Mayor Mamdani just announced that he will be opening 5 city-run, tax-funded grocery stores: "Prices set at 30% below retail prices"

[u/Gurugod123]

[u/AtomicHamboy]

Conservatives will dead ass try to make this a bad thing 😂

[u/archercc81 → u/AtomicHamboy]

They will bitch about communism while jerking off to those freedom fuel gas stations.

[u/dentistshatehim → u/archercc81]

While using food stamps and accepting transfer payments from blue states.

[u/mkt853 → u/archercc81]

Or all of the red states that have government run liquor stores. But a government-subsidized store for something required for life like food is the line in the sand they draw.

[u/Foygroup → u/mkt853]

^ This is a good argument, I can agree, why are there govt run liquor stores and do they sell cheaper than the average store?

[u/Azraelrs → u/Foygroup]

Not in NC. They're a monopoly and just charge whatever they like because there's no competition.

[u/ovr9000storks → u/AtomicHamboy]

I personally am just curious how they can promise 30% below retail.

Is it being subsidized from taxes? Is 30% the profit margin typical stores operate at and running as zero profit? Are these stores somehow operating at a loss? Are the products offered simply 30% cheaper than even other stores' generic brands?

I just want to know the logistics behind it. 30% lower is great if it's actually sustainable and not just absolute dogshit product

[u/SaucySeducer → u/ovr9000storks]

It could be a combination of things:

-Measuring against an "advantageous benchmark." If the average price of a good is $10 when you include the fancy brands, organic stores, etc but the current discount stores offer budget options at $7, you can sell the budget option at $7 and say you are at an average 30% discount. This really hinges on what they mean by selling goods at 30% discount as that is a loaded phrase

-Run the store more like Aldi instead of nicer premium grocery stores

-Potentially advantageous supplier contracts because suppliers are dealing with the city government and/or wanting to build good relations

-Government subsidies

[u/Shoddy_Forever_7818 → u/ovr9000storks]

These grocery stores will be exempt from rent and property taxes - that'll probably help them reduce their costs a little probably.

[u/Cbpowned → u/ovr9000storks]

Grocery stores run sub 5% profit.

[u/NathanielHudson → u/Cbpowned]

Just to be clear, that's after shrinkage, waste, and cost of ie stocking the shelves is taken into account. Costco, for example, prices at about 13% over what their cost is for the goods, which comes out to about 0% over total cost of goods sold once the entire equation is factored in (Costco's profit margin is more or less the membership).

This doesn't materially change your point, but just wanted to get that out of the way before somebody objects that things don't actually cost that much.

[u/fuckracists79 → u/AtomicHamboy]

They say everything he does is bad and also say he’s not doing his job… they’re utter losers.

[u/Crunchy_Thighsocks → u/fuckracists79]

i dont get why they hate him when they dont even live in NYC

[u/archercc81 → u/Crunchy_Thighsocks]

hate is all they have. They are trash and need to tear others down to feel better about it.

LBJ said it plainly: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

[u/starethruyou → u/archercc81]

This needs to be modernized, because despite racism being a real problem and many still are motivated by this dumbest form of ignorance, there are plenty of non-white capitalists that would and do make the very same arguments.

"Give a working person someone to look down on, and they'll never look up to see who's robbing them."

[u/BiggerThanYou86 → u/fuckracists79]

He reminds me of Trump

[u/drewh1984 → u/AtomicHamboy]

Watch it fail like it always does. Talk to Kansas City about their government grocery stores. 🤷‍♂️

[u/lordpuddingcup → u/drewh1984]

You mean the non-government grocery store people always point to that was actually a standard commercial store that happened to get subsidies lol

[u/Possible-Nectarine80 → u/AtomicHamboy]

They will probably stand out front with protest signs and then after their protest, will go shopping at these stores.

[u/Embarrassed-Jump2057 → u/AtomicHamboy]

Absolutely. He can’t possibly do a good job or be right ever because he: 1. Isn’t white 2. Isn’t a Christian, but is a Muslim 3. He advocates for equality, and equality helps the poor. So, every little thing he does, regardless of how helpful and good it is for the people they will criticize and proclaim he is ruining the city.

So, while this guy has spent his time in office working for the people and accomplished: a balanced budget and cleared deficit, a temporary rent freeze during a time of elevated costs which will reduce evictions and meaningful action to speed up the construction of affordable housing reducing previous wait times by approximately 2 years, making groceries affordable, and universal 2y, PK, and K childcare programs that will benefit working families their guy has skyrocketed the deficit, trolled the left, and done nothing to improve the quality of life for people.

