Local Detroit Grocers Question Subsidizing Whole Foods

The Detroit News reports:

If Detroit is a food desert, then University Foods must be a mirage.

The prevailing story line is that because no national supermarket chain has a store in the city, Detroiters lack access to quality food, including fresh meat, fruits and vegetables. That claim is used as justification for spending millions of state, city and county dollars to lure Whole Foods to Midtown and Meijer to the State Fairgrounds neighborhood.

But the shelves of University Foods are sagging with fresh fruit, vegetables and organic products. The meat section offers top quality cuts. The store, which has operated near the Wayne State campus for more than 30 years, is clean and bright, with wide aisles and a deep assortment of products.

And it's less than a mile from where the city hopes Whole Foods will locate.

"I don't mind the competition, but why should my tax dollars be used to subsidize a competitor?" asks Norman Yaldoo, who owns the store with his father, Edward.

Rent-seeking gone wild.