Socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is previewing his plans for opening city-run grocery stores, claiming he is bringing “cheaper” groceries to all five boroughs by 2029.
“In the richest city in the richest country in the history of the world, nobody should be going hungry. That’s why we’re opening five city-owned grocery stores, one in each borough, starting with The Bronx. Lower Prices. Good food. Publicly owned. Hunts Point next year. Every borough by 2029,” Mamdani said in an X post, also sharing this update on Instagram.
“We’re bringing cheaper groceries to all five boroughs with five city-owned grocery stores, starting with The Bronx,” he announced.
Many commenters were quick to mock Mamdani over the timeline, taking three years to supposedly offer “cheaper” groceries to hungry citizens.
“Nobody will be hungry in my city! Just three more years and you can eat. Have some crackers in the meantime,” one X user mocked.
Last month, Mamdani announced that the La Marqueta store, which will be built from the “ground up,” will costa stunning $30 million. He also revealed the city-run grocery stores will have a “core basket of goods” at a fixed price.
“When it comes to the products that we will be selling at the city-run grocery stores, there will be an essential basket of goods that will be guaranteed a cheaper price, and cheaper than what they’re being sold at currently,” Mamdani said.
It remains unclear what affect this will have on small business grocers in the area. Nearly four dozen grocery stores are within a 35 minute walk from the proposed $30 million La Marqueta city-run store, and some residents are already warning that it will negatively affect the other stores.
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Of course it will affect this store,” Sarah Kang, manager at a CTown Supermarkets, told Fox News Digital.
“A lot of people walk 20 to 30 minutes to get here,” she added. “If they find a cheaper supermarket, I don’t think they’ll be willing to make that trip. It’s going to affect small grocery stores. Definitely.”
That aside, Mamadani has run into trouble with his funding math. Last year, the Washington Examiner revealed that his estimated cost of city-owned grocery stores included a major “accounting error,” although his campaign at the time denied any real issue.
As Breitbart News reported:
The city’s Economic Development Corporation estimates that grocery stores have invested $140 million of their own money thanks to the FRESH program. Mamdani is counting the $140 million in private spending as government spending.
That money was invested not by the city, but by “corporate grocery stores.”
In reality, only about $30 million in tax breaks have been given to stores as part of the program over the same 12-year span.
However, Mamdani has also maintained that they will pay for the grocery stores, in part, by taxing the rich.
Prior to his election last year, when confronted with the failure of similar ideas, Mamdani said they must “prove not only the efficacy, but the excellence of this idea, because, for every one example that you can point to, there is another of another municipality today considering opening a city-run grocery store.”
“But, to me, the most important thing is the outcome. This is something I believe will work. We will bring the best and the brightest to deliver it,” he added.
