Councilman Starr Proposes City Grocery Fund to Attract and Back Stores

In the wake of the Downtown Heinen’s closure, many have wondered whether the city of Cleveland could have done more to prevent it from shuttering.

Ward 5 Councilman Richard Starr thinks the answer is yes.

On Thursday, roughly two weeks after Heinen’s fled his ward, Starr announced plans to introduce legislation that would have the city create a $10 to $15 million fund to help keep existing grocery stores open and offer incentives to help entice operators to open in areas that have struggled to attract options.

To put it simply: grocery stores are public goods, Starr believes, not just isolated private businesses.

“Everyone deserves to have good quality foods and also have different ways to be able to address their needs,” he told Scene in a phone call on Thursday.

“If we continue to sit aside, and not do anything, then we’re going to continue to get the short end of the stick,” he said. “And things are going to continue to get worse for our people rather than better.”

Cleveland has thrown money or tax cuts at big retail before, but not in the form Starr in proposing. Midtown’s Fairfax Market, which opened in 2024, received public assistance. And the East Side Market was leased for a $1 per year to its operator, Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services, before operational issues drove Cleveland to cut ties with NEON.

But as far as what keeps stores open and affordable is a matter of debate these days, as city halls throughout the U.S. tinker with formats and initiatives to address food deserts and affordability. Baltimore, Detroit, Atlanta and New York City have all rolled out funding pools to either grant grocers loans or help build stores in high-demand areas. Atlanta’s $8.1 million fund helped raise its own downtown grocer, the Azalea Fresh Market, which a recent news report said had “exceeded expectations.”

It’s possible a similar fund in Cleveland could do the same.

Starr hasn’t narrowed down where exactly that $15 million or so might come from, save for a “combination of different funding sources,” he said. Or how grocers would repay grants or incentives if they did decide to close. Both are likely to be points of contention amongst councilmembers.

This is “not to guarantee the profitability of any private grocery operator or permanently subsidize an unsustainable business model,” the draft legislation reads. But to “create conditions under which responsible grocery operators have a reasonable opportunity to succeed.”

To borrow the baseball truism: If we make it easy, they’ll come and build it.

“We’re not waiting on somebody else to actually decide if they want to come into our neighborhood,” Starr said. “We’re deciding for ourselves that we’re going to make sure grocery stores are there.”

Lucas Reeve, a senior advisor to Mayor Bibb, has assigned a small task force to figure out, with the help of consultants Streetsense, what sort of grocery store might work downtown. Results from a study will be shared in late October. A public feedback session is scheduled for August 18 at Cleveland Public Library’s downtown branch.