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State-run food stores anyone? 

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, June 30th, 2025 - 26 comments
Categories: Deep stuff, Economy, food, poverty - Tags:

What if we broke New Zealand’s grocery misery with our own grocery store?

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani wants to see his city embrace government-owned grocery stores.

 If elected, Mamdani will join a growing list of city leaders pushing for this model of grocery retail to help eaters manage rising food prices.

Now, he’s got a long way to go before he and his policy idea every get anywhere near power. Granted. But it is a resonant idea for New Zealand not just New York.

It is clear that we have massive widespread food poverty in New Zealand. Otherwise the state would not need to feed hundreds of thousands of children directly every day, through school.

Things are so desperate that even those who roll up the sleeves where their heart is are actually shutting down. There was Buttabean Motivation Foodbank in South Auckland, which the otherwise irrepressible David Latele had started. There was Foodbank Aotearoa New Zealand, which closed in December 2023. There was the Cashel Street Foodbank in Christchurch which closed after 60 years of operation. There was the Otamatea Foodbank and Community Lunch in Maungataroto, gone in April this year.

Several other food banks are also facing closure or downsizing, including the Auckland City Mission and the Good Works Trust, as government funding ends in 2025. Many food banks are struggling to meet the increasing demand, with some reporting a significant rise in the number of people needing assistance. The lines for soup kitchens are line sof utterly desperate New Zealanders.

Demand for actual things to each from the poor of New Zealand is massive. 

And then there’s food price inflation. It may well be that New Zealand food prices reflect what they can get for our exports overseas, but the full effect is simply passed on with interest through our supermarket duopoly. Neither side of Parliament have really done much with it.

Imagine, as Mayoral candidate Mamdani has done, a network of public grocery stores that do not pay rent or property taxes, to allow them to keep food prices low. The stores, will make purchases and wholesale prices, have a centralised warehouse and distribution centre, and will not be focused on profit margins, Mamdani explains in a video.

Cue the outrage. 

The powers that be are mighty and they will bring that power to bear. They are Foodstuffs who own New World, Pak n Save abd FourSquare. And there’s Woolworth’s who also own Fresh Choice and SuperValue chains. All those cheery ads saying how cheap they are, when in reality there’s only one other lot to compare it to. 

The campaigns against it would be as fierce as those from the dairy farmers against any kind of regulation.

Unless the proposal has a specific identified niche. I’d suggest they actually go into a 50/50 venture with the Salvation Army and the Warehouse and make it a Community Card + Student + Gold Card access-only thing. So it’s designed for the poor basically. That’s no skin off the supermarket powers. 

It wouldn’t sell vape or cigarette products. It’s a wee slippery slope to doing what the Warehouse have done already with cheap chemist shops located inside their stores as well. An actual shop to help people.

Bougies can still have Farrow Fresh and Moore Wilson and the like. No threat there.

We need a public option for grocery stores, not primarily because we have no competition, but because we have massive proven food poverty in New Zealand that is so large that we are directly and indirectly subsidising vast volumes of food each day already.

It would also mean we get to get a retail store to connect New Zealander to food policy, housing policy, and real wages for real work.

I hope this candidate Mamdani gets to see something like this turn into something real. It’s an actual and tangible solution to the real food poverty truly has. 

26 comments on “State-run food stores anyone?  ”

  1. bwaghorn 1
    30 June 2025 at 12:31 pm

    The only way it could work is to forcble aquire one of the big ones so there is a outlet available in every town in nz and the distribution hubs to go with it

    Anything piecemeal will be kneecapped by undercutting, and sellers being told that their products are off the shelves, in the existing foodstuff stores if they supply the government shop.

    Reply
    • tc 1.1
      30 June 2025 at 1:25 pm

      Yup. Its a huge reason why nobody bothers with our market now as the duopoly have the sites stitched up which they've been doing for years.

      They will not go quietly if they go at all and the Oz regulator has thrown up their arms saying its too hard as they're already too powerful over there now.

      So the mandatory acquisition you allude to I would see as the only realistic solution.

      Reply
    • Ad 1.2
      30 June 2025 at 2:48 pm

      A small Joint Venture as I described is much easier.

