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Shoppers walking into Frank Pimentel’s Superfresh on 149th Street in the South Bronx are immediately surrounded by an array of pristine fresh produce and vegetables. The display is a requirement of the city’s program to bring better grocery stores to so-called food deserts, where retailers of healthy food are scarce.

Tax breaks and other incentives from the FRESH Program were key to Pimentel’s decision to open the 14,000-foot store in 2016. He employs more than 60 workers, serves a customer base that is almost exclusively Black and Hispanic and is doin

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