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“This is not government overreach. It’s a response to market failure. This is not about replacing the private sector. It’s about collaboration.”
A Worcester City Councilor wants city leadership to consider a city-supported grocery store, in a move that mirrors New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s record-breaking platform.
Jenny Pacillo, Worcester City Councilor for District 1, filed an order requesting the city manager to detail “the feasibility of creating a municipally owned grocery store” last week.
Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, won the Democratic nomination for the office in a surprise landslide victory last month.
As proposed in New York City, Mamdani’s city-run grocery stores would not pay rent or property taxes and would be more affordable through other cost-cutting measures, according to his platform. City-owned grocery stores in Chicago have been found to be “feasible” and “necessary,” and some already exist elsewhere in the Midwest.
During the Worcester City Council meeting July 15, however, Pacillo appeared to step back from her initial proposal. She amended her order to ask the city manager to work with “community partners, state and federal delegation to explore feasibility of creative grocery store solutions to expand access to affordable groceries.”
She went on to say that could mean “a public-private partnership, for-profit, (or a) nonprofit-for profit hybrid, a cooperative model.” Pacillo also thanked the work already done by the Coalition for Healthy Greater Worcester, Center on Food Equity, Worcester County Food Bank, and others.
“What matters is that it works, that it gets food on shelves and into people’s homes,” Pacillo said. “When residents spend their dollars at a city-supported community grocery store that offers fair prices and fresh food, that’s the market deciding that access matters.”
The councilor pointed to a reported 32 percent increase in households seeking help from the Worcester County Food Bank between 2023 and 2024 as a need for the city to help residents manage grocery prices. The poverty rate in Worcester is nearly 20 percent, according to census data, which is double the state and country’s rate.
“This is not government overreach. It’s a response to market failure. This is not about replacing the private sector. It’s about collaboration,” Pacillo said. “When there is a clear market gap, like the absence of a grocery store, the city has a role to play in supporting community led efforts and encouraging investment that strengthens our local economy and improves the quality of life.”
Pacillo also raised concerns about food access and grocery store deserts in Worcester, including since a Stop & Shop on Lincoln Street closed last year. A Price Chopper on Cambridge Street also closed earlier this year, City Manager Eric Batista added.
“That is not food access. That’s an obstacle course,” Pacillo said about Lincoln Street residents’ commute to seek food outside of their neighborhood.
While the order calling for a study into “creative grocery store solutions” passed, some councilors had issues with the idea of a city running a grocery store.
“The way that it was originally written, I could not support that, because in any government-run grocery store, you got less choices, not more, less availability, not more and higher prices,” City Councilor Donna Colorio said.
While Mamdani’s platform claims groceries would be cheaper at his five proposed city-run stores, some policy experts see the proposal as a solution to food deserts nationwide. According to a report from researchers at Vanderbilt University, food affordability and access could be addressed by city-supported stores.
“I’m happy that that part of the conversation was removed,” City Councilor George Russell said, referring to the amendment. “Our city manager has enough things on his plate now, and we don’t need to get him a butcher’s apron and put him to work around the supermarket.”
Batista noted at the meeting that one potential model for the city-owned grocers would not be employed by the city. Another model is for the municipality to own the land that the grocery store is on, so the city can lease it to a nonprofit or cooperative, Batista said.
“Grocery stores are so much more than just food, and neighborhoods need them,” Pacillo said. “There are so many groups and people in this community doing the work, and I really just want to be helpful on the city end and find a way to facilitate and make a connection.”
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