Atlanta bet on a private grocer; New York is betting on the government.
Downtown Atlanta has an unpleasant grayness to it, as if its architects forgot their charm at home when it was built. I glanced up at the towering corporate buildings that block out any sun that could have reached me, cut through Georgia State University’s greenless college campus, and my route was redirected by the relentless percussion of jackhammers that chipped away at the sidewalks. Finally, I approached the automatic doors to my destination, Azalea Fresh Market, and was welcomed by two security guards.
At first glance, the store seemed like an ordinary supermarket, but a bit smaller than my usual. Upon a closer look at the items, the prices were anything but ordinary. My eyes darted toward the row of eggs displayed: $3 per dozen. Next to the eggs was a gallon of milk, $4. Behind me was a loaf of Sara Lee Honey Wheat bread, $5, and a 12-pack of canned sodas, $10. I trudged up a nearby set of stairs to see a modern café that featured a sushi counter, a sandwich shop, and a smoothie stand with several iPads to place an order. The sleek wooden tables and chairs were filled with professionals and students typing away on their computers while enjoying a sip and a bite. If you were anything like most Atlantans, given the prices and atmosphere, you probably thought that I was at the newest semi-luxury food market that I spotted on TikTok. In reality, I went to a government-funded grocery store that socialists are raving about.
Azalea Fresh Market opened last September to address a growing demand for a grocery store in downtown Atlanta. Its opening was the result of a partnership between the City of Atlanta, the Independent Grocers Alliance, and a successful local mini-grocery store chain, Savi Provisions. With no major grocery company inclined to open a location in the downtown area, the City of Atlanta managed to contribute roughly $8 million in cash, loans, and grants to provide the infrastructure needed to help open the business (as well as a second location that is under construction), while the owners of Savi Provisions operate it independently, hoping that the ongoing success of the store will eventually allow it to run on its own. To reach that goal, the store keeps the prices of staple food items as close to those at other supermarkets as it can (though $3 for a dozen eggs and $5 for a loaf of bread can really add up for the more budget-conscious shopper), while operating the café upstairs to generate higher-margin sales from college students and professionals.
Given the intent behind the establishment of this store, it’s difficult to imagine why it’s gaining so much praise from advocates for Zohran Mamdani’s proposed government-owned markets. Mamdani’s goal isn’t to target food deserts; he aims to outprice private grocers in areas where supply is abundant because he’s convinced that businesses are price-gouging consumers. Azalea was established because there is no grocery store nearby, meaning that there were no local grocers to worry about being priced out.
Azalea’s location also serves a much different demographic from what Mamdani says his stores will be intended to serve. While Mamdani’s stores will sit in busier, residential areas of New York, Azalea sits on a college campus and borders several government and corporate buildings. So it’s not a quick walk for most low-income families who need fresh groceries for their homes. The store’s main demographic consists of thousands of college students, a risky consumer base when a majority of the university’s population leaves for breaks throughout the year. With many students enrolled in dining plans and few permanent residents to provide consistent foot traffic, it becomes easier to see why major grocers were hesitant to open in the area.
But more importantly, if Azalea Fresh Market is supposed to be a case study to show that the government should become a grocer in cities such as New York, it’s a strange example. The city didn’t open a grocery store and ask taxpayers to keep it afloat. It sought out a private grocer and helped them overcome the steep cost of entering a market that other grocers had already rejected. Savi will eventually need to stand on its own two feet. That sounds less like socialism and more like a government-funded bet on the private sector.
With Mamdani having no plans to perform a public–private partnership, taxpayers will foot $30 million of the bill for its first 9,000-square-foot location in East Harlem, compared with Atlanta’s $8 million investment on a 30,000-square-foot location. That makes New York’s project a much riskier investment. If socialists want to see a grocery store model that most closely aligns with what Mamdani has in mind, they should turn to Kansas City’s Sun Fresh Market, which closed down after receiving roughly $18 million of taxpayer dollars over 10 years, citing low profits and crime as major factors for locking its doors.
But that doesn’t necessarily make Azalea a victory for free-market advocates, either. The city responded to demand from consumers who wanted fresh food within walking distance, while private grocers had decided that opening downtown wasn’t worth the risk. For Savi, the deal offered an opportunity to expand into downtown without shouldering the full upfront cost of entering an untested market. If the model fails, Savi’s potential losses are cushioned by the city’s support. If it succeeds, Savi gets a profitable new location, an expanded customer base, and a reputational boost from being seen as a company willing to serve a community that other grocers had passed over.
As the store approaches its first anniversary and construction continues on a second location, Azalea Fresh Market is still too young to know whether that bet will pay off. Perhaps the private market was failing to provide something downtown Atlanta genuinely needed. Or perhaps it was accurately assessing the risks of doing business there. Either way, Azalea will eventually provide an answer. And should the store succeed, the success won’t belong to the mayor’s office alone. It will belong to the private grocer that managed to make a business work where others wouldn’t.