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City takes prospective vendors for Mamdani’s planned $30M NYC-owned grocery store on tour – of vacant lot https://t.co/Mz1RSq6zHJ pic.twitter.com/7a8qRu9Da7
A grocery store owner interviewed at the scene was more direct: he was glad the mayor was doing something about food prices, but when asked whether he’d like to compete against a government-subsidized grocery store, he said candidly that he wouldn’t.
Of course he wouldn’t. Private grocers pay rent, property taxes, payroll, utilities, insurance, and the full cost of their inventory — then price their goods to cover all of it and hopefully turn a profit. Mamdani’s government stores would have those costs absorbed by New York City taxpayers, allowing them to undercut competitors artificially and push private businesses out of the neighborhoods they’ve served for decades.
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