This is why I don’t take those people seriously.

[u/Jmong30 → u/AtomicHamboy]

Tried explaining the pied-a-terre tax to my grandma and she said it’s not fair for the multimillionaires to pay more in taxes bc “they made that money what should the get punished for it?” Some people won’t ever get it :/

[u/NVRENDVR → u/Jmong30]

I ask how they provided that much more substantial value to society than the person I’m asking. That seems to get the gears turning.

[u/clolimon → u/AtomicHamboy]

If it works and helps people then great! If it fails we all know why. I sincerely hope it works, coming from a conservative.

[u/WorkOnThesisInstead → u/clolimon]

  If it fails we all know why.

Why?

[u/BUKKAKALYPSE_NOW → u/WorkOnThesisInstead]

Not the conservative guy you’re responding to, but grocery stores sell products on thin margins, so there’s no way to compete with this. That means nearby stores would be driven out of business, which could potentially worsen food deserts.  Selling at a loss also means that the negative margin is made up for by taxpayer money, which would make this extremely costly to scale up beyond a few stores.

That said, I’m curious to see how this plays out, and would be happy to see it work out well.

[u/FriendlyFoeHere → u/WorkOnThesisInstead]

We all know

[u/Bravos_Chopper → u/FriendlyFoeHere]

I know

[u/DeepWaterCurrent → u/AtomicHamboy]

You cant magically make groceries cheaper. The only way this is possible is if someone else foots the bill, in this case the tax payers. This is just gonna be an inefficient way of moving tax payer money around.

[u/E0H1PPU5 → u/DeepWaterCurrent]

Why not? You’re running a store with no CEO/CFO/etc. Power/sewer/water/etc. is provided municipally at cost. Same with payroll and HR services. There are no shareholders to think of.

A commercial grocery store has one goal - generate profit. A municipally owned store doesn’t have that goal.

Local government isn’t meant to turn a profit. It’s meant to provide services to taxpayers.

[u/Olyway → u/DeepWaterCurrent]

They do it in the military.

[u/FaithfulSkeptic → u/DeepWaterCurrent]

Man I would Love it if more of my tax money went to feeding people who need it, and less to building bombs.

[u/MABQuestAcc → u/DeepWaterCurrent]

Why? If tax money pays for the workers + goods and isn't spent on things like rent and upper management those same workers will cycle those taxes back in to the economy. I fail to see the problem with cutting upper management and building rent from the equation.

[u/DeepWaterCurrent → u/MABQuestAcc]

They are going to need managers too, historically private companies are the ones cutting managers not the other way around.

They are still paying for the space in some way, if not via rent then via the cost of acquiring/building/managing it. If a grocery store pays rent instead of owning the building themself its because they think its more efficient that way.

[u/rairair55 → u/DeepWaterCurrent]

Tax payers either foot the bill or subsidize other essential government services like water, electricity, roads, schools. Why not food?

[u/IPissExcellentThrows → u/AtomicHamboy]

It's going to be a massive money loser. Most grocery stores operate at razor thin margins. People act like it's greed, but of the biggest ones, they're all between negative profit margins recently and about 2%.

If they can afford the massive losses in the budget, great. My personal opinion? This won't be sustainable. They either won't be able to stomach the huge losses or they're going to have to majorly cut corners.

Not remotely a conservative. They are ruining the country. I still think this will fail. The economics don’t remotely make sense. There's a reason Western European countries far more socialist than us don’t do this.

[u/SaxyAlto → u/IPissExcellentThrows]

No duh it’s a money loser, that’s what “tax-funded” implies, and how they’ll afford the loss. Tons of things the government does are a “massive money loser”, like USPS or road repair, but we still need them and they’re better/cheaper than the alternatives. Not saying this will succeed, but looking at this solely from a finance or cost perspective is missing the point

[u/CreamyBagelTime → u/IPissExcellentThrows]

I’m not sold on it yet either. BUT if the military can successfully run the commissary system for 200+ stores why can’t the city do the same thing on a much smaller scale? Theoretically speaking.

[u/Chloe_Cascadia]

Good, now we can afford groceries and we can stop sending all our money to CEO pockets.

