Marketplace Morning Report Do city-owned grocery stores work?
Nov 18, 2025
Carla Javier, a Marketplace reporter, dives into the intriguing concept of city-owned grocery stores amidst New York City's affordability push. She reveals how these stores could lower prices by eliminating rent and taxes, potentially saving consumers 5-10%. The discussion explores past experiments in cities like Kansas City and Baltimore, highlighting successes and failures. Javier also touches on the importance of community support and partnerships in making such initiatives viable, painting a complex picture of municipal supermarket experiments.
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Public Ownership Lowers Grocery Prices
- City-owned grocery stores can cut consumer prices by removing rent, taxes, and profit needs from the equation.
- Experiments show potential savings of about 5–10% and larger discounts when volume buying or locking prices annually.
Kansas City Failure Versus Baltimore Success
- Kansas City's city-backed grocery closed after nearly a decade due to collapsed customer traffic tied to neighborhood crime.
- That contrasts with Baltimore's publicly supported store, which benefited from $1.5 million in incentives and community coordination.
How Baltimore Cut Prices With Planning
- Baltimore's store opened with more than $1.5 million in city and state incentives and streamlined permitting support.
- Neighbor Biff Browning said volume buying and annual forecasting let the store lock in lower prices and pass savings to shoppers.