US News Metro Long Island Politics

Sports NFL MLB Olympics NBA NHL College Football College Basketball WNBA

Business Personal Finance

Entertainment TV Movies Music Celebrities Awards Theater

Lifestyle Weird But True Sex & Relationships Viral Trends Human Interest Parenting Fashion & Beauty Food & Drink Travel

Health Wellness Fitness Health Care Medicine Men’s Health Women’s Health Mental Health Nutrition

Science Space Environment Wildlife Archaeology

Today’s Paper Covers Columnists Horoscopes Crosswords & Games Sports Odds Podcasts Careers

Email Newsletters Official Store Home Delivery Tips

Switch between CA and NY editions here.

Will Mamdani only offer four years of ‘Potemkin socialism’ like his grocery fiasco?

Zohran Mamdani’s “city-run groceries” gambit was always mostly symbolic — even he doesn’t pretend one-store-per-borough will be more than proof of concept — but it’s fast becoming a symbol and sign of how hollow his whole mayoralty could prove.

Last week he at long last unveiled the plan for the first store: He says it will cost $30 million and take nearly three years to build.

That’s 40% of what the mayor had said five groceries would cost — and many times what the private sector spends to build a grocery store in just a few months.

As Anthony Pena, president of the National Supermarket Association, told The Post: “Even a high end, gourmet store in the middle of Manhattan wouldn’t cost that much to build.”

(It’ll get worse, too: New York public projects never cost less or finish faster than the initial estimate — they’re almost always over-budget and long-delayed: Don’t bet the store opens before........

© New York Post