The new report could serve as a road map for Mayor Brandon Johnson to make Chicago the first big city in the nation to enter a competitive and volatile grocery market with razor-thin profit margins. So far, only St. Paul, Kansas and Baldwin, Fla. have done so.
Chicago could fill its “food desert” with a three-store network of city-owned grocery stores for an upfront cost of $26.7 million, a consultant has concluded.
The new 200-page report from HR&A concludes Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to open a city-owned grocery store is “necessary, feasible and implementable.”
Necessary because volatility in the grocery market has led to a wave of consolidations and store closings concentrated in South and West Side neighborhoods.
Feasible because the city need not become a store operator, but instead could act to limit the risk for a private operator.
Implementable because the city’s “significant land ownership, funding tools,” storage and “community engagement capacity” makes it “well-positioned” to provide “support and resources to an established operator.”