A Chicago businessman bought grocery stores with money he allegedly stole from his dead stepfather's estate.
Then Brandon Johnson's city handed that same man nearly $14 million of your tax dollars.
Now the stores are closed, the money is gone, and Johnson is blaming Donald Trump.
The $13.5 Million Con the City of Chicago Walked Right Into
Save A Lot decided to exit retail in 2020 and sold off more than 300 stores.
A businessman named Joseph Canfield snapped up 23 of them through his company Yellow Banana – including seven Chicago locations already notorious for rat infestations, filth, and stocking food past its expiration date.
Before the city signed a single check, Canfield had racked up more than 20 lawsuits, liens, and tax foreclosures totaling over $2.8 million.
Contractors like PepsiCo and Frito-Lay were suing him for nonpayment.
https://twitter.com/JayCostaUSA/status/2082162575286956185?s=20
His own family members successfully sued him for stealing valuable coins from his dead stepfather's estate – and the plaintiffs claimed he used that money to purchase the Save A Lot stores.
Not a promising entrepreneur. Not an untested startup.
A man actively defending himself in court from accusations of theft and fraud – and Brandon Johnson's city handed him $13.5 million anyway.
Chicago's due diligence apparently consisted of calling the deal a win for equity and signing the check.
The Stores That Were Never Going to Work
Under the redevelopment agreement, Yellow Banana committed to keeping the stores open for 10 years.
The stores were supposed to open by March 2025 or Yellow Banana risked forfeiting the funding.
What actually happened: missed deadlines, construction delays, protests, legal disputes, and city fines for violating workforce requirements.
Most stores finally reopened in 2024.
Two locations didn't open until April 2025 – and immediately racked up more than $50,000 in penalties for failing to meet basic requirements of the deal.
https://twitter.com/Lancegooden/status/2082163758039011434?s=20
The stores that did open were cited for overgrown weeds, deceptive pricing practices, and products ringing up higher than advertised.
Not renovated. Not improved. Worse.
Yellow Banana shrank from 38 stores across the region to just those seven Chicago locations.
The taxpayer money was apparently the only thing keeping the operation alive.
Then Canfield died of a stroke at age 54 in April 2026.
Yellow Banana had no succession plan.
His death triggered an automatic loan default, and the entire operation collapsed within weeks.
Brandon Johnson Blames Trump for His Own Corruption
With seven stores padlocked and neighborhoods without groceries, Brandon Johnson stood in front of cameras and blamed federal SNAP cuts.
"I heard that the federal government had a little hand in this particular one," Johnson said.
Yes, the One Big Beautiful Bill expanded work requirements to healthy adults and removed certain ineligible immigrants from SNAP – and Illinois saw a 16 percent drop in enrollees, from 1.9 million to 1.6 million.
The affected stores saw a 26 percent decline in SNAP transactions year over year.
But here's the question Johnson doesn't want you asking: why were those stores so dependent on welfare spending that a 16 percent enrollment reduction destroyed them?
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2082064151002677303?s=20
Because the business model was built on welfare dependency – not on running clean, competitive stores people actually wanted to shop at.
Other grocery chains across Illinois didn't close.
Aldi didn't padlock its doors.
Only the stores that were dirty, badly managed, and propped up entirely by government money failed.
Kansas City tried this same playbook.
The city spent $18 million subsidizing a grocery store in a distressed neighborhood.
The operator fell behind on rent owed to the city itself, and the store closed in August 2025 – leaving an empty building and $18 million in losses.
The Washington Policy Center called what happened in Chicago "entirely predictable," because government subsidies cannot manufacture a sustainable business model where private investment has already judged the economics unworkable.
Chicago didn't create a food solution.
Chicago created a food dependency – one that collapsed the moment the subsidy terms changed.
Democrats Have Been Running This Scam for Years
The pattern is always the same.
A Democrat-run city declares a "food desert."
Democrat politicians write a check to a politically connected operator.
The operator fails.
Democrat politicians blame Republicans.
Communities end up worse off than before.
Whole Foods opened in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood in 2016 to great celebration – and closed in 2022.
https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/2082481274103443652?s=20
Walmart opened South Side locations and shuttered them in 2023, citing theft and insufficient profits.
Now Yellow Banana's seven stores are gone.
The common denominator isn't Trump.
It's decades of Democrat governance that made these neighborhoods inhospitable to private business – high crime, crushing regulations, and an environment that punishes anyone trying to turn a profit.
The residents who showed up Saturday to buy discounted canned goods off bare shelves are the ones paying for Johnson's incompetence.
Trump just stopped subsidizing it.
Sources:
- John Nolte, "Democrat-run Chicago Blames Trump for 7 More Grocery Store Closings," Breitbart, July 28, 2026.
- "Seven Save A Lot stores shut down across Chicago's South and West sides," WGN TV, July 26, 2026.
- "As 7 Save A Lot Stores Close, South And West Siders Increasingly Worry About Grocery Options," Block Club Chicago, July 26, 2026.
- "Chicago's taxpayer funded grocery experiment collapses and Seattle's Mayor should take note," Washington Policy Center, July 27, 2026.
- "The Predictable Folly of Government Grocery Stores," International Liberty, July 28, 2026.
- "Chicago West and South Side Save A Lot Stores Closing, Blame New EBT Rules," HotAir, July 24, 2026.
- "7 Taxpayer-Funded Grocery Stores in Chicago Permanently Close," Todd Starnes, July 27, 2026.
