The SNAP economy

My very first campus visit/interview was to Bryant College (now University). Met with the dean toward the end of the interview and he commented on R.I. being a funny kind of place. He said something to the effect of "People around here, they flip out over 35 miles." Pretty sure my Southern drawl would have been seen as awfully exotic.

 

Went back and reread the lead again and come away wondering how Saslow could make such an error. It now calls into question the validity of whole story:

WOONSOCKET, R.I. – The economy of Woonsocket was about to stir to life. Delivery trucks were moving down river roads, and stores were extending their hours. The bus company was warning riders to anticipate “heavy traffic.” A community bank, soon to experience a surge in deposits, was rolling a message across its electronic marquee on the night of Feb. 28: “Happy shopping! Enjoy the 1st.”

In the heart of downtown, Miguel Pichardo, 53, watched three trucks jockey for position at the loading dock of his family-run International Meat Market. For most of the month, his business operated as a humble milk-and-eggs corner store, but now 3,000 pounds of product were scheduled for delivery in the next few hours. He wiped the front counter and smoothed the edges of a sign posted near his register. “Yes! We take Food Stamps, SNAP, EBT!”

 

Might be it's two different stores with a common name.

Also interesting might be the name of the owner mentioned in the story, Miguel Pichardo, who was arrested in January 2011 for buying stolen goods. Same guy? Same store?

woonsocket.patch.com/articles/owners-of-city-market-charged-for-buying-stolen-goods

 

It's entirely possible he didn't know he was in Central Falls, Boom.
Rhode Island is a funny place. I went to URI and loved it because I was far away from home. It's a 35 minute drive. That's far here. When I worked in PA, it took me a good six months to get used to the commutes to cover a game. I'd drive an hour-plus to cover a district hoops game; in RI, there's no such thing as an in-state hour-long drive unless you hit a ton of traffic.
So maybe while he's in Woonsocket he hears about this Meat Market that gets mobbed on the first. He gets an address and drives. Since it's a 20-minute drive - no major highway; backroads would be quicker - he figures he has to still be in Woonsocket. There's no a lot of signage to indicate Central Falls is a different city and it's so small sizewise (It was once the densest city in the country) it must still be Woonsocket.
But that doesn't make sense to me because a simple Wiki search shows Rhode Island has only seven cities (Woonsocket, Central Falls, Providence, East Providence, Pawtucket, Warwick and Newport).
I've done all the researching I can do without driving through Woonsocket, but there is no listing anywhere for an International Meat Market that isn't Central Falls. Shaw's (a major supermarket chain) sells meat and there is an "Alex Meat Market" located in Woonsocket. I couldn't find anything else.

 

I was posting as you posted.
This makes sense. But the name of the store is wrong.
Is it entirely possible Saslow forgot or didn't write down the name of the market, did a sloppy google search and put in the wrong place? That's really sloppy, especially for a story like this.

 

Here's the store in question. Definitely doesn't say International Meat Market.

 

I'll be interested to find out what happened.

Lots of possibilities.

 

Found a Google listing for this:

International Market


165 Arnold St, Woonsocket, RI 02895

 

Exactly.

Could be some confusion over a legal/corporate name; could be that Mr. Pichardo changed the name after his arrest; could be that Saslow has it absolutely correct based on the legal name of the business.

 

So he changes the name after the arrest, which was two years ago.
Saslow writes the story, fact-checker googles "International Market" woonsocket, RI, gets "International Meat Market," figures it's the same place, and goes with it.
That makes more sense.

 

Could be. Could be that's always been the name, but there's a confusing "doing business as" somewhere in the documents of incorporation.

I think it's much less likely that Eli Saslow not know which city he's standing in.

 

I think with what we've uncovered, Saslow isn't at fault here. Or at least I hope not.
Willing to bet this is a fact-checker mistake. Everything seems to point that way.