I just got back from shopping on the main street near my home in Sri Lanka. I walked to a produce shop to buy my groceries and came home with carrots, leeks, beets, cabbage, turnips, passion fruit, and mangoes. I could’ve gone to the grocery store across the street, but I prefer patronizing small, local, independent businesses. Also, the temptation to buy junk or processed food is absent in the small shop. For the sake of both public health and the economy, one aspect of the HealthBridge Liveable Cities program is about trying to ensure that traditional markets, small shops, and street vendors are not replaced by supermarkets. More people walking to shops and eating more fresh produce would reduce non-communicable disease and make our cities more liveable…which is a bit more palatable than cars and potato chips!