Kansas City permanently closed its municipally backed Sun Fresh Market on 12 August after years of financial losses and safety concerns, ending a seven-year effort to address food access on the city’s east side. A handwritten notice on the Midtown store’s doors said it was “unable to serve” residents, confirming reports that the location had locked its doors earlier that morning. City records show Kansas City spent more than $17 million acquiring and renovating the Linwood Shopping Center site and later approved additional subsidies, bringing the public commitment to nearly $29 million. The council also injected an emergency $750,000 last year to keep the store operating while officials searched for a sustainable business model. Community Builders of Kansas City, which has operated the grocery through Midtown Grocers LLC since 2022, blamed relentless shoplifting, frequent security incidents and chronically empty shelves for driving away customers. “We are no longer able to serve the residents from this Midtown Sun Fresh location,” Chief Executive Officer Emmet Pierson Jr. said, adding that the challenges were “well-documented and well-known” to city leaders. A spokesperson for Mayor Quinton Lucas said the administration will work with private operators and neighborhood groups to restore grocery service at the site, noting that east-side residents still face limited access to affordable food. The closure also reverberates beyond Missouri, surfacing in New York City’s mayoral race as candidate Zohran Mamdani promotes a similar model of city-run supermarkets.