Circle Food Store continues fight to qualify to participate in the WIC assistance program

2nd September 2014   ·   0 Comments

By Mason Harrison
Contributing Writer

Nine months after reopening the doors of the Circle Food Store—after an eight-year battle to resurrect the iconic retailer—owner Dwayne Boudreaux is embroiled in another fight to help secure the bottom line of the store he began managing in 1991.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the Circle Food Store, like many urban grocers, participated in the federal food program known as WIC, shorthand for the Women, Infants and Children assistance program authorized by the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., and operated in each state by government officials assigned to various public service agencies. Yet the program has been halted over charges of mismanagement from federal authorities affecting the store’s revenue.

Louisiana’s WIC program has come under fire in recent months due to cost overruns and overpayments to WIC vendors, causing state officials to place a limited, then total, moratorium last fall on receiving new applications from would-be vendors until the program can be righted. Federal authorities, however, dissatisfied with the state’s oversight of the program issued their own moratorium “due to the depth and severity of management and oversight problems within the Louisiana WIC program,” according to a letter from the agriculture department to the state’s Depart­ment of Health and Hospitals regarding the change. Federal officials estimate that mismanagement of the program between 2007 and 2010 has cost taxpayers more than $8 million.

But the wrangling between state and federal officials has placed vendors like the Circle Food Store in limbo and has kept consumers waiting. “Everyday I get questions about when we are going to be able to accept WIC,” Boudreaux says. “People sometimes think its a choice that I am making, but what they don’t understand is that I have to be authorized to accept WIC.” Boudreaux notes that before Katrina the Circle Food Store served the area as an approved WIC vendor, but closing the store for several years while working to secure financing to redevelop the damaged property has placed that in jeopardy.

“There’s a provision of the law,” says Boudreaux, “that will allow a vendor to remain closed for six months to do repairs without having to submit a new vendor application. I guess that’s how long the federal government thinks it’ll take to refurbish a store.” But Boud­reaux contends his circumstances are different and has argued with federal and state officials that his vendor request is not a new application, but, instead, a request to renew an already-approved application.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu backed the store’s attempt to re-certify its application in a letter to federal officials in late May. “In a neighborhood with a poverty level 103.7% greater than the New Orleans average,” Landrieu wrote, “and 147.9 percent greater than the Louisiana average, it is vital that WIC participants have the opportunity to use their vouchers at a full grocery store that offers a wide assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables.” Landrieu supported the efforts to reform the state’s WIC program and to reign in cost overruns but asked agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, to grant “explicit approval for Circle Food to be WIC-certified.”

“We know that we’re losing business because we’re at a competitive disadvantage by not being able to accept WIC vouchers,” Boudreaux says. “There are other stores in the area, including gas stations, that accept WIC which is eating into our business. Some customers use WIC vouchers and SNAP benefits, but won’t take the time to just use their SNAP benefits here and have to go somewhere else to use their WIC vouchers. They’ll just go somewhere where they can use both and we know that.”

Boudreaux couldn’t estimate what percentage of his business has been affected by the WIC moratorium, but said the neighborhood’s changing demographics have helped to buttress his bottom line. “I would say the changes to the neighborhood have been good for business. It means that items I would not have carried before like soy milk, tofu, imported cheese or ginger provide a higher profit margin than items that may be cheaper, even though I may end up selling more of those items.”

Boudreaux says, for now, the store’s sales are on par with pre-Katrina dollar figures, but securing WIC approval is essential to the long-term financial health of the store that lies in the midst of a food desert. “If there’s any place in the city that should be able to accept WIC, it’s the Circle Food Store,” Boudreaux says. “But I just have no idea of the timeframe for approval.”

Viola Washington, executive director of the Louisiana Welfare Rights Organization, calls WIC approval for the Circle Food Store a vital component to help women and children living in poverty to secure financial independence. “We can’t say, on the one hand, that we want women and their children to be free of welfare dependency, but, on the other hand, provide them with no way to do so. Approving the Circle Food Store’s application for WIC vouchers is the way that we can help them achieve that.”

In mid-July, the state’s health and hospitals agency, in a letter to Sen. Landrieu, indicated approval for the Circle Food Store to submit a WIC vendor application. “USDA notified us of their decision to remove the six-month time limit…related to temporary closure. The [government] based this decision on the understanding that the amount of time it can take for a store to renovate or rebuild can take longer than six months.” The move should allow the Circle Food Store to move forward with its application.

“We think the Circle Food Store could be in a position to start accepting WIC vouchers by the end of August or the beginning of September,” according to a Senate staffer in Landrieu’s office. “We’ve been working on this issue for quite some time and feel that we’re finally making some headway despite all of the management issues affecting the state’s WIC program in general.” But a spokesperson for the health and hospitals department could not confirm the effective date for the store’s WIC approval.

But, in the interim, Boudreaux remains optimistic about the future of the Circle Food Store. “People are glad that we’re back,” Boudreaux says. “We provide a variety of shopping needs spread across 22,000 square feet, including a pharmacy and bill payment center. I believe we’ll be able to work through the WIC application process and be able to welcome those customers back as well.”

This article originally published in the September 1, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.