There Is No Such Thing As A Free Grocery Store

 Zohran Mamdani, winner of the Democratic Party’s New York City mayoral primary, is overflowing with Marxist ideas of how to govern that are so lousy that it’s hard to believe he got more than his own vote in Tuesday’s election. Each of them is horrendous, from free bus services to rent control to punitive taxes on those who create prosperity, but none are quite so laughable as his proposal to establish a chain of city-run grocery stores.

Mamdani’s campaign literature – overflowing with empty leftist jargon – says if elected he “will create a network of city-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low, not making a profit.” The mission “is lower prices, not price gouging.” 

In an interview, the socialist Mamdani said he wants “a pilot program of one store in each borough that builds on the feasibility study that was done in Chicago,” which, incidentally, was never released and has been put on a dusty shelf where it will grow moldy.

Apparently not even that city’s Marxist mayor believed he could make the idea work.

It’s nearly impossible to imagine any adult would propose opening government-owned grocery stores. The concept might make for spirited debate in a junior high social studies class. In the real world, though, there are consequences.

“If the city of New York is going socialist, I will definitely close, or sell, or move or franchise the Gristedes locations,” says John Catsimatidis, the CEO of the Gristedes chain, which “has been feeding New Yorkers for over 100 years.”

This should alarm Mamdani. It won’t. He’ll be glad to get rid of a dirty profit-monger who doesn’t belong in his socialist utopia.

Far from New York is Erie, Kansas, which became known as the “small town that saved its only grocery store — by buying it.” The city took over Stub’s Market in early 2021 after learning that it was to close.

But it didn’t go well. The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2023 that it was “losing money almost every month.” City Clerk Jamie Janssen told the Journal that the goal was “to narrow losses to under $100,000 this year.” Losses had reached $132,000 the year before, even though volunteers stock the goods, some of which are donated by local businesses.

Last year, after learning that “owning the store is difficult and costly for the city,” Erie sold the market. If a city of not even 1,000 residents can’t keep a small government-owned store from losing $100,000 a year, what will the losses add up to in New York City?

Mamdani says his stores won’t have “to pay rent or property taxes,” which will therefore “reduce overhead and pass on savings to shoppers.” Yet in Erie, the store “was costing the city quite a bit of money and the city funds,” said Janssen.

“When you’re a municipality and you own a business like that, there’s a lot of overhead,” he said.

Has Mamdani bothered to work out just how his stores would avoid “costing the city quite a bit”? Can he explain how the stores will not have to pay rent when the city already leases tens of millions of square feet from private owners who are paid market rates?

Unlikely, on both counts. The 33-year-old is a typical know-it-all who actually knows nothing. His real-world experience is less than that of typical high school student from flyover country.

“Before being elected to the New York state assembly in 2020, Mamdani only managed to string together three years of employment,” writes the Manhattan Institute’s Rob Henderson in the London Telegraph. “This includes a short-lived rap career and a spell on a film project for his mother,” an acclaimed director.

“He has even joked: ‘You know, nepotism and hard work goes a long way.’”

Beware of the offspring of privilege who want to use the government to magically improve the lives of the lowly and the struggling because they know better. The results are always calamitous.

https://issuesinsights.com/2025/06/26/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-free-grocery-store/