Zohran Mamdani made city-owned grocery stores a key part of his campaign for New York City mayor in 2025, starting a series of public policy discussions in other U.S. cities and also in Canada.
The City of Toronto approved a pilot project to establish four city-run stores, and Ottawa is developing a municipal food strategy after a councillor pushed for city-owned grocery stores there.
The political arguments in favour of these initiatives involve addressing rising food costs by introducing a non-profit competitor, better serving a particular community not well served by current grocers, adding local employment options and using vacant space or catalyzing some urban development around those locations. The stores would not pay property taxes or rent, and could offer lower prices to customers as a result. Plus, grocery retailers are unpopular, and make convenient enemies, as consumers often blame retailers and greed for rising food prices.
In an April announcement of the first New York City locations, Mamdani focused more on the current plight of consumers and the entire food supply chain rather than just the practices of retailers.“The public option allows us to intervene where the market has failed. We cannot accept a status quo where even the most fundamental needs, putting food on the table, feels out of reach.” He added: “When corporations control every part of the food supply chain, prices go up, basic necessities become luxuries and workers and customers both lose.”
The initiatives have drawn substantial criticism in New York and Canada, some of it philosophical. Some say the government should not compete with private enterprise and has no expertise in grocery retail, so it would be more sensible to provide incentives or subsidies for retailers to operate in those areas. More practical objections note the difficulties of municipally-run stores with few outlets being able to purchase foods in quantities large enough to be price competitive with established retailers.
A paper from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives noted that the U.S. military commissaries might provide a good model for a public grocery store network that could offer substantial savings to consumers, but concluded smaller networks would struggle to succeed.
Canadian military grocery stores (CANEX) operate differently, run by the Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services as part of a broader service program.
The Toronto initiative endorsed by Mayor Olivia Chow will begin with a financial impact report, and no funds in the budget have been set aside for new grocery stores. The report is due in Spring 2027, and then the debate over costs and benefits would begin in earnest.