Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration has made much of its crusade to undo historic disinvestment and inequities across the city. This mission led the mayor’s team in 2023 to explore the launch of a municipally owned grocery store, implying they could succeed in neighborhoods where private enterprises had failed in what’s a notoriously difficult, low-margin business. We were not optimistic.
Now, instead, the mayor’s team is floating the idea of opening a public market.
Better. We’re hungry for more details.
Public markets have worked in other parts of the country and abroad, providing staples to families at prices lower than those in stores. But if it’s to serve lower-income parts of the city, this idea can’t just be another bougie, high-price farmers market.
It’s unclear how the mayor’s office is making decisions because Johnson’s administration never released the study it commissioned to explore the city-owned grocery store idea, though his team said the analysis concluded the store is “necessary, feasible, and implementable.” It was this study that was supposed to form the basis of a city application for state funding, which never materialized.
Deputy Mayor Kenya Merritt told the Tribune that “this model, I think, came out of a desire to be more impactful than just a public grocery store.” She also noted that the idea would provide a place for local entrepreneurs and food producers to sell their goods.
So the full-blown grocery store seems to be gone, yet the details on the market are also fuzzy. We don’t know exactly where it would be. We don’t know if the mayor is considering one market or multiple locations. Most importantly, we don’t know how it will help address the city’s food deserts or sustain its own operation.
What we do know is that, when public markets succeed, they’re typically in popular city neighborhoods. That’s the case for the Milwaukee Public Market, located in a trendy part of that city’s downtown, as well as Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market.
These markets sell some staples, but they cater more to unique tastes and products, such as exotic spices and artisanal cheese. We already have similar venues, such as the French Market in Ogilvie Transportation Center and the Logan Square Farmers Market, which moves indoors in the winter. Evanston also has a thriving Saturday market and could be a useful model.
Johnson’s interest in the problem of food access is well-intentioned. Limited grocery store options on the South and West sides is a problem that has long plagued the city, leaving residents in many lower-income neighborhoods without healthy or convenient choices. Families on tight budgets are looking to stretch their money as far as it will go, but smaller markets tend to sell pricier goods. Actual grocery stores are what’s needed to help with this problem, but grocery stores continue to close in low-income areas.
The former Englewood Whole Foods offers an instructive case study. After much fanfare from former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the store only survived for a handful of years even after a roughly $11 million tax increment financing subsidy from the city that was used to prepare the Englewood Square site before it was sold to a private developer.
So we’re encouraged that the mayor’s team is walking back its grocery store plans, but we need details on this market concept. What kind of investment is the city thinking of making? Who will run it? How do you get to be a vendor? What does the city hope to achieve through this project? Is the market expected to pay for itself?
We’re all for more Chicagoans having better access to good food, but we don’t support throwing taxpayer money at a project that does nothing to improve food access for poor neighborhoods. If Chicagoans demand more artisanal diary products, some enterprising businessperson should meet that need. Government cheese isn’t what Chicago needs right now.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.