Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday said the city hopes to find a new operator for the Yellow Banana stores that closed abruptly over the weekend on Chicago’s South and West sides, potentially including the long-awaited arrival of a public market.

Speaking to reporters from City Hall, the mayor said despite the “disappointing” shuttering of the stores reported last week by the Tribune, he still wants to see some form of a grocery store in those locations, most of which received taxpayer-funded grants under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

“The investment that we made was to ensure that the physical structure is ready to receive a grocery store, I’m still committed to ensuring that, whether it’s through the public market, or a farmers market or of the entrepreneurial spirit of the city of Chicago,” Johnson told reporters.

Johnson originally pitched a city-owned grocery store to combat the issue of food deserts.

But he has said he pivoted to supporting a public market, which would likely entail the city hosting smaller food operators like at a farmers market, after smaller grocery chains told his administration that they’d rather partner with the city.

How that model would work and how soon it could open remain unclear, but the mayor said Tuesday “we will continue exploring additional pathways to improve food security, including public markets.”

Four years ago, Lightfoot’s administration announced it would hand out $13.5 million in public dollars to help Yellow Banana reopen or renovate six grocery stores on the city’s South and West sides. Ultimately six of the seven Yellow Banana stores, which the company operated under the banner of discount grocer Save-A-Lot, got the tax increment financing as part of an agreement that requires a grocery store to remain open at each location through 2035.

Save-A-Lot spokesperson Sarah Griffin confirmed the stores closed on Saturday. They were the latest grocery stores to pack and leave Chicago’s South and West Side neighborhoods, which have struggled with consistent fresh grocery access over the years.

Asked whether his public market idea could work in those now-empty Yellow Banana stores, Johnson offered “that $13.5 million that we put into the infrastructure for those particular sites, we at least know that those structures are ready to go.”

Johnson also announced that the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago and Lyft are providing free round-trip rides for seniors affected by the closures. The initiative is covered by $25,000 from the rideshare company, and Chicagoans can request the service by calling 211.

Meanwhile, as the first day to circulate nominating petitions for the 2027 election kicked off, Johnson continued to bat away questions about the mayoral race — even as his allies began to take official steps to get him on the ballot.

The mayor has avoided giving a clear answer to questions about his candidacy for months, leaving the door open for the possibility that he may not run again even as his political organization shifts into gear.

Asked about his candidacy, Johnson said he is “in no rush” to launch a campaign. He listed off wins for his progressive agenda and argued Chicagoans are more concerned with the problems facing the city right now than the February 2027 election.

Pressed on the divisions between his 2023 campaign’s two most important backers, the Chicago Teachers Union and Service Employees International Union, Johnson said he is not worried about how the split between the powerful labor organizations could affect progressive mayoral candidates.

“I’m running the city of Chicago, I’m not running labor,” he said. “I’m a pro-worker mayor. I’m proud of it … but I think it’s too early to prognosticate what the future will hold.”

He also called on people to support “two incredible progressive dynamic leaders” running out of state, nodding to the Michigan Senate race where the Democratic primary has become a battleground between the party’s left and establishment wings, and to Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson’s congressional campaign that Johnson canvassed for during a visit to Memphis Saturday.

The mayor held a political fundraiser while he was in Memphis, another sign that he would continue angling for support outside Chicago and Illinois should he run again because he believes “the progressive movement that is breaking out across this country … quite frankly, it received its motivation from my election in 2023.”

Johnson’s political director, Christian Perry, acknowledged some groups began to collect petition signatures needed to secure the mayor a spot on the ballot on Tuesday morning, the first day the names could be collected. He declined to name the groups behind the petition drives, but said they had contacted him and received permission to start circulating petitions.

“There’s some groups that have got some energy,” Perry said. “We’re not discouraged by that.”

The mayor is “doing his due diligence” before making a decision, Perry said.

“We’re not off schedule, we’re not behind, we’re not delayed,” he said. “The mayor is focused on governing, as he should be, and he’s having conversations with his family and his Lord and savior about what’s next.”

(Chicago Tribune’s Talia Soglin contributed.)

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