{"id":18034,"date":"2025-11-26T18:58:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T19:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=18034"},"modified":"2025-11-26T20:57:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T20:57:06","slug":"madison-perfect-example-of-why-cities-should-stay-out-of-grocery-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=18034","title":{"rendered":"Madison\u00a0perfect\u00a0example of why cities should stay out of grocery business"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.badgerinstitute.org\/madison-perfect-example-of-why-cities-should-stay-out-of-grocery-business\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018This is the way communists think\u2019<\/em><\/h4>\n

Government-supported\u00a0grocery stores\u00a0are suddenly all the rage.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
The site of Madison\u2019s proposed municipally-owned grocery store, located in retail space below an apartment building across the street from Pick \u2019n Save.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In New York, democratic socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has promised to open city-owned stores in each of the five boroughs.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Atlanta, 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.<\/p>\n

There have been government-owned stores in recent years in Florida and Kansas.<\/p>\n

And in Madison\u00a0\u2014\u00a0well,\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0happening in\u00a0a\u00a0south\u00a0side\u00a0neighborhood in\u00a0Madison is the\u00a0perfect illustration of\u00a0why government\u00a0should stay out of an intensely competitive\u00a0business it knows nothing about.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0city\u00a0started planning\u00a0to get involved in the\u00a0grocery business\u00a0at least six years ago\u00a0amid\u00a0fears\u00a0that\u00a0a\u00a0Pick\u00a0\u2019n Save\u00a0at 1312\u00a0S. Park St.\u00a0might be razed to make way for a\u00a0$75 million\u00a0SSM\u00a0Health clinic.<\/p>\n

The healthcare company never\u00a0actually\u00a0submitted\u00a0any plans\u00a0for the site,\u00a0and Dane County\u00a0already had plenty of grocers.\u00a0In fact, the county, to this day, has\u00a0dozens of grocery stores and\u00a0Walmarts\u00a0and Targets and Menard\u2019s stores and other\u00a0smaller\u00a0places\u00a0that sell food.\u00a0Everyone, nowadays, seems to sell food.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0politicians and other officials in Madison\u00a0\u2014\u00a0where\u00a0there is, of course,\u00a0lots of\u00a0talk\u00a0about \u201cfood deserts\u201d and affordable access to food as a \u201cfundamental human right\u201d\u00a0\u2014\u00a0forged ahead anyway.<\/p>\n

City of Madison politicians have thus far spent over $9 million buying and financing improvements on a 24,000-square foot\u00a0portion\u00a0of a new\u00a0multi-use\u00a0development right next to\u00a0the Pick \u2018n Save that never closed \u2014 and that apparently has\u00a0no plans to close anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Kurt Welton,\u00a0one of the owners of the building that Pick\u00a0\u2019n Save leases,\u00a0said 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\u00a0the\u00a0nearby development in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand where the city is coming from on this,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cWithin a mile, there are four or five grocery stores. It is not a desert.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy does the city think it needs to spend $10 million\u00a0to bring groceries there when they already have groceries? This is the way communists\u00a0think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pick\u00a0\u2019n Save stores in Wisconsin are run by Roundy\u2019s, which is a subsidiary of Kroger. A Kroger spokesperson did not return a call for comment,\u00a0but\u00a0in 2024 a Roundy\u2019s corporate affairs manager told\u00a0a local Madison publication, Isthmus, that the company was planning to \u201ccontinue to provide access to fresh foods at affordable prices\u201d\u00a0at the\u00a0South\u00a0Park Street\u00a0location.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile,\u00a0Madison\u00a0city officials\u00a0\u2014\u00a0having already doled out millions\u00a0\u2014 now own a nearby space at 815 Cedar St.\u00a0that, it appears,\u00a0was\u00a0not\u00a0built to easily\u00a0house\u00a0a grocery store.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0space, for instance,\u00a0reportedly had\u00a0insufficient electrical\u00a0power\u00a0and\u00a0the building had\u00a0a\u00a0roof that won\u2019t accommodate necessary\u00a0equipment.\u00a0A large bank of\u00a0windows and\u00a0the floor plan\u00a0are also less than ideal.<\/p>\n

The building \u201cwasn\u2019t built for a grocer, even though it was supposed to be,\u201d said Kristi Maurer, the grocer who will open Maurer\u2019s Urban Grocery\u00a0in the city-owned space.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the journey has been dealing with the building and the reality of the building,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The City of Madison\u00a0bought the\u00a0\u201ccondo\u00a0space\u201d\u00a0for $4.6 million in 2021\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0developer\u00a0of a multi-use development that includes a lot of apartments.\u00a0But it also approved\u00a0$3.5 million for improvements in 2023, according to media reports,\u00a0and then\u00a0in 2024\u00a0approved\u00a0another\u00a0$1 million in\u00a0improvements\u00a0to make\u00a0the space work\u00a0as\u00a0a grocery store.<\/p>\n

As part of the lease agreement with Maurer\u2019s, the city will recoup $3.85 million in tenant improvements\u00a0and that will remain an asset of the\u00a0city, according to a city communications manager.<\/p>\n

It is\u00a0unclear, in the meantime,\u00a0when exactly\u00a0lease payments\u00a0might begin.<\/p>\n

Maurer,\u00a0part of the\u00a0Maurer family that has owned and run multiple stores across the state,\u00a0has signed a lease and\u00a0is not backing out.\u00a0She\u00a0said in an interview this week that\u00a0she is excited and hopes the store can \u201ckeep the neighborhood strong and vivacious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maurer told\u00a0me\u00a0she is still waiting for a building permit and working through some zoning issues but expects the build-out\u00a0of the space\u00a0to 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.<\/p>\n

Neither\u00a0the local\u00a0alderman,\u00a0Tag\u00a0Evers, a big supporter of the project, nor\u00a0City of Madison Real Estate Development Manager Dan Rolfs returned calls about the project or responded to emails asking whether they have any regret.<\/p>\n

A city\u00a0communications manager, Dylan Brogan, did respond, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne 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,\u201d he wrote. \u201cPick \u2019n 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\u00a0promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, across Cedar Street from the empty government-owned space, the parking lot of the fully stocked and privately owned Pick \u2019n Save was full earlier this week.<\/p>\n

Mike Nichols is the President of the Badger Institute.<\/em><\/p>\n

Any\u202fuse or reproduction of Badger Institute articles or photographs requires prior written\u202fpermission.\u202fTo request permission to post articles on a website or print copies for distribution, contact Badger Institute Marketing Director Matt Erdman at\u202f<\/em>matt@badgerinstitute.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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