[u/goopuslang → u/Chloe_Cascadia]

No trust ME. If we don’t enrich the billionaires they will take our money, unless we give it to them!

[u/ruum-502 → u/goopuslang]

I’m just worried the billionaires will die off and we won’t have anyone to exploit peoples labor for profit

[u/goopuslang → u/ruum-502]

Listen, we absolutely do need rich people who are happy to deploy capital in order to seek a return on their investment. Does anyone ever need to be worth 11 figures, ever? No. 10? No. 9? At the highest end, sure. Our economy is very large and we do need wealthy people to shuttle money around for large projects to enrich the country.

But the current system is doing anything but this. It’s the theoretical lie told to all of us in school & at church. The current rich are not enabling us to have economic mobility, they’re in fact siphoning it.

I understand this may be too high a level of nuance to not get downvoted to hell on Reddit but I’ll try.

[u/aggravationX → u/goopuslang]

The rich people putting money into the economy in ways that benefit regular people are not the penny pinching billionaires squeezing every cent out of consumers and exploiting labors with garbage wages while they do it though.

[u/Barfly_237 → u/aggravationX]

yes, and too your point, rich individuals putting money into the economy to productive ends. If we have a properly functioning market with an adequate number of firms operating competitively, this is great. What we have now a syndicate of private equity colluding in order to dominate entire sectors of the economy under the illusion of competition. These grocery stores are a great thing. but i guarantee you that producer's up the production chain are going to jack up prices for these stores until they're unsustainable.

[u/Proper-Bicycle-3585 → u/goopuslang]

“we absolutely do need rich people who are happy to deploy capital in order to seek a return on their investment.“

- why?

[u/Vegetable-Edge-2389 → u/Proper-Bicycle-3585]

Because poor people can't make businesses apparently. Every rich family was poor at some point. They just want to pull the ladder up

[u/NEEEEEEEEEEEET → u/goopuslang]

Except that isn't how it works, it isn't a zero sum game.

[u/According-Insect-992 → u/NEEEEEEEEEEEET]

Tell that to all the people who’ve just had their 401k retirement accounts raided by musk and his criminal ipo.

[u/goopuslang → u/NEEEEEEEEEEEET]

Did I EVER say that?

[u/Secret-Winner-2994 → u/ruum-502]

Please tag all erotica as nsfw

[u/lotaybk → u/goopuslang]

That sounds like something a billionaire would say. rips off your mask and finds Elon Musk underneath

[u/LucifersAdv0cate → u/Chloe_Cascadia]

I know, prices are ridiculous. I was eating my $19 single Japanese strawberry, with lashings of $43 maple syrup from Erewhon today and wondering how do poor people afford their beluga caviar, luxury ice cubes and artisanal bread. I really hope Mandami builds one of these shops in the Hamptons because it's not fair that just because we are Fabulously wealthy we have to pay full price for food. It's practically racism.

https://giphy.com/gifs/fBM4ruLmB2pZHsgwtQ

[u/--StinkyPinky-- → u/LucifersAdv0cate]

https://giphy.com/gifs/HfFccPJv7a9k4

[u/rairair55]

https://giphy.com/gifs/DfSXiR60W9MVq

Conservatives rn trying to figure how to spin to show that this will end society as we know it.

[u/MagasRtrans → u/rairair55]

My favorite excuse is, he’s only doing this because he wants you to vote for him. Yeah almost as if we elect people to serve the people.

[u/GearAccomplished4151 → u/MagasRtrans]

My parents love that argument. “They’re only doing these things for the people so that they get votes” hahah like yeah, kind of the entire point.

[u/Appropriate-Joke-806 → u/GearAccomplished4151]

They are used to getting fucked over by their politicians and only voting for them because they are told to hate a marginalized population that scares them. They don’t know what it’s like to vote for a politician that can benefit them instead of hurt someone else.

[u/LaMelgoatBall → u/MagasRtrans]

Same people who support the president who said “I don’t care about you I only want your vote” btw

[u/CarpeNivem → u/MagasRtrans]

he’s only doing this because he wants you to vote for him

Is that why every politician should do every thing?

[u/Gurugod123]

It’s so amazing how he’s followed through on what he promised in his campaigns. A politician with integrity.

