Mamdanis grocery stores will be the most expensive markets in NYC paid for by you, the taxpayer
Last week, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s short stint as a faux president ended with an embarrassing acknowledgment that he could not, as promised during his campaign, arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.So, this week, Mamdani the Grocer made a reappearance, with details on the five city-run grocery stores that he will open.But rather than deliver discount groceries, Mamdani is selling New Yorkers a bill of goods that will cost them millions.What Mamdani described was a discount food bank dressed up as a grocery.Standing in front of blackboards saying “REDUCED 30%,” Mamdani sounded like a bodega hawker: “Once a month, our five city-run grocery stores will set prices for this core set of goods at 30% below typical retail prices.
No exceptions, no gimmicks”Here’s the most delicious part: the presser was a gimmick from beginning to end.The mayor promised that “The savings will last for the entire month.That means no weekly fluctuations or sticker shock at the checkout line — not for our seniors living on fixed incomes, nor for the parents who rely on a regular supply of apple slices to keep toddler tantrums at bay.”The Mamdani markets are new variations of an old New York grift: selling gold watches for $5.
The dupes want to believe that somehow this street vendor, surreptitiously displaying watches inside his overcoat, actually found a way to sell “sold gold watches” for just a few bucks.The math simply does not add up for Mamdani.Most groceries have an average profit margin between 1% and 3%, one of the smallest margins of any industry.To promise a 30% discount below market rate that cannot be adjusted due to monthly market fluctuations is economically absurd.It is not a description of a competitive grocery but a public charity.
It is a quasi-food bank where taxpayers subsidize the cost.As usual, Mamdani turns this into a class war, demonizing business owners.He suggests that real grocery stores are simply price gougers hoarding windfal...