A community-owned grocery store in Kansas City, Missouri, is on the brink of closing as the concept of municipal subsidies for such stores gets more attention around the country due to the New York City mayoral race.
The local government in Kansas City sought to address a so-called “food desert” — a term used to describe areas without access to full-service grocery stores that sell fresh produce, meat and other healthier options along with the standard supermarket fare.
The store, known as KC Sun Fresh, lost nearly $900,000 over the last year and received tens of millions of dollars dating back to 2018. The store’s nonprofit operator’s pre-pandemic success gave way to a downturn in the years since the pandemic, as customer traffic dropped and the store’s operations suffered.
FOX Business Network’s Kelly Saberi visited the store and noted that large portions of the store’s shelves were bare or only partially stocked — including meat, produce and dry goods.
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One customer told Saberi that the quality of products and the price they sell for in comparison to other local options is better, though another took issue with the lack of inventory for shoppers and said a change of ownership would be beneficial.
“There’s no meat. There’s no vegetables. There’s no nothing. Are you going to take care of the community that’s surrounded around you? If not, sell the store to someone that can be more responsible,” the patron told Saberi.
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Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas acknowledged the crime issues impacting the area around the store, though he noted another grocery store nearby is faring well, so the city needs to find a way to resolve the operational issues.
“While I hear and understand the crime issues and concerns, there’s a grocery store right down the street — largely in the same kind of area, some of the same criminal numbers and statistics — that still is doing pretty darn well,” Lucas said. “So we do want to make sure that we can get those operations right and that’s the work that we’re collaboratively trying to do.”
Grocery stores run on relatively thin profit margins that fall into the range of 1% to 3%, which can make it very difficult to operate in a financially sustainable manner.
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Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for the New York City mayoral race who has advocated for socialist policies, included a plan in his campaign platform to create city-owned grocery stores in each of the city’s five boroughs.
“They will buy and sell at wholesale prices, centralize warehousing and distribution, and partner with local neighborhoods in products and sourcing,” his platform states.
Mamdani’s plan calls for halting city subsidies to private grocery stores to redirect those funds to a real “public option.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson proposed a city-owned grocery store in 2023 after the city experienced the closure of a Walmart and Whole Foods.
However, Johnson’s administration has since backed off the plan for a city-owned grocery store and is exploring the creation of a city-owned farmer’s market — potentially with multiple locations — that would be more focused on providing vendors with a location to sell products instead of a full-fledged store.
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