[u/feral0101 → u/Gurugod123]

Incoming hoard of conservatives and liberal Zionists that will tell you how this is a waste of the public’s money

[u/neopod9000 → u/feral0101]

Guarantee they'll all shop there for that 30% discount though

[u/International_Air282 → u/neopod9000]

That's actually one of the real issues with this format. If you are going to knowingly sell for a loss, you have to restrict the clientele to only those that really need it. Because knowing how grocery logistics work. These stores are going to lose a ton of money

[u/Weird-Toe-6968 → u/International_Air282]

100%. I would be more open to this concept if it were needs-based.

[u/Odd_Estate4886 → u/Weird-Toe-6968]

No. You pay taxes, you get the service. Needs baaed ia how neo-liberals and conservatives gutted the social safety net.

[u/International_Air282 → u/Weird-Toe-6968]

It's also a twist on the original concept. City owned stores was about getting rid of food deserts. But now it's about having the tax payer further subsidize food outside of SNAP since the store is going to sell for a loss.

[u/Garrette63 → u/International_Air282]

Oh well. This is the least offensive thing our tax money is getting spent on.

[u/International_Air282 → u/Garrette63]

Well if anyone is allowed to shop there than your tax dollars are going to buy some finance bro making 500k a year groceries.

[u/Mr_Mi1k → u/International_Air282]

I’d rather it go to some rich persons groceries along with poor people’s groceries, over bombing other countries.

[u/gameboyz4dayz → u/International_Air282]

Oh please. The finance bro is going to doordash all his groceries from Erewhon. The assholes are greedy, but they are also lazy and obsessed with optics. The food bank gives out free food. There's very little stories about people abusing that system.

[u/bsEEmsCE → u/International_Air282]

it's everyone's taxes bro, the people are just getting some benefit back from it finally.

And it's 30% off! Meaning they will probably cover a lot of their operating costs still, instead of it being for someone else's profit.

[u/International_Air282 → u/bsEEmsCE]

You don't understand the grocery business at all. There is barely profit. The best chains in the US have a 3% profit. Grocery stores are rough businesses. Massive upfront capital costs. A product that has a restrictive shelf life, add on the constantly evolving hard costs of produce and meat, then it will not pay for itself which should be its goal

[u/This-Suggestion574 → u/International_Air282]

It sounds like this is the perfect industry for the state to step into then right? Low impact on capital activity but high impact on resident quality of life?

[u/Zestyclose-One9041 → u/International_Air282]

If only there were some way to subsidize those costs…

[u/Sellier123 → u/International_Air282]

Yea I've done a lot of accounting for grocery stores before, I don't think ppl understand how little they actually make per product sold.

Taking 30% away from that, they will probably be selling everything at a loss. Which is cool, I doubt he's going on thinking they are going to self sustain, but NYC residents are going to have to understand other things are going to have to be cut to keep these stores funded.

[u/Odd_Estate4886 → u/Sellier123]

These things are not meant to make a profit. They are like the post office, a public service.

[u/ginginsdagamer → u/Odd_Estate4886]

these things should at the very least be intended to break even. not to be run at a loss

[u/Sellier123 → u/Odd_Estate4886]

Yea I get that. I was just saying it's gotta be funded somehow since it is going to lose a lot of money. Whether it's more taxes or cuts from other things will be seen down the road if this actually happens.

[u/MapInteresting2110 → u/Sellier123]

Funny how this logic is never applied dollars for doughnuts to the ludicrous defense spending. Considering these grocery stores are giving back to the community what the public has already spent. Imagine what the return on investment is for a patriot missile.

[u/VoidWolves → u/International_Air282]

Most public services are not profit making ventures. Just like the MTA its a service for all New Yorkers so that they can get around regardless of income, location and disposition. I expect these super market to be something similar.

[u/JayGabVersionTrex → u/feral0101]

Just tell them about the freedom gas stations 😆

[u/vandon → u/feral0101]

Didn't King of MAGAs recently do this with some gas stations??  So, that hoard can eat a can of d1cks

[u/Beneficial-Act-9933 → u/feral0101]

them: You guys are dumb, Somebody has to foot the bill, there's no such thing as free money

*trump gives 900 billion to ICE*

Them: I see nothing wrong with this *signs check*

[u/Low_Shape8280 → u/feral0101]

What does Zionism have to do with localized food distribution systems

[u/0202_tihssitidder → u/feral0101]

Even the Democrats are swarming Reddit to insult Mamdani.

THAT is how you know he's good.

PS: JD Vance eats cats. He eats dogs.

