Public grocery stores are having a moment. Can they really make food more a

From Toronto to New York City, politicians want to tackle rising food costs with government-run grocery stores.

In the model announced by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city would cover construction expenses as well as rent and property taxes — ideally, with those savings passed on to shoppers — and lease to a private operator that would run the store.

Toronto city council recently passed a motion introducing a similar pilot program. The plan is scheduled to be presented next spring. Newly minted federal NDP leader Avi Lewis also made the push to establish a public grocer in Canada a key plank of his party leadership campaign. 

Politicians championing the plan say these stores would sell staple items at lower prices than private grocery stores. But critics say the idea is half-baked and will only waste public money.

WATCH | Toronto city councillor proposes city-run grocer:

Why city-run grocery stores may help combat rising food prices

As food prices continue to rise, one Toronto city councillor is proposing non-profit, city-run grocery stores as a possible solution. CBC’s Alejandrina Alvarez looks at how the pilot program would work.

Canadian grocery prices were up 5.7 per cent in February from a year ago, according to Statistics Canada. Canada’s Food Price Report forecasts that prices will increase four to six per cent this year. That means a family of four is expected to spend $17,571.79 on food, nearly $1,000 more than last year — and the report came out before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran drove up global energy prices. 

Food economist Michael von Massow says public grocery stores are not a silver bullet for inflation in grocery prices.

“Building stores and trying to run a business that is so dependent … on distribution, on efficiencies, and scale, I think we’re just going to be throwing money away without achieving the objectives that we’re trying to achieve,” he told The Current.

How to run a public grocery store

Von Massow, a professor with the University of Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College, says governments lack the expertise needed to succeed in an industry with razor-thin profit margins.

The only way public grocery stores could compete, he says, would be if operational costs like labour or rent were subsidized. Toronto and New York City plan to cover these overhead costs.

But even then, he adds, a public grocer with a handful of stores can’t buy as efficiently as a company with thousands of locations. Grocery chains use their purchasing power to get better rates from suppliers.

Rial Carver, the program director for Kansas State University’s Rural Grocery Initiative, which supports new grocery stores, says finding the right people to run a public…