Some locales cannot support building and maintaining a strong economy. Chicago should consider building and operating food coops that are comfortable operating at a loss in the same way you would the local library or CTA line.
If big chains cannot survive in these neighborhoods, nor can the mom and pops who have been driven out, this is the logical conclusion if the expectation is healthy food being provided to the community.
If densely populated, highly developed metropolitan locales in the richest large nation on Earth can’t support profitable business formation, something is wrong that won’t be fixed by government-sponsored coops.
The poor have no purchasing power and healthy foods have low margins (as the article mentions; grocer margins are typically 1-3%). You’re either stuck with a food bank, a coop, or folks buying low quality food from corner convenience stores and gas stations (ie Dollar General’s rural MO).
Median income and economic demographic info for zip codes where these stores are closing is publicly available.
Capitalism isn’t always the solution, and not all solutions require a profitable business. Most roads are not toll roads, for example.
The poor are already given money for food and other necessities through government subsistence programs like SNAP and TANF. Something else is going on here.
If big chains cannot survive in these neighborhoods, nor can the mom and pops who have been driven out, this is the logical conclusion if the expectation is healthy food being provided to the community.