New York is on par with the national average when it comes to food insecurity, with 1 in 10 households suffering from empty pantries or fridges.

“It’s like a lifeline for us in this community. There is another grocery store in this town, but it’s absolutely not affordable,” says Marine Penvern, a Hudson resident that visits the Rolling Grocer 19 in Hudson a few times a week.

It’s the easy access to fresh vegetables, like kale or lettuce, that keeps her coming back.

By definition, a food desert is an urban area in which it’s difficult to buy affordable and fresh food.

“It’s a food access project, if you will, and Hudson, by USDA acknowledgment, is a food desert,” says Rachel Schneider, part of the brains behind the community-driven effort that is the Rolling Grocer.

The store runs off a pricing system broken down into three brackets. Customers choose their bracket based on income or other circumstances during their first visit, then pay the price asked of their bracket.

Every item on shelves, in coolers, ready for selection, is marked with three different stickers, each with a price designated by the price brackets. It’s a system that worked so well for customer Nabila Bensouda, she decided to work there.

“It’s amazing because when I go to work, I’m excited to be involved in a project like this,” said Bensouda.

According to the USDA, although not as steep as in 2022, grocery bills are still expected to rise throughout the year.

According to a March report from the state comptroller, 10.4% of New Yorkers live in a food desert, with 1 in 10 New York households dealing with food insecurity. He speculates this number is lower than the actual measurement since it was recorded during a time that included federal funding that made grocery shopping a little easier.

The Rolling Grocer 19, on average, sells 14,000 items per week, proving demand for fresh and accessible food in Hudson is there. So much so that Sehla Graham, the store's senior buyer, is always busy buying products to restock empty shelves.

“It’s been like a baby that’s been born or a seedling. It’s beautiful, it really is. We found that there are other people using it in other ways. In the restaurant industry… in farming, they’re figuring out ways to bring the fair pricing system to their community, and they’re doing that with earnest," said Graham.