Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune and Councilor Liz Breadon have called for a hearing to examine the potential for government-supported grocery stores, according to Boston 25 News. The pair claimed that their proposal was not inspired by a similar initiative promoted by controversial New York City Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
“The role of government is to step in when the market is failing our residents,” Louijeune told Boston 25 News.“The idea of government-sponsored, government-subsidized grocers is not a novel idea.”
Louijeune cited comparable grocery programs in cities such as Madison, Wisconsin, and Atlanta, Georgia, as examples of how municipal involvement could help address food insecurity, Boston 25 News reported.
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Breadon stressed the urgency of the issue, pointing to recent federal cuts to SNAP benefits. “Those of us who don’t have any food insecurity sometimes forget the struggles that ordinary working families may have,” she told Boston 25 News.
Food insecurity in Massachusetts has surged in recent years. Roughly 37% of households in the state have faced food insecurity in 2025, nearly doubling the 19% recorded in 2019, according to data from the Greater Boston Food Bank cited by Boston 25 News.
Not everyone supports the concept. Peter Brennan, executive director of the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association, warned that city-run grocery stores could threaten existing local businesses.
“Using taxpayer funds for city-run grocery stores would be a job killer in our communities,” Brennan told Boston 25 News. “Our mom and pop stores operate on very thin profit margins as it is. They are constantly facing rising costs, stricter regulations, and relentless economic pressure.”
He added, “The City of Boston should be doing more to support these small businesses that create jobs, support our communities, and provide healthy meals, goods and services to our neighborhoods. Supporting small businesses by cutting taxes and fees and creating programs to help businesses become self-sustaining is a much better use of tax dollars.”
According to Boston 25 News, several additional city councilors have joined the hearing order, which has been referred to committee for review. A hearing could occur before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Mamdani has been advocating for a similar public grocery system in New York City, proposing five city-funded, rent- and tax-exempt stores.
However, some economists remain skeptical of the model. “You don’t lower grocery bills by having government-run stores,” Ryan Bourne, a senior economist at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, told Fox Business earlier this year. “Government-run entities have no market discipline — no need to earn profits, compete, or serve customers efficiently. That leads to bloated costs, empty shelves, and zero accountability.”
