How Do PWIC Stores Work?
PWIC stores help WIC clients get the benefits they have already been approved for. Let’s compare the WIC experience at a traditional grocery store to that of a PWIC store.
At A Traditional Grocery Store
A WIC client goes into a 100,000 square foot store with 200,000 different products. Of the 400 total WIC-approved products, they must find the 20 to 50 items they have been approved for.
Most WIC-approved products are not required to be labeled and many WIC-approved products are located alongside non-WIC-approved products with the same brand but a different size. The WIC client does the best they can in picking out the grocery items they think are WIC approved. Yet, when they go to check out, in many instances they have the wrong product and can’t get a store employee to help them find the right product. They leave the store frustrated and without the groceries they and their family need.
At A PWIC Store
A WIC client walks into a PWIC store and all of the WIC-approved items are posted so it’s easy to see what their choices are and that they are WIC-approved items. The register software in the store shows them what their benefits are, what they have redeemed and what food products they have left to redeem.
Friendly bilingual clerks retrieve all the approved products the customer would like to get and brings them to the counter where the WIC client can review and approve the purchase of the products they would like. Their specialty baby formula order is ready for pick up as well. Since most WIC clients are carrying small children, their groceries are typically taken to their car for them.
Simply put, PWIC stores are a valuable resource for WIC residents in the state of Texas. They fulfill a need that is not being met by traditional grocery stores. Easier access to approved nutritional benefits means fewer abandoned benefits and healthier children with fewer developmental issues.