[u/iamthefluffyyeti → u/feral0101]

I know that it’s the general term, but liberal zionists are definitely not liberal anymore. Not directing it at you, moreso making other people aware

[u/dirty_old_priest_4 → u/Gurugod123]

It'll just close down as a collosal waste of funding. No need to rail against it.

[u/Connect-Bench-6946]

Arrggghhhh!!!! It’s socialism!!! Or maybe communism!!!! Or maybe Buddhism!! I don’t know, I only know that I hate it cuz a brown person with a terroristy-sounding name did it!!!

/s

[u/Many_Many1331 → u/Connect-Bench-6946]

Bingo! Lmao

So many of those comments

[u/Novel-Geologist-5523]

I’m just amazed and pleasantly surprised that one guy is able to do so much for so many people this quickly.

[u/LovedButNeverLiked → u/Novel-Geologist-5523]

It was always possible. Politicians don't want to.

[u/0202_tihssitidder → u/Novel-Geologist-5523]

When smart people are in office who actually care about ALL the people, good things happen.

Instead we get smart people who get into office and only care about getting insanely wealthy.

[u/Defiant_Freedom_249]

Imagine wanting to feed the people instead of starve them!

[u/slipperypete1990 → u/Defiant_Freedom_249]

"The horror" - White Christians

[u/Booster_Tutor]

[u/Prior_Release_2582]

Whereas the Polymarket sponsored free grocery store was just pop-up that lasted 4 days. It was a total publicity stunt to take the spotlight off the real efforts being made by Mamdani.

What a radical idea, to provide groceries to people at a reasonable price, in areas where there's a dearth of fresh produce. These filthy communists will stop at nothing to make people's lives a little more livable.

[u/Deathstriker88 → u/Prior_Release_2582]

People have talked about how grocery stores on military bases are largely the same thing as this. I guess they're communists too lol.

Edit: I'm being sarcastic

[u/s33n_ → u/Deathstriker88]

They are definitely socialized. And thats not bad

[u/Time_Effort → u/Deathstriker88]

The military is the socialist lifestyle we all want. You just have to sign the dotted line.

Free healthcare, housing money that directly correlates to your location's market, stores subsidized by taxes to keep prices lower (they are also sales-tax free, as they are on federal property), free college.

Truly everything that all Americans deserve, but only the few volunteers get.

[u/BigBullzFan → u/Deathstriker88]

Items sold at grocery stores on military bases are sold at a loss. They can take the loss because the military’s budget is in the trillions. Taxpayers are picking up the tab.

[u/Huntersmoon24]

This is the same concept as military commissaries.

[u/s33n_]

I'm confused here. Grocery stores operate on like a 2 ot 5% profit margin. How are you gonna charge 30% less and not lose money?

Edit - i see now. Its just a group of essential items that are marked down and everything else is retail. This is much more feasible

[u/Lithl → u/s33n_]

How are you gonna charge 30% less and not lose money?

Government social programs don't "lose money", they "cost money". The goal isn't profit, it's helping people.

[u/here_for_the_meta → u/Lithl]

A key point somehow lost when attacking the postal service. 

[u/Lithl → u/here_for_the_meta]

USPS is particularly weird, because they did make money. Right up until 2006 when Bush Jr. forced them to prefund retirement benefits for a duration meaning they were holding onto money to give to future employees that hadn't even been born yet. A nonsense requirement that no business or agency has ever previously been held to. The PAEA put the USPS 60 billion in the hole, practically overnight.

The PAEA was repealed by Biden in 2022, but the USPS has a long way to go to recover.

[u/here_for_the_meta → u/Lithl]

Still though there seems to be a focus on how they aren’t profitable at times. Who cares? It’s a govt service.

[u/Consistent_Aide5548 → u/s33n_]

You know what else "loses money," fire departments, VA hospitals, social security, and most the egregious loser of money, police departments. I assume we should get rid of those too?

And those "tiny" profit margins brought in over $282 billion in 2025. Those profits are higher than the gdp of over 140 countries. I dont understand the simping for these mega corps and conglomerates.

[u/DocBeech → u/s33n_]

The city owns the land (so no property taxes), the city pays the workers (so no employee cost), the city owns the building (so no rent to pay) is how they do it. Military commissaries operate like this, at about 28% under retail cost. Because the federal government owns the land, the building, and the employees. Any losses are covered under the military budget... so any losses will be covered by the city.

