Opinion

Mamdani’s city grocery plan could leave taxpayers paying for every banana

Critics say the city-run food stores will lose at least 28 cents on every dollar

By Peter St. Onge , E.J. Antoni Fox News

Published August 3, 2026 9:00am EDT

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New York City bodega owner blasts Mamdani’s discounted city-run grocery stores as bad for local businesses: ‘Not an experiment’

Ibrahim Alqushi, owner of the Zaid Gourmet bodega, criticizes New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to open a discounted city-run grocery store just blocks from his shop in East Harlem, New York.

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Thirty-five years after the Soviet Union collapsed, the Communist bread line is poised for a comeback in the Big Apple, as Mayor Zohran Mamdani announces his government grocery stores will be undercutting real groceries by 30%. Not to worry, socialism will work this time.

The announcement came during a press conference on July 27, where Comrade Mamdani promised 30% discounts for "essential" products at his new city-run grocery stores. The problem, of course, is grocery stores are in a razor-thin industry, sporting profit margins of roughly 2%. And that's with competent management, which New York City government is decidedly not famous for.

That means even if the socialists somehow manage to run a grocery as efficiently as Aldi, Walmart or Gristedes, the city will be losing an ungodly amount of money — at least 28 cents on the dollar. Since New York’s best and brightest in........

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