Help us defeat and replace the mainstream media! Support PolitiBrawl by becoming a paid subscriber today:
Mamdani’s socialist grocery stores are already backfiring big time and they’re not even opened yet.
Imagine you’re a young Cuban family who immigrated legally, or a couple from the midwest moving to the big city, or maybe a lifelong New Yorker born and raised. You start a small bodega under your apartment to earn a modest living. It’s all you can afford, and even then, you’re probably in debt up to your eyeballs. You begin to build a loyal customer base, and your profit margin is healthy but not large by any means.
Then you see a new sign go up across the street:
“City-Run Grocery Store, Everything Is 30% Off!”
Your livelihood is over.
This new store sells everything at a 30% discount. It isn’t that your customers don’t appreciate you; they just can’t afford to pass up the price cuts.
You go bankrupt. Your family goes hungry.
…
The plan for Mayor Mamdani’s government-run stores includes a 30% discount on prices and is estimated to save New Yorkers around $90 a month. Not nothing, but not worth it if it means destroying the local small business community.
And New Yorkers have made up their minds: They won’t let a socialist take their businesses. That’s why they are joining The Multicultural Business Coalition to sue Mamdani.
Mark Jaffe, the general counsel for the nonprofit, spelled out perfectly why Zohran will lose:
“You cannot expect hard-working small business owners to compete with a supermarket that isn’t going to pay rent, won’t have to pay an electric bill and won’t have to buy their products at full price. They cannot possibly compete because no one will be subsidizing them.”
Will Mamdani follow through on his plan to open government grocery stores by 2028?
Here’s your chance to put your money where you mouth is on politics!
Get $25 in credit on Kalshi after you sign up using our code “brawl” or by using our link.
When asked about the destructive policy, Mamdani admitted that not only was it economically illiterate, but it was pointless as well.
“We’re talking about delivering five city-run grocery stores in a city of eight and a half million people that has more than 1,000 grocery stores,” Mamdani said in a press conference.
He quite literally admitted that these grocery stores could have very little positive impact on the city, while still undercutting the local grocery stores around them.
No upside, a ton of downside.
Zohran already has a history of intentionally missing the forest for the trees. He’s expanding rent control in New York City by 1 million units, making nearly half the city rent-controlled. While socialists believe rent control helps drive prices down, once again, it undercuts local businesses and stifles supply.
When landlords can’t charge market rates for rent, they stop upgrading and fixing their properties, developers cease building, and prices end up rising everywhere else in the city. Zohran is undercutting local grocery stores in the same way.
New York’s bodegas and local grocers are the heartbeat of this city, built by families who risked everything for a shot at the American dream. Mamdani’s government-run grocery stores might promise a temporary discount, but the hidden cost is the total destruction of their neighborhoods’ economic foundation.
The silver lining: Maybe this is the wake up call New Yorkers need to realize socialism is the poison, not the fix.
Enjoy the " fruits" of your voting. Once you upset thd current balance that has existed for many decades, it will not be so easy to get it back.
These “socialist stores” would be great if they were being used by those who truly can’t afford groceries and/or those living paycheck to paycheck but the main problem is EVERYONE will want the discounted price (who can blame them) and that’s where you start losing these small businesses, who already charge higher than average prices. It’s a good idea on paper but almost impossible to regulate for the people who really need it :/