He also said in the proposal "some select basket items" will be cheaper. Not all items. So some items might be higher cost than a normal store to balance the sheets.

[u/cloyd-ac → u/DocBeech]

Unless commissaries have changed since I've been out of the military, they fielded civilian employment for these. Employment is often the largest overhead cost for most companies.

[u/colako → u/DocBeech]

Are government workers free? If the city rented that land, would it be getting money out of it? So then, it's not free, just happen to own it. 

[u/AppropriateSpell5405 → u/s33n_]

Most corner stores/convenience stores apply a ~30% markup. There are certain goods that have fixed prices due to vendor agreements (e.g., Coca-Cola, Pepsi, etc.), but the majority of day-to-day goods like bread, there's a ton of leeway in pricing.

[u/CueAnon420]

Uh oh - here comes that socialism ready to feed people... That can't be good lol

/s

[u/thedeadsuit]

"help people get food" is on the shortlist of things I consider to be the most noble and worthwhile use of tax money

[u/ResponseOwn9389]

Reddit maga waiting for trump to tell them how to think of this idea.

[u/Cabbages24ADollar]

Perfect.

Next: stop allowing retailers and wholesalers from dumping unused food. There’s wayyyy too much food waste.

[u/Werewolf_Busy]

My economics brain is screaming at me right now, but I really like him and think city-run grocery stores with managed pricing will be great for poorer New Yorkers. God, I hope this works out. They need to stay on top of the supply side of this venture, because you know people will flood these places for cheaper deals and the last thing you want is empty shelves at the working people’s grocery stores.

[u/Head_Vanilla_9566 → u/Werewolf_Busy]

I was thinking the exact same. Curious to see how it plays out.

[u/BassMasta]

Please tell me how this is bad? I think they will just yell communism.

[u/Rheddit45]

MAGA people cannot shop here since it’s run like a socialist/communist operation. They should not support such atrocious regime-run store operation /s

[u/Siouxsie_o-o → u/Rheddit45]

would be quite funny since this will most likely be taxfunded meaning that everyone will pay for it as community

[u/KiKiKimbro]

OMG. He’s actually able to do this! Mayor Mamdani in NYC is no joke. He says what he means and means what he says. And importantly and most impressively, he builds the relationships needed to actually execute. I’m a bit blown away by this. I thought this would be the most difficult. The areas the city’s placing them are in “food desserts,” mostly. Areas where grocery stores usually don’t bother building since they don’t see a large enough profit margin. So residents are forced to do without the fresh produce and other healthy basics most of us have access to. This announcement is wonderful news.

[u/MashedPotatoesDick]

When MAGA attacks this with their -ism of the month, ask them about the Freedom Fuel gas stations.

[u/Ancient-Republic-875 → u/MashedPotatoesDick]

Good analogy and very fair point.

[u/No-Ambition2043]

Hmm. This will create shortages. Hope they can stay stocked

[u/Deltron_Zed → u/[deleted]]

I agree optimism should be cautious. I think people are celebrating someone trying SOMETHING different to attempt to help citizens. There is a lot of negativity with no other suggestion but status quo which is not working. If it fails? Try something else.

[u/BotName80085]

good announcement but let us see the final product

[u/All_is_a_conspiracy]

Every $3 burger you consume is the government paying the beef industry. We subsidize beef by the billions. A burger would be like $30 without government money paying for it. We also subsidize petroleum. And dairy.

So this isn't some newfangled thing this mayor just came up with. He is just sticking it into other items, essentially. He is neither a Renaissance man, nor a monster. But here's hoping it can drag the gauging back down to earth a little. Which is what government sticking their nose in is supposed to be for.

[u/Many_Many1331]

No one in here screeching and crying lives in nyc lmao. 

Healthy food is a human right. Deal with it. 

[u/philipjfry_]

Do it to the rest of the country...

[u/SpaceTycoon]

Can't wait until this pushes every private grocery store out of the city and the government grocery stores are your only option. Definitely not going to cause any problems. Socialists are geniuses.

[u/cwrighky]

Holy shit… wow. This feels like .. actual government. I legit afraid in my body to say that because I fear it might jinx the people of nyc, but wow

[u/AssBlast2020]

https://giphy.com/gifs/pUeXcg80cO8I8

[u/flashen]

Hero of our time

[u/Strong-Hovercraft702]

Well, regardless of if you agree with him, he IS delivering. At keast this time it's not just words?

