Minneapolis leaders explore city-owned grocery store
Minneapolis considers city-owned grocery stores
Trying to address the problem of food insecurity, city staff are exploring the idea of government-owned grocery stores.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Last November, the Minneapolis City Council’s Public Health and Safety committee asked city staff to explore the idea of government-owned grocery stores as a tool to combat the city’s problem of food insecurity and food deserts.
Now, on Wednesday, city leaders are prepared to review a research presentation on the subject.
Ward 2 council member Robin Wonsley is open to the idea of municipal grocery stores in the city. Wonsley says it’s clear the private market is not meeting the city’s needs.
"We want to see what options are ahead of us, and how we can leverage every tool we have at the city to make sure our residents have access to fresh produce," Wonsley said. "The research that we received is very exploratory and provides examples of where other cities have stepped up to provide food resources for their residents where there was an absence of a grocery store; so we’ll learn what other peer cities have done."
Minnesota Grocers Association takes a stance
Meanwhile, the president of the Minnesota Grocers’ Association, former Republican state representative Pat Garofalo, is weighing in. "This is the exact opposite of what the city of Minneapolis needs right now," Garofalo said. "They are sending the message that anyone who comes to Minneapolis now has to compete with the government. It’s a horrible idea."
What they're saying:
Garofalo says, in an industry with notoriously small profit margins, he is skeptical that government-run stores will be able to succeed, while wary of privately-owned businesses that would have to compete against a publicly subsidized government entity.
"I just know that we’ve seen it from other communities that I’ve tried this. This is a bad idea that’s going to make the problem worse, not better, and it’s going to be very expensive," Garofalo said. "Other cities that have done this, the most common outcome is that they don’t work, they’re expensive and they close."