Atlanta has officially launched the country’s newest taxpayer funded science project, and this time the experiment is a grocery store. City leaders are declaring victory before the freezer doors have even cooled, presenting Azalea Fresh Market as a triumph of public vision and community good. But beneath the speeches and ribbon cuttings sits a far more predictable reality. It is yet another government built store that looks successful only because it is being held upright by eight million public dollars and a great deal of wishful thinking.
The Eight Million Dollar Aisle of Dreams
Azalea Fresh Market sits in downtown Atlanta inside the historic Olympia Building. At twenty thousand square feet, it is the first supermarket to operate in the area in two decades. The reason for that long gap is simple. Private grocers did not see a way to survive there. The city, however, did not take the hint.
After years of trying to lure chains to neighborhoods with low income and low access to fresh food, Mayor Andre Dickens finally lost his patience. He recalled thinking that the reluctance of grocery companies “totally burned me up,” leading him to announce, “Screw it. We are gonna do it ourselves.”
And with those words, Atlanta taxpayers found themselves sponsoring their very own supermarket.
The total public contribution came to eight million dollars in cash, grants, and loans. City leaders promise the store will eventually operate without subsidy within three years, a claim that sounds less like a financial plan and more like a bedtime story.
The Private Partner Protected From Risk
To manage the store, the city partnered with Savi Provisions, a chain of small high end grocers known for organic foods and upscale snacks. Savi’s chief operating officer Mike Fogarty admits the store will take time to figure out. He said, “We will go where the data tells us.”
That is a polite corporate way of saying the store must guess which products people want, hope they guess right, and pray the subsidies do not run out before they figure it out. Fortunately for Savi, the guesswork is underwritten by taxpayers.
Savi also says its wholesale network allows the store to buy certain staples in larger quantities, which is supposed to help the store keep prices low. But even Savi admits that a store like this typically takes up to three years to turn a profit, which is awfully convenient since the city already decided the subsidies will last about that long.
City officials are boasting about early results. Since opening on August 28, the store has served more than twenty thousand customers. Mayor Dickens framed this as proof of real need, saying the store is now “a thriving grocery store serving hundreds of residents every day with healthy food options.” (Incidentally, it may not be a good comparison but a decent Publix will serve about 4 times that many…)
Fresh produce made up 11.6 percent of first month sales, which the mayor happily noted is above the national average of 10 percent. In most businesses this would be a modest detail. In government run projects it is treated like a winning Super Bowl touchdown.
Of course the store has customers. All subsidized businesses have customers. If you build a grocery store with other people’s money, price your products with taxpayer assistance, and place it directly in the middle of a college campus and office zone, there will be foot traffic. Foot traffic is not the same as sustainability.
Supporters Celebrate. Skeptics Roll Their Eyes.
Supporters gush about the new store. They say it fills a need in a so called food desert and gives residents healthier choices. One local shopper, Angela Christie, said that at Azalea Fresh Market she bought scallions for 99 cents, which she said was cheaper than the store she normally drives to. Another shopper, Jereme Sharpe, explained he originally thought the prices would be high but said, “No, they are right on par.”
This is the part where skeptics sigh. Of course prices are “right on par.” They are subsidized. Taxpayers are covering the risk, the losses, the buildout costs, and the entire financial foundation of the store.
Critics worry the store will crush small business competition, distort prices, and encourage politicians to point to artificially low costs as proof that socialism works. Nicole Huyer from the Heritage Foundation warned that these government run stores could have “disastrous consequences for not only consumers but also for local competition.” She also noted that taxpayers would carry the burden of keeping prices low while private stores struggle to compete on an uneven playing field.
And the failures of other government grocery experiments are not hard to find. Kansas City’s publicly funded grocery collapsed after ten years, despite eighteen million dollars in investment. The store suffered from crime, weak sales, and the unavoidable truth that even the most well intentioned public subsidy cannot force a grocery store to succeed where demand is thin.
Atlanta Is Already Building Store Number Two
Despite the unknowns, Atlanta is plowing ahead with a second government backed store, this one in Southwest Atlanta. Officials admit the area is poorer, that a previous grocer already failed there, and that fresh food is almost nonexistent in the region.
The head of Invest Atlanta, Eloisa Klementich, insisted that residents will shop there anyway. She said, “People are hungry and they are spending money and they are eating.”
It is certainly true that people eat. Whether they will sustain a second government store after the subsidies disappear is another question.
Atlanta is not the only city trying this model. In New York City, mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani wants to create a network of government owned grocery stores that pay no rent or property taxes. He believes this will “keep prices low, not make a profit.” That vision sounds appealing at first, right until you realize that the public is expected to cover the missing profit.
Backers of these plans promise affordability. But affordability created solely through public subsidy is not affordability at all. It is simply delayed billing.
The Illusion of Success
Azalea Fresh Market is being held up as evidence that bold government intervention can solve food shortages, control prices, and prove that a publicly funded grocery can thrive. But skeptics see something much simpler. This is a store built with eight million public dollars, run by a private partner protected from financial loss, and praised for early results that any subsidized business would achieve.
The real test will come later when the cash runs out, the spotlight fades, and the market has to stand on its own. If history is any guide, the end is easy to predict. These stores rarely fail quietly. They collapse dramatically, burn through millions, leave behind empty buildings, and demonstrate yet again that the government is very good at spending money and very bad at competing with private industry.
For now, Atlanta’s leaders call it proof that they can “deliver real solutions that change lives.” Critics call it a shiny illusion built on borrowed time and borrowed money.
And if the past is any guide, the skeptics will be right.
NP Editor: This kind of woke bullshit show a complete lack of understanding of economics and markets. Ask the question, why didn’t Savi Provisions put one of its own stores there and use its own name? Savi is right to separate itself from this debacle.
The worst and most likely outcome is that this becomes the grocery of last result for welfare recipients, subsidized by the city and with the lowest of low quality goods.
