however, they tend to have much higher prices than corporate grocery stores because they don't and can't operate at scale. the more food you make, the cheaper is to produce. for that reason, these kinds of stores can only exist by offering specialized products to the upper class, which is what the proposal in new york city is really about: subsidies for the children of the wealthy, socialism for the rich.
the idea that non-corporate stores are going to somehow lead to lower prices is the kind of economic illiteracy that has been a problem on the left or decades. it's completely backwards. these types of stores always have higher prices.
food prices are currently high due to rising input costs (including the cost of oil-based pesticides), taxation, tariffs and other factors in production, including wages.