Obesity rates in U.S. adolescents continue to increase over the years and poor diet is an important risk factor. Adolescents’ autonomy in food purchasing decisions contributes to diet and is especially important in urban areas where adolescents have greater access to food stores. Current understanding on adolescents’ foods/beverages purchasing is lacking at the national level, and it is not known to what extent other food store types are being utilized by adolescents. Additionally, interventions in urban food stores aiming to improve healthy foods purchasing, typically referred to as healthy food retail programs (HFRP), rarely target adolescents specifically. Research is needed to better understand what factors and strategies are essential for HFRP to successfully improve adolescents’ purchasing behavior. The aims of this dissertation are to 1) understand the state of adolescents’ purchasing behavior in urban settings, namely the foods/beverages purchased and food store types visited, 2) identify associations between purchasing behavior and sociodemographic characteristics, 3) examine associations between foods/beverages purchases and store types, 4) explore factors that contribute to the successes and challenges of implementing HFRP, and 5) identify strategies to tailor such interventions for adolescents in urban settings. Chapter 1 of this dissertation reviews what is known about what and where adolescents purchase food/beverages, highlighting the importance of U.S. urban settings. Chapter 2 describes adolescents’ purchasing behaviors in urban places nationally, and how they vary by sociodemographic characteristics based on the National Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey 2012-13 dataset. Results reveal older adolescents should be prioritized for healthy food purchasing initiatives. Chapter 3 expands on this research by examining how the types of and nutritional quality of foods/beverages purchased vary by store types. Results suggest that adolescents are more likely to purchase certain items in certain food stores. In Chapter 4, strategies promoting HFRP success, common challenges, and solutions were discussed based on qualitative interviews. Future interventions need to target distribution systems to ensure healthy foods are affordable. Additionally, involving adolescents in developing HFRP through youth advocacy programs can ensure relevant programming. In Chapter 5, implications of findings for policy, practice, and further research were described.