The underlying theory is to put these stores in areas that otherwise lack grocery store access, meaning they won’t compete with existing stores for small margins. Running at a (moderate) loss would also be politically acceptable; the city runs a lot of things at a loss for civic purposes and fills the gaps with taxes.

(This is the theory, the practice will be challenged by NYC’s ability to acquire land in neighborhoods that are underserved by groceries and develop a supply chain for these stores. This will be harder, but I personally don’t vote for mayors to only have easy problems to solve.)

> The underlying theory is to put these stores in areas that otherwise lack grocery store access,

I’m generally partial to that motivation - however doesn’t seem to be happening here.

This location (La Marqueta) is within a couple hundred feet of a "City Fresh Market" grocery store and ~1500 from several other grocery stores

https://www.google.com/maps/search/grocery+store/@40.7983886...

Yes, I agree the city has undermined their own (strong) argument with their choice of location. I noted that in another comment as well.

(I previously lived about a ~10 minute walk from that public market.)

But if you're running a pilot, wouldn't you want it near some other store to see what the impact on their business actually is? Running a pilot in the middle of nowhere would say nothing about how it impacts other local stores. You'd end up having to run another pilot to answer that question.

> Running a pilot in the middle of nowhere would say nothing about how it impacts other local stores.

I disagree. They could still run the pilot "in the middle of nowhere" or in a food desert and still measure the impact on the nearest grocery stores. Given that's what they want to do long-term, I think that's the configuration they should be studying.

Ultimately they want to put the stores where hungry people need food and cannot afford to eat. Food deserts are not defined as a lack of all food sources, but a lack of affordable, accessible food sources. Therefore it's still important to assess the impact of placing it nearby other existing food sources.

Why wouldn't you want to discover whether and to what degree that actually negatively impacts the existing store?