Mamdani’s Plan for Government-Run Grocery Stores: Will It Help?

“You got Slim Jims?” New York City is talking about groceries — “It’s very expensive to shop at a local supermarket.” “Anything you buy is high.” — 8.9 percent higher over the last year, to be exact if you like eggs, meat, poultry and fish. And over 5 percent if you like dairy. “We’re a family of six. The trip here used to cost me like $40. Now it’s like at $97.” “The fruits and everything is so expensive.” The prices and the discontent are why Zohran Mamdani, the front-runner and Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, has made addressing grocery prices a key part of his platform. “Grocery prices are out of control. As mayor, I will create a network of city-owned grocery stores.” “Grocery stores.” “Grocery stores.” “City-owned grocery stores.” But the proposal has attracted some criticism from the private grocery industry and from Mamdani’s fellow mayoral candidates. “It’s going to dismantle our independent supermarkets, our bodegas. When you start dismantling and having government displace workers, now you’re feeding the problem.” “Why would you subsidize rich peoples’ purchase of food? Why would you do that? Well, that’s the socialist ideology.” A poll of New Yorkers showed that 66 percent of people supported the idea of government-run grocery stores. But this idea of the government intervening in the grocery sector isn’t actually as novel as some New Yorkers may think. “The government already has a lot of control over the food system right now. Whether your children go to public school, whether you’re on SNAP benefits, whether you shop at a military commissary exchange program, the government is already involved in the food system.” “New York’s many national origins have enriched the city with a world of variety in foods.” Since the 1930s, the city government has also used public property to rent to private grocers at below market value. The idea for the markets was first floated by Mayor LaGuardia during the Great Depression to combat high grocery prices, and also to clean up the streets by forcing pushcarts indoors. “We have six public markets right now that the city owns or is the landlord through the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Many people don’t know that — Arthur Avenue is one, Essex Market on the Lower East Side. Viva Frutas is a small grocery store inside Essex Market. It’s been around for over 20 years, and is an example of one of those decadeslong government initiatives to keep food prices low. “We have a great rate for our rent here. It’s affordable. So that’s why we’re able to be in this place, and keep our prices a little bit lower. My clientele are mainly low-income families, people that have benefits from the government.” “Would a store like this be able to exist just across the street, but renting from a private owner?” “No, there’s no way.” “And why not?” Because the rent is too high in this neighborhood.” “We live in Chelsea. We come down here.” “Why do you come all the way down here?” “The prices are cheaper.” “Zohran Mamdani, one of the mayoral candidates, has proposed potentially putting a government-run grocery store in each borough so that he can keep prices low. I’m curious what you think about that?” “I think it would be great. It’s very expensive to shop at a local supermarket. It would help a lot of people that don’t make a lot of money.” Jose Dario is from the Dominican Republic, has owned bodegas here in New York City since 1994. He worries a government store opening nearby would ultimately put him out of business. Private businesses, both big and small, have come out against Mamdani’s idea due to this exact concern. But at the scale he’s currently proposing — “One in each borough, so five in total, would cost the city $60 million.” Experts like Cather say the plan wouldn’t be very effective. “When you’re talking about just five grocery stores, that’s not enough to really drive the price down. I think New Yorkers access food in so many ways. I just don’t see that level of threat for the private grocery stores. Something more like 20 across the city, that would maybe make a meaningful impact.” It’s unclear exactly how Mamdani’s plan would scale up — a key detail for it to have a measurable impact. And even if it does eventually expand, questions around both logistics and cost remain.