of this justifies our narrative that we need more grocery store offerings.”

The city’s Department of Economic and Urban Development is constantly working to bring new developments Downtown but the city does not own the land or the buildings that are for lease. It’s more about connecting developers with potential tenants.

“The city has been trying to ensure no community goes without decent offerings and that’s why Mario’s Westside Market was relocated, to make sure it could be bigger and more successful,” Diaz says.

In her own ward, homegrown supermarket chain La Bonita is set to open a new store in the long-vacant former Kmart building on East Bonanza Road at Nellis Boulevard. Expected to arrive in October or November, it’ll be the eighth location for La Bonita in Las Vegas.

“They’re going to bring their flagship here, with a taqueria, juice bar, meat and cheese areas, that great produce section that’s something everyone is always attracted to, and a bakery,” Diaz says. “What made it attractive was looking at those demographics, which are over 70% Latino. This is a Latino specialty grocer that knows what Latinos are purchasing and making in their homes.”

Shawn Eddy, regional vice president at Aldi, says Las Vegas is a significant part of the company’s national expansion and a fourth Aldi store on South Decatur will be open by the end of the year.

“When it comes to choosing sites, we consider several factors, but the bottom line of it is convenient locations for shoppers to support high-volume traffic daily,” he says. “The reception in Vegas has been as outstanding as we could have hoped. There’s a knowledge of us in the market from people who lived elsewhere in the country and we are absolutely excited about the initial reception.”

The Aldi model is built on offering high-quality products at lower prices, certainly attractive to most shoppers these days no matter the neighborhood demographics.

“It’s a predominantly private-label selection ... you can save up to 36% on the average grocery list without sacrificing quality,” Eddy says. “Another thing unique to us is the quarter cart system, where you deposit a quarter to unlock your cart and get it back when you’re done, which we do to prevent theft of carts and not spending time chasing carts around so we can focus on in-store operations and customers.”

California-based Grocery Outlet recently opened two more stores and now operates five in the Vegas Valley. It’s a relatively new arrival to the area (2022) and also operates with a different approach.

“It’s about how we buy and how we sell,” explains Layla Kasha, chief marketing officer. “We source half our product opportunistically, looking for product forecast mistakes from suppliers. You might see a box of Cap’n Crunch with Santa on the front but it’s on our shelves in March or April. We’re getting a really good deal when we buy that, it’s a great product with great shelf life, it just has the wrong holiday on the box.”

Grocery Outlet turns that discount around to customers, she says, so a product like that box of cereal might be 99 cents compared to $5.99 in the regular grocery store. “And our stores are independently owned and operated, so the owners are part of the community where they live, the fabric of the neighborhood. It allows them to be hyperlocal in what they source, and better decide how to participate as part of the community—what food banks and schools to sponsor.”

Grocery Outlet’s first five stores are well-distributed throughout the Valley, from North Las Vegas to Blue Diamond Road, with a sixth set to open later this year. Three of its markets opened in former 99 Cents Only store locations. Replacing that kind of retailer with a fresh food provider is a crucial step in some communities.

“We were able to move faster in Las Vegas based on that deal with those store locations,” Kasha says. “We do go into a lot of food deserts, places where the only grocery store is too far or there’s only one. We get excited about adding optionality and variety and bringing deals to communities that are underserved.”

Of course, pressing for new retail development and bringing more grocers to communities in need is not the only way Las Vegas is battling the food desert effect. Three Square is incredibly quick and versatile when it comes to forming strategic partnerships with practically every grocer in town—especially new arrivals like Aldi—to conduct its food rescue program, which gathers millions of pounds of unsold product each year and delivers to nonprofit and faith-based organizations for direct distribution to the community. The food bank does the same thing with surplus prepared foods from banquets and conventions at Las Vegas Strip facilities.

Three Square also capitalizes on all available data to strategically establish prime locations for its distribution pantries, looking closely at the churches, community centers and other partner sites to “look and see where folks are visiting, how far they have to travel beyond their neighborhoods and what gaps exist,” says Segler.

“We sat in a meeting recently with multiple partners in which [a retail grocer] had reached out looking for new locations to open, and wanted to know where the best places could be,” she continues. “We are able to overlay these maps and this data and say, here are the locationsin need, here’s where we don’t have a physical [distribution] location or mobile unit, and we can use the food desert map on top of this and really see where those gaps exist. Then we can come back and say, here’s where you can make the biggest impact if you want to open a location.”

Like local governments, Three Square has no control over where Grocery Outlet or Aldi or Whole Foods might open their next store. But they can point companies in the right direction based on plenty of data and share a powerful community network. And in Las Vegas today, where things aren’t getting easier for most residents, that information and those resources are even more important.

“The Map the Meal Gap data just released by Feeding America does show that food insecurity is significantly worse,” Segler says. “One in six individuals in our community are facing hunger and one in five are kids. About 377,000 people in our community don’t know where their next meal is coming from.”

On top of that, organizations like Three Square are experiencing federal funding cuts. Segler notes one of the food bank’s lost streams equals about two million pounds of food, and the food bank is estimating it will have to make up for a total of five million pounds this year.

“So the need is increasing. With supply chains and tariffs and policy changes and government funding changes, we’re in new territory,” she says. “Three Square stands ready for what is to come and will do everything in our power to feed the community ... and we know our community absolutely shows up every time we have a crisis, always comes together to help those in need. This city gives generously and this time is no different.”

For questions about food assistance, call the Three Square call center at 702-765-4030.

For volunteer or donation inquiries, call 702-644-3663 ext. 349 or email [email protected].

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