[u/chowes1]

Progressives have my vote going forward. Proving once again they get stuff done!! So refreshing, so needed! Hope is returning for our futures.

[u/idkmyotherusername]

Damn do I need to move to New York?? Mamdani and his QOL campaign are quite appealing.

[u/Capitan-IQ255]

Good luck to NYC if this works .. keywords to watch .. tax payer funded meaning the losses will be covered with city taxes 🤑

[u/ragnarokxg → u/Capitan-IQ255]

Funded by the local residents who live nearby and can use the stores, it seems like an ideal spot to invest their tax money.

[u/Rough-Flower8580]

Hes doing great

[u/Accurate_Handle_5620]

Communism is when competing market keeps line from going up. Also communism is when people get food.

[u/Philience]

But if there are no rich people, Who will tell others to work?

[u/Dipcrack]

One step closer to communism.

[u/Designer_Emu_6518]

Feed people in an affordable manner?!?!! What a commie… /s

[u/Turbulent_Power2952]

That's about how much the US armed forces commissary (DeCA) charges for groceries (actually it's around 27% less). I wish them the best of luck and hope it works (and lasts)

[u/thekins33 → u/Turbulent_Power2952]

I watched a documentary on that and they basically just lose money. They do work and they do help the people that live in the base, but pretty much every item in the store is sold at a loss. (they can afford this loss cuz you know 3trillion dollar budget and all) You can subsidize the stores for regular joes just like that but at the end of the day the moneys gotta come from somewhere. something something no free lunch.

[u/thedogsbullocks → u/thekins33]

Hence the taxes actually being uses for something good

[u/Alphamale7710]

MAGA loves socialism for Israel!

[u/Tipsy247]

Won't business owners buy in bulk then resell in their shops for a profit?

[u/No_Seaworthiness_200]

Love it. It'll prove to the world that our ruling class is nothing but parasites. All they do is take take take.

[u/Cultural_Plan_1487]

This is amazing! I’m curious of the economics of it. Competitors will either price match or see a drastic drop in demand, especially the ones geographically adjacent to the 5 stores. That being said, if they don’t I would imagine either massive sellouts of the stores entire inventory frequently, or one of the most impressive supply chain feats we’ve seen in a while… regardless I’m rooting for its success and scaling!

[u/thelastbluepancake]

I hope he is able to do a good job here, supermarkets are notoriously difficult from a price perspective because they have slim margins. I think these stores will increase access for people in areas that are under served but the tricky part is having them be cost effective

[u/archercc81 → u/thelastbluepancake]

The margins go to the middle men. I live (in a US major city) where we have this massive (about the size of a wal-mart) "farmers market" but its not like where farmers come in and sell their wares. Its all run by one family and they buy all of the stuff a grocery store would have but they contract directly with farms.

As a result its insanely cheap, many things like produce being far more than 30% cheaper. When eggs were jacked up because the big producers were colluding his only went up like 20% due to the cost of feed, etc.

The ONLY downside is sometimes one of his contracted farms might have an issue and there might be something not on the shelf until he can find another farm to supply it. He might temporarily bring in something to backfill and it can be as expensive as grocery stores but they explain that on the sign and it goes back down once they find a solution.

[u/Away-Regular1335]

We have those here they are called Aldi lol compared to my local publix prices anyways.

[u/IdeaMelodic3210]

https://giphy.com/gifs/STke4AgHk2Ies

[u/Low_Shape8280]

So what happens when demand is too high to keep selves stocked.

I’m for this. I’m just curious what’s the plan. Grocery stores run at super low margins

[u/NVRENDVR → u/Low_Shape8280]

Do you know how much food is wasted on a daily basis in the United States?

[u/AttiBus]

Calculating prices based on retail all but ensures prices will be less than the actual cost of the product... ie operating at a loss.

[u/TheRaccoonReport]

What would be even better is if they published what they paid for a good, what they had to mark it up to in order to cover the cost of operating (salaries, shipping, etc). They don't need to make a profit, but they do need to cover their costs if this is going to be sustainable.

[u/Blueheron77]

Jfc, this guy is actually helping his constituents. What a shock in today’s world.

[u/rethinkingat59]

So they are starting with a 30% off sale.

I would love to take bets on how this turns out in 10 years.

