Small Business

The Mayor Who Loves Bodegas Is Building Taxpayer-Funded Competitors

Zohran Mamdani's administration has not studied how New York City's government-backed grocery stores will affect nearby mom-and-pop outlets, which operate on thin profit margins.

C. Jarrett Dieterle | 6.20.2026 7:00 AM

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (Wirestock/Dreamstime/Lev Radin/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom)

Throughout his nascent tenure, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has positioned himself as a champion of Big Apple small businesses. Just two weeks onto the job, he declared: "You cannot tell the story of New York without our small businesses." He went on to decry costly city regulations that have "long made it too hard for these same businesses to open their doors."

Perhaps on account of his love for food, Mamdani has shown particular adoration for NYC's network of independently owned bodegas: "I can't imagine New York City without bodegas. They represent our hustle and entrepreneurial spirit." But so far, the mayor's self-proclaimed concern for the little guy has proven more rhetoric than reality—especially in the realm of groceries.

Mamdani's primary initiative in the grocery space, of course, has been to push his $70 million plan to build a city-owned grocery store in........

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