KC Sun Fresh (KCSF), a community-owned grocery store in Kansas City, Missouri funded by the local government’s attempt to address a so-called “food desert,” faces closing as the idea of municipal subsidies gains traction within the country due to the advocacy of New York City Democratic Socialist mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani.
A food desert is a term used to describe places that lack adequate access to fresh produce, meat, and other healthy products that one might find at a farmer’s market or grocery store, for instance.
Over the last year, KCSF lost $885,000 and now has only around 4,000 customers a week, according to the Washington Post – a staggering drop from the typical 14,000 it welcomed weekly only a few years earlier.
KCSF opened in 2018 as part of a $15 million dollar project involving both public and private funding to revitalize the Linwood center in which the KCSF is located.
In 2024, KCSF received a cash infusion of $750,000 from the city meant to improve lighting, infrastructure, and security to deter theft. Earlier this year in April, KCSF also received $611,000 from the city, of which $161,000 was to be used for rent relief and the remainder for operational needs.
Despite the large endowment given to KCSF by the city and the continual cash infusions, the store is in dire straits.
Shelves have reported been sparsely filled, with many empty coolers in the dairy, produce, meat and bakery. KSHB Kansas City Reporter Alyssa Jackson visited KCSF and noted upon entering that, apart from a lack of product, a “rotten smell is noticeable after entering the store.”
Jackson even watched as shoppers would simply walk into the store and leave moments later, after once they had realized there was little to choose from.
Pat Clark, a community advocate even remarked that “There was a time this store was on life support - I could tell you today, right now it's d*mn near dead."
Jasmine Owens, a customer of KCSF since its opening in 2018, expressed her frustration with Jackson by asking “Where's the money at? - Where’s the produce, where’s the salads...where’s everything at?"
With the current state of KCSF and its history of being a burden on taxpayers, while having little product to give back it, provides greater concerns about Mamdani’s proposed network of city-owned grocery stores in New York City.
Mamdani intends to open five city-owned stores, one in each New York City borough, at an initial cost of roughly $60 million. According to his campaign website, city-owned stores would be more focused on keeping prices low, rather than making a profit.
The profit margins for grocery stores are already extremely low, on average ranging from one percent to three percent. Even giants like Walmart have profit margins that follow the trend. Despite the companies’ size and business practices, they still had a net margin of 2.71% as of April of this year.
Additionally, in New York City, retail theft is a tremendous issue, with roughly $69 billion worth of products being stolen each year, according to a 2023 report by the office of the mayor of New York City. Many stores combat theft through locked displays, alarms, and other manners of security, which may prove to be costly solutions if funded through taxpayer dollars.
The estimated $60 million dollars required for Mamdani’s plan, paired with thin profit margins and New York City’s theft problems, collectively paint a concerning picture for the financial burden that would be shifted onto the taxpayers of New York City in an attempt to keep afloat what will almost certainly be a money pit.
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