No, private grocery stores were driven out by mass theft and crime. My daughter was at the U of Chicago, lived near to Englewood until a couple years ago. She had taken to driving to Indiana to buy groceries because the local stores were that unsafe.
Think bigger.
The reason why they went out of business, due to theft and crime, was because the Democrats wanted a population dependent upon them. What best way to control the population by controlling the food?
By creating policies that do not punish for theft, it increased theft and reduced profits. By reducing profits, businesses closed. By closing the businesses, there was now a need for the government to step in to provide grocery needs.
Straight out of the communist book of nationalizing food.