      Reply
      • bwaghorn 1.2.1
        30 June 2025 at 4:59 pm

        Would ot reach rural towns?

        Reply
        • arkie 1.2.1.1
          30 June 2025 at 5:10 pm

          Rather than try to enter the retail space it might be wiser to institute a single Govt-run middleman between producers and sipermarkets. This would mean fair prices to farmers while ensuring the Govt knows the input costs and so can judge whether the supermarkets are charging a fair profit on top as well. Existing retailers would remain, and would hopefully be better able to continue operation.

          Reply
          • Ad 1.2.1.1.1
            30 June 2025 at 5:35 pm

            Depends on the problem you're trying to solve.

            Plenty of Kainga Ora initiatives for Maori are very customer-fronting already.

            There's no substitute for shop front.

            Reply
            • arkie 1.2.1.1.1.1
              30 June 2025 at 9:24 pm

              The problems I see the govt best positioned to address here are those best addressed by providing a regulatory oversight which my proposal would do; ensuring consumers cost of living is kept reasonable, that they are provided fresh, local produce for which farmers are paid a fair price. No duopoly hiking consumer prices ‘cos they have the monopoly while suppressing producer prices ‘cos they are the only buyers. Full transparency of the prices throughout the chain, no murk that hides the excessive profits of the duopoly, no need for a supermarket commission. Using existing retailers mean the Govt doesn't have the costs of operating all the shops, which to compete with the duopoly would mean pretty capital heavy investment or expropriation for which there is little appetite.

              Reply
  2. Phillip ure 2
    30 June 2025 at 6:07 pm

    IMHO…that idea will work..

    I haven't heard any others that will..

    The sallies would be vigorous in working to make it happen…

    And as for venues..the aims of the store…and the involvement of the sallies could well turn up sympathetic landlords..

    ..council assets could also be evaluated..

    And not having perfection is no reason not to start…do the easy ones first..

    It would be a good policy to pick up by lab/grns/tpm…

    Reply
  3. Gareth Wilson 3
    30 June 2025 at 6:24 pm

    Would it sell alcohol?

    Reply
    • Phillip ure 3.1
      30 June 2025 at 6:32 pm

      IMHO…A tricky one….no booze/no cigs would be best…

      If I were ruler of the world..they wouldn't sell flesh..either ..
      ..addictive and cancer causing as it is..in my opinion..

      Would you like some bacon with that..?

      Reply
      • Gareth Wilson 3.1.1
        30 June 2025 at 8:25 pm

        The only way to avoid getting tangled up in these issues is to say the state-run stores carry exactly what the private stores do.

        Reply
        • Ad 3.1.1.1
          30 June 2025 at 9:11 pm

          Or no alcohol. Like the whole of West Auckland.

          Since it's card-only access, you could also make this store alone GST-free on everything.

          Reply
  4. Binders full of women 4
    30 June 2025 at 7:17 pm

    It worked so well in the USSR in the 30s.. I live in small town NZ, within 5kms there are 7 dairies, 1 x pak n save, 1 x Woolworths, 3 x Four Square mini marts, 1 x farmers market, 1 x deli, 1 x hipster fruit & vege. In other words.. why would a state run / Judean people's Front store be needed? Bring Back Bussy Doyle!!!

    [Still trolling here? This is your warning – Incognito]

    Reply
  5. bwaghorn 5
    1 July 2025 at 5:43 am

    I watched a bit of Michael Laws on the platform (I know I know ) last night he said gold cards get a 5% discount at the supermarket he shops at, news to me, wouldn't that be an easier approach? Try nut out a deal with the existing outlets to discount Community service cards

    Reply
  6. PsyclingLeft.Always 6
    1 July 2025 at 7:56 am

    NZ desperately needs change…not least with the Grocery Duopoly !

    Revealed: How much supermarket prices have gone up since 2022

    In May 2022, our first shop at Woolworths Greenlane cost us $238 dollars and $217 at PAK'nSAVE Royal Oak.

