‘This is the way communists think’
Government-supported grocery stores are suddenly all the rage.
In New York, democratic socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has promised to open city-owned stores in each of the five boroughs.
In Atlanta, the city contributed $8 million in cash and grants to a store that opened last summer and is already planning another subsidized store 6 miles away.
There have been government-owned stores in recent years in Florida and Kansas.
And in Madison — well, what’s happening in a south side neighborhood in Madison is the perfect illustration of why government should stay out of an intensely competitive business it knows nothing about.
The city started planning to get involved in the grocery business at least six years ago amid fears that a Pick ’n Save at 1312 S. Park St. might be razed to make way for a $75 million SSM Health clinic.
The healthcare company never actually submitted any plans for the site, and Dane County already had plenty of grocers. In fact, the county, to this day, has dozens of grocery stores and Walmarts and Targets and Menard’s stores and other smaller places that sell food. Everyone, nowadays, seems to sell food.
But politicians and other officials in Madison — where there is, of course, lots of talk about “food deserts” and affordable access to food as a “fundamental human right” — forged ahead anyway.
City of Madison politicians have thus far spent over $9 million buying and financing improvements on a 24,000-square foot portion of a new multi-use development right next to the Pick ‘n Save that never closed — and that apparently has no plans to close anytime soon.
Kurt Welton, one of the owners of the building that Pick ’n Save leases, said he just signed a renewal. He declined to discuss further details of the new lease, citing confidentiality requirements, but did question why the city is involved with the nearby development in the first place.
“I don’t understand where the city is coming from on this,” he said. “Within a mile, there are four or five grocery stores. It is not a desert.”
“Why does the city think it needs to spend $10 million to bring groceries there when they already have groceries? This is the way communists think.”
Pick ’n Save stores in Wisconsin are run by Roundy’s, which is a subsidiary of Kroger. A Kroger spokesperson did not return a call for comment, but in 2024 a Roundy’s corporate affairs manager told a local Madison publication, Isthmus, that the company was planning to “continue to provide access to fresh foods at affordable prices” at the South Park Street location.
Meanwhile, Madison city officials — having already doled out millions — now own a nearby space at 815 Cedar St. that, it appears, was not built to easily house a grocery store.
The space, for instance, reportedly had insufficient electrical power and the building had a roof that won’t accommodate necessary equipment. A large bank of windows and the floor plan are also less than ideal.
The building “wasn’t built for a grocer, even though it was supposed to be,” said Kristi Maurer, the grocer who will open Maurer’s Urban Grocery in the city-owned space.
“A lot of the journey has been dealing with the building and the reality of the building,” she said.
The City of Madison bought the “condo space” for $4.6 million in 2021 from the developer of a multi-use development that includes a lot of apartments. But it also approved $3.5 million for improvements in 2023, according to media reports, and then in 2024 approved another $1 million in improvements to make the space work as a grocery store.
As part of the lease agreement with Maurer’s, the city will recoup $3.85 million in tenant improvements and that will remain an asset of the city, according to a city communications manager.
It is unclear, in the meantime, when exactly lease payments might begin.
Maurer, part of the Maurer family that has owned and run multiple stores across the state, has signed a lease and is not backing out. She said in an interview this week that she is excited and hopes the store can “keep the neighborhood strong and vivacious.”
Maurer told me she is still waiting for a building permit and working through some zoning issues but expects the build-out of the space to start soon. She declined to predict exactly when the store might open but said a build-out for a grocery store typically takes six months.
Neither the local alderman, Tag Evers, a big supporter of the project, nor City of Madison Real Estate Development Manager Dan Rolfs returned calls about the project or responded to emails asking whether they have any regret.
A city communications manager, Dylan Brogan, did respond, however.
“One of the top priorities of residents in that area is a long-term commitment to ensure that south Madison is served by at least one full-service grocery store,” he wrote. “Pick ’n Save and its previous parent company had signaled for over a decade that they intended to close that location, leaving the neighborhood without access to a full-service grocery store. City leaders promised residents that they would address this critical community need and are looking forward to fulfilling that promise.”
Meanwhile, across Cedar Street from the empty government-owned space, the parking lot of the fully stocked and privately owned Pick ’n Save was full earlier this week.
Mike Nichols is the President of the Badger Institute.
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