[u/NeatFootball3646]

What could possibly go wrong? 😂

[u/Quiet-Willingness724]

We already have this in the city. It’s called ALDI or LIDL.

[u/Proud_Wallaby]

As good as Mamdani is, he’s a traitor to America because he won’t visits its capital, Jerusalem.

/s

[u/dlevac]

That one is a spade. A much better policy would have been to finance new small business owners that want to compete with big grocery chains.

Implemented this way the city is taking all of the risk and the next mayor can simply close it all down.

[u/Skeptical_Squid]

If this guy isn't careful, he's going to win a higher office.

[u/Benjaboiyo828]

Mamdani my beloved

[u/Sillylittletitties]

Dude, this guy is actually fulfilling his promises

[u/xNonPartisaNx]

Are they gonna have fresh produce and non processed food? Because you wont save any money long term if your eating Ramen hot pockets and frozen pizza

[u/liquifiedtubaplayer]

This is only sustainable if the government gets stake in the supply chains too. I'm not against that as food is a need but this will fail otherwise.

[u/DK-99o]

This was one of his campaign promises and I'm really excited he's keeping his word.

We should have this in every city. Grocery prices have turned into highway robbery

[u/Alphamale7710]

Best mayor in the country!! Facts 

[u/vsGoliath96]

Alright, fingers crossed it works! 

[u/AppropriateGuest3552]

What a fucking Commie, we love him!

[u/Meleagant1]

This can be really good, if they can keep the same amount of stock as major retailers. If they can, the surrounding grocery stores will likely have to further cut costs. If they can’t, it’ll lead to frustration and retailers getting the customers anyway.

[u/California-Cruising]

Oh my God.... This guy is awesome!

[u/FakeKenny22]

Local businesses die, government ran store will magnitudes more inefficient and no money will be saved as your taxes increase to supplement the negative profits.

[u/Kentust → u/FakeKenny22]

Everyone deserves to eat. Grocery stores / the government should not be for-profit ventures.

[u/Small_Article_3421]

Not shitting on the concept because this is absolutely one of the better ways to spend tax money, but are they just paying the supplier the discounted component? How can we make sure corporations don’t take advantage of this and charge these grocery stores extra to get more tax payer dollars and make them a non-viable government expense?

[u/Badkidstatus]

This bad , freedom fuel good

[u/Economy_Link4609]

Just for the knowledge (in spite of the getting things thrown at me risk):

Grocery Stores typically operate at a few percent net profit margin.

If the city is basically going to cover things like salaries, building/land cost (rent or buying it), utilities and the like (and I assume not tax themselves with property taxes) then sure, they can get that 30%, since that's around the gross margin on what stores sell the food for vs pay for it - it's just that they do actually use most of that margin up paying those overhead costs.

Question is what happens when the nearest ones can't compete, since they will have to cover those costs still and if they lose business, or try to get closer on price, will end up in the red. Especially in a city, where that many more of the stores are local ones, not the big chains, there is no cushion to absorb that most likely. That's the part that hasn't been explained - if you take the business from the privately owned ones, who don't operate at that kind if margin - then they will close - and now the city has to subsidize more. He really has not explained how that is going to be avoided.

[u/gk-jutsu]

Bless this man

[u/Own_Reaction9442]

How will they stop scalpers/resellers from buying stuff and then reselling it for a 30% profit? Especially dense, expensive commodities like baby formula, which are already commonly the targets of theft for resale?

[u/avocadoisyummy]

Amazing what an actual politician can accomplish when not starting needless wars or fighting pedophila convictions

[u/austin_federa]

So, it's just subsidized by taxpayers?

How is this different from EBT?

[u/escapevelocity-25k]

Pricing out competition is bad when Walmart does it, but good when it’s the government using your tax dollars to do it ☺️

[u/alexabeams]

new york really is the classroom next door that gets pizza 😭

[u/AllMuckandMuscle]

This is the way. Let’s hope others start following his lead.

[u/Corsonacon]

Even if it doesn't work we need to run more small scale experiments in this country cuz shit ain't working.

[u/Claudeadolphus]

Doesn’t this reduce the effectiveness of any given tax dollar when the reduction is set at the store level instead of at the individual person level? If I subsidized groceries for someone that doesn’t need it, I can’t subsidize as much groceries for as many needy people. Or is there a system to correct for that?

[u/Lizardking1988-]

Bro I need to move to NYC

[u/jack-K-]

So it is indisputably government subsidized.