As New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani moves ahead with a plan to open five city-run grocery stores, one of the Big Apple’s biggest supermarket owners has a blunt warning: the stores won't feed the hungry, but they will shelve the bodegas next door."The fact is the people [Mamdani] is going to hurt are the current bodegas or the current supermarkets in those neighborhoods," John Catsimatidis, CEO of the New York City grocery chain Gristedes, told Fox News Digital."So it becomes a problem of ‘for whom do the bells toll?’"In July, Mamdani announced the stores would be located in each of the city’s five boroughs, with the first location set to open in Hunts Point in the Bronx in late 2027.
The mayor added he hopes to have all five stores operational before his term ends in 2030, and has set the project’s capital budget at an eye-watering $70 million.MAMDANI’S CITY GROCERY PLAN COULD LEAVE TAXPAYERS PAYING FOR EVERY BANANAZohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, holds up bananas labeled with a 30% off sticker during an announcement on municipal grocery stores at a Campaign for Hunger community food distribution center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Monday, July 27, 2026.(Bloomberg via Getty Images)The government-run shops will offer a 30% discount on a "core basket of everyday groceries," including meat, seafood and fresh produce, in an attempt to combat the affordability crisis plaguing the city, according to Mamdani’s administration."Every week, New Yorkers walk into a grocery store hoping the prices haven’t gone up again.
A trip to the grocery store shouldn’t spell dread for New Yorkers," Mamdani said.Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s administration for comment.The city is currently accepting applications from private operators interested in managing the logistical challenges of running the stores.Mamdani’s administration has also vowed to cover the property taxes and rental costs for each location — a decision that Catsimatidis feels puts local bu...