    Today, those same items at Woolworths have shot up to $305 dollars – an extra $67 dollars at the checkout. PAK'nSAVE our shop, now set us back $270, an extra $53 dollars.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/565559/revealed-how-much-supermarket-prices-have-gone-up-since-2022

    I have posted many times on the NZ Duopoly before, but again…

    Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy​ said supermarkets took more than $1 million in excess profits every day.

    “These profits are twice what they should be. We need more competition to drive down prices and give New Zealanders a fairer price at the checkout.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/128586011/a-slap-in-the-face-consumer-nz-calls-for-end-to-excess-supermarket-profits

    Turning supermarkets into public utilities could solve New Zealand's grocery problem

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/463460/turning-supermarkets-into-public-utilities-could-solve-new-zealand-s-grocery-problem

    I have joined up with the Grocery Action Group. Sue Chetwin. Well Respected.

    https://www.gag.nz/our-mission

    We need to do something. I dont hold much hope on Labour. Greens…where are you?

    Reply
  7. Tiger Mountain 7
    1 July 2025 at 8:13 am

    One of the issues Candidate Mamdani identified was “Food Deserts” in the US which particularly affect poorer communities, have included a Wiki link for brevity…
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_deserts_in_the_United_States

    Happens in NZ too where some neighbourhoods have over priced gouging dairies as their closest option–the operators of which can be seen in Pak’n’Save getting stock.

    A state store chain would be great as long as local growers and producers were promoted etc. As for no booze–hit the poor old working class again–no snacks or chocolate either perhaps…

    Reply
  8. Res Publica 8
    1 July 2025 at 10:26 am

    If the market is broken, we shouldn’t just try to compete with it: we should fix it. Otherwise, what in the actual fuck do we have a state for?

    Take Kiwibank. It’s a powerful legacy of a politician with real vision who saw the need to keep Kiwi capital in Kiwi hands. And it worked. It gave New Zealanders a public option in a sector dominated by Australian-owned giants.

    But fast forward 20 years, and what is Kiwibank today? Undercapitalised. Treated like the poor stepchild of the banking sector.

    Still important, yes. But never allowed to grow to the scale needed to truly challenge the big players. It’s been left vulnerable not because it was a bad idea, but because the system around it was never rebalanced.

    Now imagine trying the same thing in groceries: a state-run chain competing against two entrenched giants with vertical integration, deep supply networks, and years of market dominance.

    If we don’t reform the market itself and break up the duopoly, democratise access to wholesale pricing, support co-ops, and regulate for fairness , then a public grocery option will face the same fate: stuck at the margins, under pressure, and likely used as political football.

    The goal shouldn't be to build a "shop for the poor." It’s to build a food system that works for everyone: affordable, transparent, accountable, and driven by need, not profit.

    Let’s honour the spirit of bold ideas like Kiwibank. and learn from their limits.

    Reply
  9. Phillip ure 9
    1 July 2025 at 10:31 am

    I'll second that emotion..

    Reply
  10. PsyclingLeft.Always 10
    2 July 2025 at 10:09 am

    Grocery Commission and Commissioner Pierre van Heerden warns

    Just a…joke, literally at our expense

    Foodstuffs North Island warned over likely breach of grocery competition law

    And this despite….

    "I'm concerned that this follows a pattern of behaviour that has been present in the industry for decades," he said.

    "This behaviour has been enabled for so long due to the significant power imbalance between the major supermarkets, who hold the vast majority of the market, and suppliers, who have limited bargaining power in comparison."

    Commissioner Pierre waves his wet bus ticket..threateningly !

    While the Commerce Commission issued only a warning, van Heerden said further action would be taken if more examples came to light.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/565701/foodstuffs-north-island-warned-over-likely-breach-of-grocery-competition-law

    Where is the Change for NZ? Labour? Greens? Someone?

    Reply
  11. Policy Parrot 11
    2 July 2025 at 12:50 pm

    The problem with this is that it isn't the real problem.

    Yes food is expensive, since we are paying global prices for second-rate produce.

    It takes a huge (and ever increasing) amount of people's money from their money left over from their meagre wage and housing costs.

    But the problem is the amount that people are paying for housing/shelter.

    By all means, fix this, but in my opinion, this is the option chosen because many leading progressives have chickened out on cheaper housing.

    Reply

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