Visit the grocery store on an empty stomach, and you will probably come home with a few things you had not planned to buy. But hunger is not the only culprit behind such purchases. The location of store displays also influences our shopping and may make or break some healthy eating habits.

The checkout area is a particular hotspot for junk food. Studies have found that the products most commonly found there are sugary and salty snacks-and a few studies have suggested that simply swapping in healthier choices can shift customer behavior. A 2012 study in the Netherlands found that hospital workers were more likely to give up junk food for healthy snacks when the latter were more readily available on canteen shelves, for example, in 2014 Norwegain and Icelandic researcher likewise found that replacing unhealthy items with healthy ones in the checkout area significantly increased last-minutes sales of healthier foods.

These findings caught the attention of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which has been working with more than 1,000 store owners to encourage them to stock and promote consumption,” says Tamar Adjoian, a research scientist at the department. “Making healthy food more convenient or appealing can lead to increased sales of those products.”

Adjoian and her colleagues wondered if such findings would apply to their city’s dense urban checkout areas, so they recruited three Bronx supermarkets for their own study. They gave one checkout line in each store a healthy makeover, replacing candy, cookies and other processed snacks with fruit , nuts and similar items containing 200 or fewer calories per serving. Then they recorded purchases over six three-hour periods in each store for two weeks.

Of the more than 2,100 shoppers they observed, just 4 precent bought anything from the checkout area. Among those who did, however, customers in the healthy lines purchased nutritious items more than twice as often as those in the standard lines -and they bought unhealthy items 40 percent less often. The findings were reported in September in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

The potential influence may seem small, but Adjoian believes that changing more checkout lines would open customers’ eyes to nutritious, lower-calories foods. Health department officials are now exploring ways to expand healthy choices at checkout areas throughout New York City.

When you are waiting to pay for your groceries at your local supermarket, do you ever notice the items in the checkout lanes (通道)? Are you ever attracted to buy the chocolate bar or bottle of coke you see? If you are like most people, you will cave to the pressure to add the candy or soft drink to your cart.

Now the city of Berkeley is going to become the first city in the US to stop allowing the sale of unhealthy food in the checkout lanes according to CNN.

The “Healthy Checkout Ordinance (法规)” was approved by Berkeley's city council (议会) at a meeting in September and requires that all food stores over 2,500 square feet sell only healthy food items near the checkout lanes. This will affect over 25 stores in Berkeley including Whole Foods, Safeway and Walgreens.

“Placement of unhealthy food near a checkout lane increases the likelihood that customers will purchase these foods and drinks when willpower is weak at the end of a long shopping trip,” City Council member Kate Harrison said at the city council meeting.

“It's not a ban; it's a motivation,” Harrison said “Stores can still sell candy and soda, just not at your child's eye level in the checkout.”

The new ordinance Harrison said at the city council meeting “is really good behavioral economics, which facilitates better choices for consumers but does not limit what they can buy”.

Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a national consumer advocacy organization based in Washington D.C., began working with the city in 2017 and has six similar campaigns across the country but Berkeley is the first to adopt the unhealthy food restrictions. The city already started a soda tax in 2014. “Berkeley has been a leader in progressive health policies for a long time,” Ashley Hickson from CSPI said.

Tips for Maximizing Savings at Your Local Clearance (清仓) Food Store

List what you need before heading to your local clearance food store. It should help avoid unnecessary purchases and ensure you only buy what you need.

Buying in quantity can save you more money at clearance food stores. A safer bet would be deals on buying items in large amounts, such as canned goods, pasta, or rice. 【小题3】 .

Just like with regular grocery stores, you should always compare prices at different clearance food stores. Some stores will offer better deals, so it pays to shop around.【小题4】.

Check for coupons that you can use at your local clearance food store.【小题5】. With them, you can get a chunk off your total groceries bill, saving you more money.

In conclusion, shopping at a local clearance food store can be your savings hub if you’re armed with the right information. So, what are you waiting for?