‘It has failed everywhere’: Jake and Spike clash over publicly run grocery store idea

After a Capitol Hill Whole Foods closed, a Seattle University student wrote an op-ed arguing for publicly run grocery stores, an approach that Seattle mayor-elect Katie Wilson campaigned on as a solution to food deserts in Washington.

Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill, co-hosts of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, had a spirited back-and-forth debate over the idea of a publicly run grocery store and whether it could work despite several other instances where the idea has failed.

“I think the student is onto something, because I think the problem exists and it’s being addressed,” Spike said. “The problem is, no one’s figured out how to do this yet.”

“Because it doesn’t work, that’s why,” Jake responded.

“They just haven’t figured out how to do it yet,” Spike reiterated. “The fact that so many cities are looking at places where people need affordable groceries, if they can find a way to have the city or a local government partnership with food pantries, and find a way to invest that money into a grocer that has a partnership with the city to make groceries more affordable in those communities.”

“I will say that they’ve tried this many, many times, and it has failed everywhere it is tried. Everywhere,” Jake said.

“The fact that it hasn’t been figured out yet doesn’t mean you stop trying to find a way to figure it out, because giving up on figuring it out doesn’t solve the problem of families who are trying their hardest, working their hardest, and can’t afford to feed their families because of where they live,” Spike responded.

Listen to the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.