Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson plans to open three city-owned grocery stores on Chicago’s South and West sides, in an effort to bring grocery stores to what are now food deserts. A new 200-page report from HR&A estimates that the upfront cost could be more than $26 million dollars. The report could serve as a road map for Chicago to become one of the first U.S. cities to enter the grocery trade. Only two other cities have attempted it – St. Paul, Kansas and Baldwin, Florida. “In the absence of private sector action or commitment to provide sustainable grocery options, it is necessary for the city to play a role in creating and sustaining grocery services in neighborhoods that lack grocery access,” the report states. “There is potential for the city to lead a feasible grocery model that earns operating profit in neighborhoods with inequitable access to food. … While the city’s optimal role may not be in serving as a store operator, it can play an effective role as a partner that can provide resources and programming to support operations” by securing capital financing, providing operating support, and facilitating training and workforce development, the report states.
A city-owned grocery in Chicago could be a game-changer for South and West Side residents bearing the brunt of grocery store closings that have made it difficult to find fresh produce and other healthy food options. The nine-year difference in life expectancy between Black and White Chicagoans — the “death gap” — is blamed at least in part on “food insecurity.”
With a relentless push from then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Whole Foods Market opened a store in Englewood in 2016 amid concerns about whether residents of the impoverished South Side ward could afford to shop there. The project depended on an $11 million city subsidy for site preparation and required an expiring tax increment financing district to be extended while money was moved from a neighboring TIF.
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