Public grocery store

Public grocery stores are grocery stores that are operated by a government for the benefit of the general public. Because these grocery stores are publicly owned and run for community benefit rather than solely for profit, the grocery stores have greater flexibility to lower prices for customers. While the term "public grocery store" is most commonly used to mean government-run grocery stores, cooperatives, non-profits, and public-private partnerships are also sometimes referred to as public grocery stores. Government-owned grocery stores may be nationalized, tribally owned, municipality-owned, or owned by other sub-national jurisdictions. State-owned grocery stores have been common in current and historic communist and socialist states, but are also found in states with predominantly capitalist or mixed-market economies. Commissaries are grocery stores run by militaries or prisons to provide goods to enlistees and prisoners. Public grocery stores are also similar to state-owned alcohol stores.

The existence of public grocery stores alongside privately owned grocery stores in the context of a mixed-market economy has been referred to by some advocates as a "public option" for grocery shopping.