This is what Polymarket posted
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Thats a great idea actually
as i just learned in another lemmy post the US military call it a commisary
which is also socialist btw because we're on lemmy
City-owned, does this mean all 'profit' goes back into the city and the business is not operated in a way to maximize profit?
If they're selling at wholesale prices, there won't be any profit. That's the idea.
It's a good idea. Food should be distributed as efficiently as possible, and a city funded by people's taxes should do that for them. It makes total sense. And sourcing products from local businesses is just a bonus.
Grocery stores don't have a lot of margins, so this move won't reduce prices by much or at all. What it will do is improve low income areas the "market" has left alone to improve the availability and quality of nearby food. I've heard a lot of people skeptical of the "lower prices" part, when I think the food desert part is a much more important part of the plan tbh.
Low margins because they're expected to have returns equal or better than alternative investments. If they drop below that, then its not worth running a grocery store and you might as well liquidate and put your money where it will make higher returns.
If you don't care about that, or can even run on a slight loss with some taxpayer subsidies then you can make the food a lot more affordable.
One thing to also note, is that grocery margins are tight after they give shareholders and c level staff hundreds of millions of dollars. In other words, if you’re not intent on making a profit and distributing that profit only to billionaires and friends, there’s plenty of space to subsidize costs even before accounting for tax breaks (which probably net even) and controlled rent factors.
People shouldn’t get wealthy off selling groceries while people go hungry.
They have low margins because they have high costs (like rent, logistics and insurance stuff), so if those get reduced then they can lower prices by exactly that amount while keeping the same margin.
And presumably, higher wages can be included in the formula as well as lower prices.
That makes sense, but it does mean the private grocery stores won't lower their prices in response. So unfortunately it won't have as good of an effect as affordable housing can have, but still a positive one where these are created.
The government has a responsibility to ensure policies drive affordable food prices, but a government run grocery stores seems like a terrible idea.
So instead of a government-run country, we have a billionaire-run one? What’s wrong with the “government” making sure that we prioritize getting people better, cheaper, healthier food?
It’s government run not government mandated. Don’t like it? Shop elsewhere. Want something better? Prove your point by making something better.
The model certainly works for other things
municipal broadband in the USA is often very well regarded.
I don't disagree with public broadband it's a natural monopoly
What's wrong with that? Where I live, we have government run (technically run by an company that's owned by a government investment holding but close enough) and a number of private companies. Everything's fine.
The only way I could see it making sense is if a government was doing it as an exercise to understand what it takes to open a business.
What environment have governments created where no one wants to open a grocery business?
Is it overly dominated by a handful of large corporations? Should these be taxed or broken up to make the market more competitive? Is the supply chain competitive or is it also not competitive?
Should government socialize insurance costs instead, for businesses that drive public good? Or other incentives like health coverage?
Are there bylaws and zoning barriers that are making entry prohibitive?
These are areas I think governments should be in, not operating a retail store. Policy is their area of expertise and has major impact.
Tell me why it has to be opened by some businessman?
Because of things like this:
Round tables and town halls for apple varieties, 8 years to get a shop underway... absolutely ridiculous.
There is obviously an issue, and government has a role, but this isn't it
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/25/mamdani-nyc-public-grocery-stores
"According to Overstreet, the councilmember from Atlanta, community buy-in is key. In her district, Overstreet sought feedback about what kinds of products community members wanted access to, down to the preferred variety of apple. Overstreet and her team did this through roundtables, pop-up meetings, and both paper and online questionnaires to try to reach the widest array of people"
"Lastly, noted Christine Caruso, Myer’s co-author on the grocery store research, it is worth reminding community members that such an initiative will take time to realize. Overstreet noted that it took her eight years of work to get the new grocery store in her district under way."
I agree, socialism is a great idea.
all socialism? or just what you say is socialism